▲ Representative Kim Moon-soo of the Democratic Party of Korea
While the number of students requiring special education has increased by nearly 20% over four years, it has been found that the number of special education teachers to teach them falls more than 4,600 short of the legal allocation standard nationwide.
In particular, the shortage in Gyeonggi Province alone reached 1,685 teachers.
Furthermore, over the past five years, the number of special education teachers who left their jobs before reaching retirement age was 3.3 times that of regular retirees.
Representative Kim Moon-soo of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee, stated based on parliamentary audit data received from the Ministry of Education that the allocated quota for kindergarten, elementary, and secondary special education teachers nationwide this year stands at 18,046, with the scale of special education teachers falling short of the legal placement standards reaching 4,663 nationwide.
Here, the allocated quota refers to the number of special education teachers assigned by the Ministry of Education to provincial and metropolitan offices of education and placed in public special schools and special classes.
In addition, the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Special Education for Persons with Disabilities, Etc. stipulates that one special education teacher must be assigned for every four students.
Looking at the shortage of special education teachers by region, Gyeonggi Province had the highest number at 1,685.
Following Gyeonggi, the regions with the greatest shortages of special education teachers were Seoul with 377, Incheon with 360, and Gyeongsangnam-do with 334.
The number of students per special education teacher in elementary schools was found to be 4.3.
In particular, Busan (4.5 students), Incheon (4.5 students), Jeju (4.5 students), Gyeonggi (4.4 students), and Daejeon (4.4 students) were confirmed to have high numbers of students educated per teacher due to a failure to properly secure special education teachers.
Although special education teachers are in short supply like this, mid-career resignations were found to be far more frequent than regular retirements.
According to data on the "Retirement Status of Special Education Teachers" from the Ministry of Education, 862 special education teachers resigned mid-career over the five-year period starting from April 2021, which is 3.3 times the number of regular retirements (260).
Representative Kim analyzed that the high frequency of unexpected situations and the persistence of overcrowded classes, characteristics inherent to special education, have influenced mid-career departures.
Moreover, he pointed out that in the case of Jeju, since there are no special education departments in local universities, it is difficult to even find fixed-term teachers for special education to fill the shortages.
Representative Kim emphasized, "Because there is a shortage of special education teachers, students' rights to learning are being infringed upon and the teaching conditions for special education teachers are also difficult," adding, "While the school-age population is decreasing, making it difficult to recruit regular teachers, we must increase the quota for special education teachers given the reality that the number of special education students is steadily increasing."
According to the Ministry of Education's "2026 Special Education Statistics," the total number of special education students in kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide this year is 124,195, an increase of 3,460 (2.9%) from last year (120,735).
Compared to 2022 (103,695), it has surged by 20,500 (19.8%) over four years.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.