Adding up classes from other schools to keep ‘under 15 hours a week’… The ‘strange contracts’ of Korean language teachers - 경향신문

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In 2022, students with migrant backgrounds attend class at an elementary school in South Chungcheong Province. Kyunghyang Shinmun file photo

It has emerged that the so-called ‘split contract’ practicehiring Korean language teachers who teach students with migrant backgrounds in elementary and middle schools for less than 15 working hours per weekstill persists in the education field. Some schools were found to restrict total weekly hours by adding in time worked at other schools under the same office of education so that the total does not exceed 15 hours.

On the 30th, the Korean Language Education Branch of Workplace Bullying 119 Online Union submitted a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission, asserting that the practice of ultra-short-term contracts is being repeated in schools to evade the Labor Standards Act and calling for an investigation and corrective action by the education authorities. Although the government, pledging to be a ‘model employer’, announced in May that it would in principle ban the hiring of fixed-term ultra-short-hour workers in the public sector, the union says this ultra-short split-contract practice has continued in schools since then.

Analyzing 32 job postings for Korean language teachers for the 2026 school year across 16 metropolitan and provincial offices of education as of July, the union found that all 32 arranged teaching hours at under 15 hours per week and concluded ultra-short-hour employment contracts. At least seven of them stipulated that applicants would be eligible only if their total weekly hours, including work at other schools and institutions, remained under 15.

Gyeongnam A Elementary School, in a job posting issued in June, specified as a working condition that “if working at two or more schools within the jurisdiction of the Gyeongnam Office of Education, the total weekly teaching hours must be under 15.” Chungbuk B Middle School not only had the same rule but also required an oath from the instructor confirming that, as an ‘ultra-short-hour worker’, they would not enter into a contract of 15 hours or more per week.

Attorney Jeon Chang-ryul, who represented the complaint, said, “The de facto employer of Korean language teachers at public schools is the superintendent of the metropolitan or provincial office of education, and if the hours worked at institutions within the jurisdiction are added together and exceed 15 per week, the ultra-short-hour worker exception under labor-related laws does not apply,” adding, “They are restricting eligibility itself to block this in advance.”

Guidelines explicitly prescribing ultra-short-hour hiring were also found at the office-of-education level. According to the Gyeonggi Office of Education document titled ‘2026 Support Plan for Korean Language Classes for Mid-term Entrant Children and Multicultural Students’, school principals directly hire Korean language instructors as ‘part-time instructors (ultra-short-hour workers)’ and set working hours at under 15 per week.

In its 2024 ‘Visiting Korean Language Education Operation Plan’, the Gyeongnam Office of Education likewise stated that “if working at two or more educational institutions under its jurisdiction, the total weekly teaching hours must be under 15 (no more than 56 hours per month),” noting that when aggregated, they would be “deemed 15 hours per week, generating weekly holiday and annual leave allowances.” This is why criticism arises that the ‘under 15 hours’ cap is driven not by educational needs such as student numbers or class load, but by cost-cutting.

Fifteen hours per week is the legal threshold that changes the applicability of labor laws. If the average prescribed working hours over four weeks are under 15 per week, provisions of the Labor Standards Act on weekly holiday pay and paid annual leave do not apply, and even after working more than a year, severance pay is not granted. Even if employment exceeds two years, they are excluded from conversion to open-ended contracts under the Act on the Protection, etc. of Fixed-term and Part-time Employees. Workplace-based enrollment in health insurance and the National Pension is, in principle, also unavailable.

Lee Chang-yong, head of the Korean Language Education Branch, said, “The offices of education are limiting teaching hours to under 15 per week not for educational reasons but to evade the Labor Standards Act,” adding, “They are exploiting loopholes in the law to make Korean language teachers nominally ultra-short-term workers.”

On the 30th, Jeong Hyun-cheol, organizing team leader of the Korean Language Education Branch of Workplace Bullying 119 Online Union, a labor union of teachers who teach Korean to students with migrant backgrounds, submits a petition to the National Human Rights Commission. Courtesy of Workplace Bullying 119 Online Union

In 2017, the National Human Rights Commission recommended that the government expand the application of labor laws and social insurance to ultra-short-hour workers, noting that many such jobs stem from ‘split contracts’ adopted to cut employer costs.

In April, the government announced a ‘Plan to Improve Treatment of Non-Regular Workers in the Public Sector’, stating that, from May, it would in principle prohibit hiring fixed-term ultra-short-hour workers for less than 15 hours per week in the public sector; however, observers say front-line schools find it hard to perceive any such change.

An official from the Ministry of Employment and Labor said, “Given the diversity of employment types among non-regular school staff, uniform restrictions are difficult; however, the government policy is to curb ultra-short-hour hiring aimed at cost reduction,” adding, “We have prepared guidelines requiring a hiring review process where short-hour recruitment is unavoidable due to job characteristics, and we will regularly monitor whether these are being applied in the field.”

‘Korean language teacher’ is a national qualification granted under the Framework Act on the National Language and is responsible for the Korean-as-a-Second-Language (KSL) curriculum announced by the Ministry of Education, but is not classified as ‘teaching staff’ under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. In practice, those who teach students with migrantbackgrounds at schools are typically hired separately as ‘Korean language instructors’ and enter into part-time employment contracts according to programs run by each office of education.

According to a survey by the National Institute of Korean Language, as of 2022 there were about 7,000 holders of the Korean language teacher qualification working at domestic institutions, and an estimated 13.9% of themaround 1,000teach students at kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools.

There is also the problem that the education authorities count only ‘class hours’ as working time, leaving out time spent on lesson preparation, student counseling and assessment, and administrative tasks that accompany teaching. Actual working hours exceed 15 per week, but only ‘teaching time’ is recognized.

In a 2024 case involving university adjunct instructors, the Supreme Court held that contracted working hours should not be determined solely by classroom time. The Court viewed that, absent special circumstances, three times the classroom hours can serve as a primary yardstick for the time normally required. The union stated that “since Korean language teachers also perform various tasks accompanying instruction, the purport of this ruling should be applied.”

As the number of students with migrant backgrounds has surpassed 200,000 and the importance of Korean language education grows, there are warnings that the job insecurity of instructors who support the language education and social adaptation of these students may negatively affect the right of students to learn. Lee, the branch head, said, “Korean language teachers are hired on fixed-term contracts lasting as short as a few months and at most about ten months, with replacements recurring each semester or school year, which unavoidably affects systematic learning management and step-by-step language education for students,” adding, “Approaching Korean language education purely as a cost issue is anti-labor and anti-education.”