Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education an d Trainin g
Research-in-charge : Myung-Hee Jang Research staff : Eun-Hee Park
1. Outline
This stu dy inten ds to define the duties of Junior College professors in relation to stu dy (Ⅰ), analyze their un derstan din g of their current duties, an d finally su ggest improvements in the w ork performance stan dards designed to provide systematic educational opp ortunities. Based on this, the main objectives of this stu dy inclu de a review of the feasibility of the professor trainin g programs su ggested in stu dy (Ⅰ) an d the formulation of su ggestions as to how these trainin g models can be adju sted to professors in dividual characteristics an d op eration methods.
In order to achieve the objectives mentioned above, this stu dy defined, based on the educational environment of junior colleges, potential professors duties apt to be chan ged . Furthermore, this stu dy analyzed the current statu s of junior college professors, as w ell as the actu al management con ditions. Also defined w ere junior college professors duties based on their actu al w ork duties. An analysis of professors
un derstan din g of their duties, utilization of w ork performance stan dards, an d trainin g deman ds w as also carried out. In addition, this stu dy examined how appropriate the trainin g programs developed in stu dy (I) are, an d presented a professors trainin g program as w ell as models to improve professors professional lives. These models are based on teachin g skills related to the trainin g deman ds made by junior college professors an d on teachin g stan dards.
The subjects of this stu dy involved only full-time professors an d exclu ded deans an d teachin g assistants. Of special importance is the fact that these professors trainin g programs w ere developed in a non- course sp ecific manner, focu sin g rather on w ork requirements common to all subjects.
This stu dy u sed such methods as: analysis of documents an d data, group interview s, w ork analysis alon g w ith Delphi stu dies, exp ert committees, interview s an d surveys.
2. Changes in and Management of, Junior College Professors Roles
Throu gh a thorou gh review of both domestic an d international documents an d data concerned w ith the educational environment of junior colleges, an d the roles of professors, the necessity of reorganizin g the roles an d functions of junior colleges here in Korea has become w ell un derstood . The need for these chan ges lies in the follow in g factors: the movement of society tow ards a more knowledge based society, the chan gin g general job market tren ds, the chan ges tow ard a lifelon g vocational education system, the exp ansion of educational subjects, the advent of variou s operational systems for un dergradu ates, the diversification of school curriculums, the growin g integration w ith trainin g
organizations, an d the stren gthenin g of in du strial-educational coop eration . In order for these deman ds to be properly addressed good professors are necessary, an d it is also necessary for these professors to stren gthen their professional skills based on the actual junior college curriculum an d system . It is therefore vital for junior college professors to develop their vocational skills, becomin g integrated instructors who can flexibly adju st themselves to the job market as w ell as stu dents chan gin g needs, rather than bein g simply academic researchers. Furthermore, this stu dy discovered that w ith regards to vocational education, more emphasis should be put on professors roles regardin g curriculum development, teachin g activities, in du strial-educational coop eration an d in du strial field-related trainin g.
3. Operating Tendencies of Junior College Professor Training Programs
The case stu dies of foreign trainin g programs revealed that the smooth operation of a college requires professors to possess certain academic qu alities such as good teachin g skills, a sense of responsibility for stu dents grades, an d an un derstan din g of their collegial duties. As such, there are national support systems to improve professors ability to properly evalu ate stu dents grades, develop evalu ation stan dards as w ell as improve teachin g equipment. In the case of the USA, various programs have been jointly developed throu gh the creation of mutu al netw orks facilitatin g knowledge an d information exchan ges betw een local colleges an d communities, local colleges an d stu dents, an d betw een local colleges.
These programs are supported by the AACC (American Association of Community Colleges). These colleges utilize their resources to the maximum in order to improve professors capacities an d encourage future
joint research projects.
In Korea how ever, the Ministry of Education an d Human Resources Development has supported Koreas trainin g programs for junior college professors in the form of policy-explanatory meetin gs. Currently, the Korean Council for College Education op erates variou s trainin g programs for junior college professors as w ell as w ork trainin g programs.
4. D evelopment of Junior College Professors Work Performance Standards
A. Analy sis of Junior College Prof essors Work D uties
Document analysis, tw o roun ds of group interview s an d Delphi stu dies w ere u sed to define the w ork of junior college professors.
