Occupational Integration and Challenges Faced by Former North Korean Teachers in South Korea
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12511 |
| Author | Yoon Young Kim |
| Published date | 01 December 2018 |
| Date | 01 December 2018 |
Occupational Integration and Challenges
Faced by Former North Korean Teachers in
South Korea
Yoon Young Kim*
ABSTRACT
This study examines cultural barriers and societal challenges that hinder the occupational inte-
gration of former North Korean teachers into the South Korean educational system. As a step
toward integrating themselves as professionals into South Korea, these newly arrived immi-
grants participated in a special government-funded education programme (NK Academy) in
2010 and 2011. Primary data were collected from 28 interviewees who had attended the NK
Academy. Data also include discussions among policymakers, organizers of the NK Academy,
and researchers in various interactions in the course of the project. The former North Korean
teachers face challenges arising from differences between the two Koreas’educational systems,
a lack of training and evaluation programmes in South Korea, social perceptions and expecta-
tions of former North Korean teachers, and social resistance to allowing them to compete for
South Korean teaching licenses.
INTRODUCTION
The growing mobility of professional people since the 1970s has generated interest in the interna-
tionalization of professions and the occupational integration of migrant professionals (Csed}
o, 2008;
Remennick, 2012; Shan and Guo, 2013). Migrant professionals encounter diverse situations and
challenges with respect to their occupational tracks and career pursuits, but a common issue is that,
as professionals, they are not necessarily welcomed in their new countries
1
. It examines challenges
to the occupational integration of certain professional newcomers
2
–specifically, North Koreans in
South Korea who were school teachers in their country of origin.
The article focuses on the experiences of a group of newly arrived school teachers from North
Korea who participated in a special government-funded education programme (NK Academy) to
(re)integrate themselves as professionals into the South Korean education system in 2010 and
2011. Throughout the course of the programme, many participants –including not only the former
North Korean teachers, but also the South Korean programme organizers and policymakers –grad-
ually began to realize how difficult it would be for these former teachers to re-enter the field of
education in South Korea. This article addresses two research questions:
(1) What differences do former North Korean teachers perceive between the two Korean education
systems, and how do they interpret these differences?
*Hanyang University, South Korea
doi: 10.1111/imig.12511
©2018 The Authors
International Migration ©2018 IOM
International Migration Vol. 56 (6) 2018
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
(2) What challenges and barriers do former North Korean teachers face in becoming professional
educators in South Korea?
This article thus examines cultural barriers and challenges to the occupational integration of
North Korean teachers in South Korea.
Labour mobility is motivated by diverse factors including competition between countries pursu-
ing their own interests and individual migrants’efforts to maximize their human and economic cap-
ital within the “immigration market”(Borjas, 1989: 460). According to Bauder (2012: 85),
academic mobility differs from other forms of labour mobility in its potential for being “self-orga-
nized, motivated by accruing prestige and credibility,”and “stimulated by a desire for professional
socialization.”Remennick (2012: 156) also noted that educators are culture-dependent profession-
als, who can be “self-employed and are less dependent on the local institutional context,”although
they can experience difficulty in applying their talents in new societies.
The integration of immigrant professionals, particularly their occupational continuity, is affected
by a complex interplay of individual and social factors in diverse contexts. According to Remen-
nick (2012: 156-157), three factors influence immigrant professionals’ability to relaunch their
careers in the host society:
1. “the extent to which a professional practice is embedded in language, mentality and cultural
codes of a specific society”;
2. the distance between “the standards of professional education, accreditation and practice in
the home and host countries”; and
3. “the institutional context such as the conditions of the host economy and labour market”in
the host society.
Considering these three factors, this article explores the possibility of occupational continuity in
South Korea for North Korean immigrants who used to be school teachers.
Immigrant teachers encounter a variety of barriers when they attempt to (re)integrate themselves
into a professional community in a new society. Niyubahwe et al. (2013: 283) categorized immi-
grant teachers’challenges as follows: “(1) related to employment, (2) linked to professional integra-
tion into the school culture and the teaching team, (3) related to non-recognition of competencies
acquired in their countries of origin, and (4) related to the teaching task.”Most of the literature has
attributed these problems to cultural and linguistic barriers, which can limit immigrant teachers’
ability to teach and network with students, parents, and colleagues in the new school environment
(Remennick, 2002; Phillion, 2003; Elbaz-Luwisch, 2004; Hutchison, 2005; Reid, 2005; Myles
et al., 2006; Schmidt, 2010; Smyth and Kum, 2010). They can lose their confidence, feel isolated,
and face indifference, mistrust, prejudice, and discriminatory practices in their new schools.
Nevertheless, some research documents immigrant teachers’valuable contributions. Adair (2016)
observed that immigrant teachers were able to fill a communication gap between schools and immi-
grant parents and families at preschool sites in the US. Epstein and Kheimets (2000) demonstrated
that immigrants in Israel were successful and competent teachers, who could salvage the education
of immigrant students and provide an example of multiculturalism. For such reasons, Schmidt
(2010) suggested that immigrant teachers need community support to adapt to new cultural and lin-
guistic environments. Peeler and Jane (2005) also suggested that mentoring programmes can be an
effective way to help immigrant teachers attain knowledge and understanding of unfamiliar school
systems.
Previous studies in the context of German reunification are relevant to the Korean case. Issues
related to the exclusion or inclusion of East German teachers have been significant in educational
integration between East and West Germany (Kang, 2012). Unified Germany organized varied and
68 Kim
©2018 The Authors. International Migration ©2018 IOM
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