New Measures to Protect Childcare Teachers in South Korea

On June 1, 2025, the South Korean Ministry of Education announced new regulations aimed at safeguarding the rights of childcare teachers in kindergartens and daycare centers. These measures are designed to ensure that teachers can provide appropriate guidance to children without fear of malicious complaints from parents.

The new guidelines, titled 'Regulations on the Guidance of Infants and Young Children by Daycare Center Directors and Teachers,' will allow daycare centers to refuse to respond to repeated complaints from parents after two responses. This aims to prevent teachers from facing repercussions for not addressing baseless grievances, which have often been classified as harassment.

Additionally, the regulations clearly define the scope of legitimate guidance that teachers can provide, including actions that threaten the health and safety of children or disrupt the learning environment. Previously, teachers faced accusations of child abuse when disciplining children who bullied others or disrupted classes due to the lack of clear guidelines.

The Ministry emphasized that these new protections are particularly important for childcare teachers, who have been relatively overlooked in previous educational reforms aimed at protecting teachers' rights. Following the tragic death of a teacher at Seoi Elementary School in 2023, the Ministry had focused on measures for primary and secondary school teachers, leaving a gap in protections for early childhood educators.

Education Minister Lee Joo-ho stated during a recent meeting that the government aims to distinguish legitimate guidance from child abuse allegations and establish clear standards to prevent infringements on educational activities. The Ministry plans to finalize these regulations in the first half of the year and will develop guidelines for teachers on how to respond to incidents of interference in their educational activities in the latter half of the year.