Document analysis inclu des the classification of several scholars w ork duties. The methods u sed to collect the results of the analysis of the college level w ork duties provided details of the w ork tasks (9 duty areas, 130 tasks) based on inspections of the actu al job tasks of professors in Koreas junior colleges.
Throu gh the 1st an d 2n d roun d of interview s, some 130 w ork related tasks have been removed, integrated or adju sted throu gh examinations of their appropriateness. This has led to a reorganization of the overall w ork tasks an d generated 10 duty areas. Furthermore, the reorganized w ork tasks generated 74 tasks in the ten duty areas.
After the 1st an d 2n d Delphi stu dies, some tasks in the curriculum area w ere removed or integrated . Finally, 10 duty areas an d 75 tasks w ere selected as the w ork tasks of junior college professors.
B. Analysis of the Understan ding of an d D emands f or Work Perf ormance Stan dards D ev elopm ent.
The major research subjects u sed in measurin g the un derstan din g of the development of junior college professors w ork performance as w ell as in the analysis of trainin g deman ds w ere deans an d full-time professors in 159 colleges nationw ide. The significance an d p erformance of a particular w ork task, as w ell as the frequency of performance have been accounted for. Trainin g deman ds have been ascertained as a result of this stu dy, an d the results are as follow s.
First, in terms of the general characteristics of respon dents, the resp onse rate of currently w orkin g professors w as higher than that of non-w orkin g ones, an d the same w as tru e w ith regards to the un derstan din g of w ork duties. In ad dition, it w as foun d that 56.6% of the respon dents had taken teachin g courses. These results show that as w ork duties related to junior college professors teachin g have expan ded, the importance of efficient teachin g-learnin g methods or teachin g related media, that can be directly utilized in actu al teachin g situ ations, has increased, in turn increasin g deman ds for related trainin g.
Secon d, in terms of un derstan din g the importance of overall w ork duties, the results in dicates that major w ork duties for junior college professors inclu de curriculum development, teachin g an d in du strial-educational cooperation . All of these areas correctly display the reality colleges face, esp ecially when consideration is given to the fact that the area of in du strial-educational coop eration is directly reflected in the areas of teachin g-related an d virtu al deman ds.
Third, w ith regards to the degree of un derstan din g of duties, there emerged meanin gful differences betw een professors an d deans in all areas.
Namely, while there is still little difference foun d in the un derstan din g of
w ork performances, big differences w ere foun d in the importance attached to this un derstan din g. This implies that college management has higher expectations of the professors than the professors do of themselves.
Fourth, regardin g experience related characteristics, there w as no big difference foun d in the un derstan din g of duties based on in dividu al majors or previous w ork experience. How ever, relatively big differences w ere foun d in in dividu al group un derstan din g accordin g to teachin g experience an d professors w orkin g or non-w orkin g statu s. This also means that the current analysis of professors w ork bein g develop ed demonstrates that the items in each in dividu al area are comp osed of common w ork area tasks rather than those confined to a certain major . In addition, differences foun d in the level of importance attached to performance accordin g to teachin g exp erience in dicate that it is essential to provide specialized lon g-term trainin g programs for new professors.
The followin g is an outline of the ten dencies an d lessons gained from professors un derstan din g of their w ork p erformance stan dards.
First, concernin g the development of duty stan dards, most resp on dents show ed a positive opinion of the necessity of such stan dards. As seen in the deman ds for the development of trainin g programs, more specialized duty stan dards also need to be developed for in dividual majors.
Secon d, with regards to the method of utilizin g these w ork p erformance stan dards, most resp on dents claimed that they w ere necessary for w ork evaluations or trainee selection . On the other han d, over 50%
of the deans respon ded that these stan dards should be used durin g the signin g of contracts an d durin g the employment process, illustratin g that there are some differences foun d in the opinions of professors an d deans on the qu estion of the u se of w ork performance stan dards.
Third, when the w ork tasks of junior college professors are divided into 4 categories: teachin g, research, administration an d service, the
teachin g area makes up over 40% of the overall w ork tasks for professors, the highest percentage, follow ed by the administration area. Professors stated that they w anted to decrease the percentage of their tasks related to administration, while increasin g their research time, implyin g that they as scholars w ant to put more emphasis on the research area. Therefore, these results show case the need to stren gthen research activities, inclu din g:
curriculum development, improvement of teachin g-learnin g methods an d improvements in stu dent evalu ation methods eventually leadin g to highly efficient teachin g, which is necessary to expan d the scop e of education in order to have an impact on the actu al education field .
