Teacher evaluation and conferment systems in South Korea and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the teacher evaluation systems in South Korea and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus


Introduction
Supervision is a part of professional and career development contributing to the skills and should be seen as a procedure that provides feedback and information (Eurydice, 2012).This procedure is vital in accomplishing organisational aims, monitoring the organisation's running and making the necessary corrections (Basaran, 2000).Unal and Uzum (2014) pointed out that the studies show educational supervision does not meet the expectations and that the supervisors are not able to behave in the way they are supposed to.In their study, Aslanargun and Goksoy (2013) concluded that supervision by someone from the same school, as the teacher would be more objective and systematic on account of it, ensures close communication and continuity.The same study showed that supervisors' being responsible for supervision is not favoured by teachers.Kasapcopur (2007) identified that the Australian education system awarded successful teachers with a testimonial after supervision.The same research indicates Macedonia rewards teachers as well.
South Korean Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Ahn Byong-Man, announced the revised teacher evaluation system to be implemented from March 2010 throughout the country.The new regulation makes it possible to execute a consistent peer review and satisfaction survey of teachers at primary schools, secondary schools, high schools and special schools.The minister stated that the teacher evaluation system is designed to help teachers in their professional development.In terms of enhancing confidence in public education, Byong-Man pointed out the importance of feedback on the school management provided by parents (MOE, 2010).
South Korean teacher evaluation system consists of teacher appraisal for perform ance, performance-based incentive system and teacher appraisal for professional development (Kim et al., 2010).On the other hand, teacher registry record evaluation and teacher evaluation for conferment are the legal basis for evaluating teachers in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) (Teachers Law of the TRNC, 1985; Regulation of Teacher Registry Record of the TRNC, 1990; Regulation of Teachers' Conferment of the TRNC, 1990).

Aim of the study
The aim of this study is to analyse the teacher assessment in South Korea, which is one of the most successful countries in the international tests; and to make suggestions to the Ministry of Education and Culture in the TRNC and to the researchers who would like to contribute to the progress of the education system in the TRNC.

Method
The research was carried out via document analysis method, which is a process of surveying the related documents in the subject matter (Yildirim & Simsek, 2013).An inscribed text is one that is organised and audited in advance, which makes it a qualified data resource.Such kind of data contributes to the validity and dependability of the qualitative research, which is the reason to adopt this method for this study (Yildirim & Simsek, 2013).
The data were collected by examining scientific articles, press releases, South Korean and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cypriot Ministry of Education web pages, laws and regulations and the World Bank, OECD and EURYDICE reports.

The condition in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Teachers' professional assessment and registry records are taken into consideration during their promotions, disciplinary proceedings and when becoming permanent personnel.To have a positive record, it is necessary to have an average of at least 45 points in some specific criteria on the 'Assessment for teacher registry record form'.These criteria are general attitude, professional efficiency and professional success (Regulation of Teacher Registry Record of the TRNC, 1990).
There are four parts on the forms.The first part is filled by the teacher himself.The second part is filled by the headmaster, the third part by the education office administrator, who is the second registry chief, and the fourth part by the highest registry chief, who is the Minister of Education, or by someone who represents him.The teacher is supposed to make his self -evaluation in the first part of the form.The teacher has to fill-in this part with the subjects that he is responsible for teaching during that academic year, his extra-curricular activities, social, cultural, sports and suchlike activities that he is involved in.In addition to these, the teacher has to state the conferences and in-service courses he attended and the scholarships he had during the year.
The second part of the form is exactly the same as the third and consists of the following criteria: Each section is marked out of 100 and the average point is calculated (Regulation of Teacher Registry Record of the TRNC, 1990).
Apart from this, under the Regulation of Teachers' Conferment of the TRNC (1990), teachers could be rewarded with a certificate of thanks, a certificate of appreciation and/or an amount equal to three-months' gross salary.Teachers who have great achievements compared to their peers, publications on education and culture or interpretations or compilations which are recognised by the ministry, an average of 90 or more points for the annual assessment for Teacher Registry Record are honoured with a certificate of thanks.According to the regulation, teachers with a scientific or literary published work, certificates of thanks for three years consecutively, a vocational research, published work and discovery are to be honored with a certificate of appreciation.A prize amount is only awarded to teachers who averted a damage, a disaster or an extreme danger, who risked his life, who endeavoured for the advantage of the school or provided gains for the public.
Central Conferment Council negotiates with the teachers' union about the conferment of the teachers.The conferment awarded to a teacher is taken into consideration for promotional purposes.The criteria for teachers' conferment are as follows:  Teacher's social and personal condition: Personality, competence in service, purposive effort for success, equity and fairness, accountability, harmoniousness, affairs, not having bad habits to disgrace the profession, general knowledge, job devotion, organisation, adherence to the laws and regulations, compliance to the charges. Professional experience and efficiency: Knowledge about the syllabus, classroom management, subject preparation, efficiency in lecturing and material usage, communication with peers and parents, involvement in school issues, communication with students and guidance, participation in subject-related and extra-curricular activities. Each criterion is marked out of 5 points and added up.Teachers who are nominated throughout the country are listed according to their marks.

