Six out of ten teachers experienced conflicts with students over cellphone use during class

Last month, a controversy arose when a student assaulted a teacher after being reprimanded for using a cellphone in class at a high school in Seoul. A recent survey has shown that six out of ten teachers have experienced conflicts related to student cellphone use.

According to the Teachers' Labor Union Federation, on the 30th of last month, a survey conducted from the 21st to the 25th of last month involving 2,605 teachers from kindergartens, elementary, middle, high schools, and special education schools revealed that 61.3% of respondents reported having conflicts with students over cellphone use during class.

Moreover, 72.9% of teachers indicated that such conflicts are increasing.

The survey results indicated that 84.1% of respondents believe that conflicts between teachers and students are more intense when students manage their phones autonomously rather than when phones are collected en masse by the school.

Additionally, 68.7% of teachers perceive that students communicate more actively with friends when their phones are collected.

A more serious issue is the violence experienced by teachers during the process of student guidance. 67.7% of surveyed teachers reported having been subjected to verbal abuse while guiding students, and 76.8% felt threatened by the possibility of experiencing violence during this process.

In fact, 22.9% of teachers reported having experienced physical violence, indicating that the issue of infringement upon teaching rights is at a serious level.

What is concerning is that 89.3% of teachers responded that no appropriate measures were taken to protect teaching rights even in cases of verbal or physical violence from students.

Based on these survey results, the teachers' union emphasized that “the educational authorities should support various methods for discussions and debates among school members on the topic of violence issues occurring in schools, so that they can jointly address conflicts and violence.”

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