Field trips are fast disappearing from South Korean schools — not because students don’t want to go, but because their teachers are increasingly afraid to take them.

A tragic accident in 2022, where an elementary school student was fatally struck by a reversing bus during a school outing in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, triggered a national reckoning. In February this year, a local court found the supervising teacher guilty of death by occupational negligence, sentencing them to six months in prison, suspended for two years.

The court ruled the teacher had failed in the duty to ensure student safety.

The decision sent shock waves through Korea’s education system, leaving many teachers questioning whether they can continue leading off-campus activities without risking criminal charges.

In a recent survey conducted in March by the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations, which gathered responses from over 6,100 teachers nationwide, one elementary school teacher aptly expressed the dilemma: “Just crossing a crosswalk with students means I have to monitor the signal, the cars and every child at once. If I miss one thing, I could go to jail. That’s not fair.”

A separate policy survey from the office of Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Bak Seung-ah, herself a former school teacher, conducted between March 10 and April 6, gathered responses from 6,309 school personnel across the country. It confirmed the extent of the anxiety.

The remainder were either postponing trips (21.1 percent), undecided (15.4 percent) or canceling them entirely (14.5 percent), with 3.3 percent selecting "other" or not responding.

Results from the KFTA’s March survey mirrored this trend. Just 51.7 percent of respondents — teachers from kindergarten through high school — said they were proceeding with field trips as planned. The rest reported either shortening travel distances (15.2 percent), deferring or canceling trips (21.8 percent) or still being undecided (11.3 percent).

To address the crisis, a revision to the School Safety Act goes into effect on June 21. The amended law exempts teachers and school staff from civil or criminal liability if an accident occurs during a school activity — if they have fulfilled “preventive and safety obligations.”

The KFTA has warned that the key phrase is too vaguely defined to offer meaningful protection. The organization also points to the government’s Field Trip Safety Manual, issued by the Ministry of Education, which outlines up to 90 separate checklist items for each outing, covering everything from traffic conditions to meal safety. Teachers argue the guidelines are unrealistic and place too much responsibility on individual staff members.

The concerns aren’t just legal, though. In Bak’s survey, only 6.4 percent of teachers said they were satisfied with the ministry’s efforts to reduce administrative workload. Teachers cited the need for more support in areas such as simplified reporting and increased staffing.

Rep. Bak has pledged reform, promising legislation that reflects the realities teachers face. “Our goal is to ensure students, parents and teachers can experience field learning without fear,” she said.

• good0
• sad0
• angry0
• recommended0