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Over half Korean teachers identify parental complaints as major source of stress

Published: 10 Oct. 2025, 18:24

A teacher sheds tears during a memorial event for a teacher in Jeju who died after receiving continued harassment from a student's family at the Jeju Office of Education in Jeju on May 30. [NEWS1]

More than half of Korean teachers said that handling complaints from parents was their main source of stress — the second-highest rate among 54 countries surveyed, according to a new international study.

The Korea Educational Development Institute (KEDI) released the results of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (Talis) 2024 on Friday. The survey, conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) every five to six years, compares teaching and working conditions across countries.

This year’s Talis involved about 120,000 lower secondary schoolteachers and 11,000 principals from 54 countries, including 32 OECD members and 22 nonmembers. In Korea, 3,477 teachers and 173 principals participated.

According to the report, 15.9 percent of Korean teachers said they felt “very high levels of work-related stress,” slightly below the OECD average of 19.3 percent.

However, 11.9 percent said job stress negatively affected their mental health, and 10.5 percent said it impacted their physical health — both higher than the OECD averages of 10 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively.

When asked about the causes of stress, 56.9 percent of Korean teachers cited “dealing with parents’ complaints,” the most common response. Other key factors included “maintaining order in the classroom” by 48.8 percent, “excessive administrative work” 46.9 percent, “responding to demands from external agencies such as the Ministry of Education and local offices” 42.7 percent and “verbal or physical threats from students” 31.2 percent.

Teachers participate in a memorial event for a teacher in Jeju who died after receiving continued harassment from a student's family at the Jeju Office of Education in Jeju on May 30. [NEWS1]

The proportion of Korean teachers who named parent complaints as a major stressor was second only to Portugal by 60.6 percent among surveyed countries. The share of teachers citing verbal abuse from students as a stress factor ranked fourth-highest and exceeded the OECD average.

On measures of teaching self-efficacy — the belief in one’s ability to teach effectively — Korean teachers scored lower than the OECD average in most areas. Only 74.7 percent said they were confident in “calming disruptive or noisy students,” compared to an OECD average of 87.3 percent.

Still, 76.9 percent of Korean respondents said the advantages of the teaching profession outweigh its disadvantages, slightly higher than the OECD average of 73.9 percent. 35.2 percent said teaching is a socially respected profession, significantly higher than the OECD average of 21.7 percent.

However, the share of teachers who regret becoming teachers stood at 21 percent, the highest among all countries surveyed. Moreover, the perception that teaching is socially respected has dropped by 32 percentage points compared to the 2018 Talis survey.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY LEE BO-RAM [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]