The condition in South Korea
South Korea uses three different systems to assess teachers: A new teacher assessment system to help teachers' professional development was introduced in South Korea in 2010, to promote accountability of teachers.Teachers who are employed at public and private primary, middle and high schools are subject to this assessment system.The points to consider for evaluation include lecturing and guidance of students by the teachers.The criteria to assess accountability include class preparation, teaching, evaluation and feedback, guidance of each student both inside and outside the school and social life guidance (Lee, 2010).These items are evaluated by students, parents and peers.Students and parents provide the system with their degree of satisfaction with the teacher and provide feedback to each teacher by expressing their opinions.Colleagues observe each other's classroom performance.Schools and educational district offices establish a committee to carry out the assessment system objectively and in a proper manner.Considering the assessment results, teachers have to offer a professional efficiency self -improvement plan.Plans to support the teacher assessment system are to be developed by schools, districts and the government (Jang, 2016).The main aim is to evaluate whether teachers' ability levels meet the set standards.The teacher appraisal for professional development excludes kindergarten teachers.Evaluation standards are autonomously developed by schools to fit the school characteristics (Kim et al., 2010).
The major evaluation procedures for the teacher evaluation system designed by the MEST are as follows:  A department in charge of teacher evaluation management and an evaluation management committee composed of teachers, parents and experts have to be established by each school.To guarantee the objectivity of evaluation, non-teacher committee members must be more than 50% of the total number of members.Discussing the implementation plan of the evaluation system is the committee's responsibility.
 In addition to peer review, student and parent satisfaction survey focusing on 18 evaluation criteria, some of which are on teaching skills, is carried out to evaluate teachers' performance. The reason for conducting a parent satisfaction survey is the objective of expanding the former way of survey which only involved teachers.The update includes forms to be filled by parents on which they are supposed to fill in their satisfaction level for each teacher.
 Although the evaluation should be made via the internet, parents who have problems in going online are delivered the questionnaire in a sealed envelope.
The MEST took the following precautions for the implementation of the teacher evaluation system to take root:  Teachers had to attend in-service training about the evaluation system. Students and parents were informed about the evaluation system and the desirable attitude in evaluating teachers. Parents' active participation was encouraged (MOE, 2010).
The government provides schools with some autonomy.Schools are not required to include students' achievement in assessing teachers.The Korean Educational Longitudinal Study findings indicate that some schools use student achievement in appraising teachers' competency (Jang, 2016).
Parents and students evaluate the teachers via satisfaction checklists and subjective assessment questionnaires.The teacher himself is provided with the results to identify their weak points in professionalism.Disciplinary punishments and dismissal from school are penalties that a teacher who have serious problems in his teaching capacity may have to face (Park, 2010).Kim et al. (2010) stated that the teacher appraisal for professional development is enforced once a year.The satisfaction survey of students and parents may be applied more than once a year depending on the condition and needs of the school.Only the teacher, the school principal and vice principal can access the individual appraisal results.Teacher's objection to the results is considered, concluded and a conclusive report is written and delivered to the headmaster and the local office of education.The results of the teacher appraisal for performance are reported to the person who is in charge of employment to be considered for transference and rewarding.As article 45 of the Regulation on the Promotion of Educational Civil Servants prescribes, the results are to be refe rred to in making a list of candidates for promotion.Schools and local educational authorities supply training on appraisal, and the government provides comprehensive self-development training programmes.
In addition, performance-based incentive system has been operating since 2001 which aims to enhance the quality in education and improve the teachers' mood.Performance-based incentive system assesses teacher's contribution to the school's attainment of academic goals.Screening committees set up by schools determine incentive levels and standards for judgement (Kim et al., 2010).When promoting the teachers appraisal for performance, the results constitute part of the total evaluation points.Out of 213 points, a minimum of 100 points for work performance is required in order to be considered for promotion (Kim et al., 2010).