C. D ev elopment of Junior College Prof essors Work Perf ormance Standards
There are three areas su ggested in which to implement w ork p erformance stan dards: task w ork, medium, an d detailed areas. The task w ork area confirms an d integrates a systematic process for the w ork repeatedly con ducted in the actu al teachin g field, an d divides it accordin g to performance objectives. The medium area su ggests, in common terms u sed in college curriculums, the basic duties that should be performed in the actu al teachin g field . The detailed area selects an d su ggests a concrete w ork process as w ell as methodological factors to con duct w ork tasks related to know ledge, un derstan din g an d attitu des.
The w ork performance stan dards su ggested in this stu dy are composed of 6 task w ork areas, 20 medium areas an d 101 detailed areas arrived at throu gh a p artial modification of the results analyzed above.
The 6 task w ork areas inclu de teachin g activities, stu dent counselin g, development an d op eration of curriculums, college administration, in du strial-educational coop eration an d social services, an d research an d
self-development. These areas are different from the professors roles an d task w ork areas emphasized in previous research projects an d in actual junior colleges. The big differences in this research inclu de teachin g activities, stu dent counselin g, an d the development an d operation of curriculum, which are now defined as educational activities. How ever, this stu dy su ggests that these three areas an d op eration area be considered in depen dently, du e to the commonalities foun d in the professors in charge of vocational education roles an d w ork capacities as w ell as in w ork stan dards. The in du strial-educational cooperation an d social services areas are categorized by integratin g in du strial-educational cooperation, an emphasis unlike regular professors w ork, where the social service area is based on professional stu dy an d education . In addition, research an d self-development activities are categorized in relationship with the increase in professors specialization .
5. Training Program to Improve Junior College Professors Work Capacity
A. Preconditions f or the D evelopment of the Training Program
The trainin g program for junior college professors should be develop ed based on the present operation of domestic an d international trainin g programs as w ell as on trainin g deman ds. The precon ditions to implement such a program are as follow s.
First, the program should contribute to the systematic improvement of professors specialization based on the actual college w ork duties.
Secon d, the program should be formulated so as to diversify operation methods, allow in g professors to diagnose their trainin g deman ds an d to select the necessary subjects an d level of education .
Third, the program should support the development of professors capacities, provide equal educational opp ortunities, an d prepare a legal foun dation for the objective evaluation of trainin g results, contributin g to a high quality trainin g program .
B. Training Programs
The final trainin g programs for junior college professors develop ed the tasks of 6 areas based on professors specialization an d trainin g deman ds:
teachin g activities, stu dent counselin g, development an d operation of curriculum, college management, in du strial-educational coop eration an d social services, as w ell as research an d self-development. These trainin g programs have been developed w ith a focu s on the areas necessary for all junior college professors to perform their w ork. These programs how ever, allow professors to select a program reflectin g their experiences, w orkin g statu s, an d educational an d w orkin g backgroun ds.
The main objectives of the trainin g programs su ggested above are to improve the level of junior college professors, to help them actively adapt themselves to social chan ges, an d to develop their own sp ecialization . As such each program su ggests relevant w ork areas, trainin g programs names, sub contents of each programs, as w ell as the selected trainees.
The trainin g programs developed a total of 28 subjects for the 6 w ork areas: 6 in teachin g activities, 6 in stu dent counselin g, 6 in development an d operation of curriculum, 3 in in du strial-educational cooperation an d social services an d 5 in research an d self-development. N ew an d more experienced professors are divided accordin g to the difficulty level of each trainin g subject. In the case of stu dent counselin g related to teachin g activities, the 6 programs su ggested are reorganized to provide new professors w ith integral trainin g programs.
C. Training Op eration M ethod
In order for the trainin g programs to efficiently improve the professional w ork cap acities of professors, the followin g policies are su ggested .
First, systematic trainin g programs should be obligatory for new professors in order to improve their professional skills, in turn leadin g to the reasonable employment an d management of professors suited to properly adapt to the characteristics of junior colleges.
Secon d, periodical trainin g courses should be obligatory or highly recommen ded for exp erienced professors as w ell, to improve their professional skills to keep up with the chan ges in the educational environment.
Third, trainin g programs an d op eration system should be rationally established, providin g continu ou s improvements to the qu ality of the system .