The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) is moving to change its name for the first time in 37 years since its founding. According to the education sector on the 4th, the KTU held a New Year press briefing the previous day and said it would promote "a name change" and "organizational innovation" to reflect the demands of a new era and generation.
"Jeon-gyo-jo" has maintained its name since its launch in 1989. Eligible members are kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school teachers. However, there have been steady criticisms that including "교직원" ("school staff") in the name causes confusion that staff members are also eligible to join.
The KTU plans to finalize a new name through an online vote in September after gathering opinions in member discussions in June–July. In a survey conducted last year, 51.8% of respondents were in favor of changing the name.
Some analysts say the recent decline in membership may have influenced the debate over a name change. The KTU's membership has been steadily decreasing, and several years ago it ceded its status as the "largest teachers' union" to the Korea Teachers' Union Federation.
Meanwhile, the KTU also said it will continue efforts to guarantee teachers' basic political rights. It will push to amend the law to expand freedom of expression, allow party membership and donations, and guarantee candidacy after taking a leave of absence, and it plans to seek legislation in cooperation with the Democratic Party of Korea.
In addition, it will carry out a parallel legislative campaign to exclude administrative tasks from teachers' duties. The plan is to amend the Early Childhood Education Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to create provisions that explicitly exclude administrative affairs from teachers' job responsibilities.