Conclusion
The regulations in the TRNC have not been revised or improved for many years.There have not been any reforms to include the changes and contemporary practices in the field of educational administration since 1990.Headmasters exceptionally observe teachers in the classroom.Teacher registry records and supervisors' reports are only taken into consideration when the teachers are to be approved as permanent staff members.
There are two teacher assessment systems in the TRNC, and three in South Korea.In the TRNC, students and parents do not have a say in teacher assessment.On the other hand, in South Korea, a satisfaction survey involving students and parents is conducted at least once a year.In addition to these, there is no peer review in the TRNC, while in South Korea teache rs assess their peers.South Korean government granted autonomy to the schools to a certain degree, but in the TRNC this is not the case.
Although the criteria for teachers' conferment in the TRNC is similar to the criteria for performancebased incentive system in South Korea, in the TRNC, each criterion is marked out of 5 and in South Korea, each criterion was assigned a different grade range.This may indicate that in South Korea, the degree of significance of each criterion was taken into consideration in determining the grade ranges.
In the TRNC, teachers' having the opportunity to self-evaluate could be regarded as a favourable implementation.Both in South Korea and in the TRNC, the headmaster is also involved in the assessment process.In the TRNC, the headmaster and the registry chief fill in the registry record form about teachers.In South Korea, the headmaster is only one of the evaluators who are involved in teacher appraisal for professional development and teacher appraisal for performance.It can be concluded that the assessment system in South Korea provides more objective results on account of the involvement of various parties and evaluation of the teacher in a process.This system protects the teacher against the risk of unjust evaluation by the headmaster.
It seems like the implementation in South Korea has a great amount of pressure over teachers.Rewards and harsh penalties such as dismissal could be the result.Therefore , it can be said that teachers' organisational commitment is under the risk of not going beyond conformity.According to Balci (2003), the conformity is the first phase of organisational commitment and it is very superficial.
At this phase, obligation shapes the individual's behaviours.The individual conforms not for the sake of the organisation, but because he is afraid of being punished or in order to be rewarded.Selfinterest is the reason.He conforms to get a pay rise or a promotion.This situation could be an obstacle to reach the main goal, success.Atar (2009) poi nted out that devotion to school promotes school success.
On the other hand, the teacher appraisal system in South Korea uses external reinforcement.As Parkman (2001) stated, transactional leaders try to motivate the workers via rewards.They tend to get things going by the use of external reinforcements (Bass, 2000).When the literature is reviewed, the researches that focus on the relationship between organisational commitment and intrinsic motivation indicate that intrinsic motivation increases organisational commitment (Choong, Wong & Lau, 2011;Lam & Gurland, 2008;Moon, 2000).
Though South Korea rewards perfect performance, the regulations in the TRNC requires rewards for extraordinary accomplishments.Overall, the TRNC regards neither rewards nor punishments; South Korea uses rewards and punishments as a means to motivate the teachers.

Recommendations
With the cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Culture of the TRNC and scholars in educational administration, a new teacher appraisal system could be developed.
Teacher appraisal and conferment systems in other countries which have the highest academic success could be examined, as well.
Student satisfaction surveys could be disputable because they are filled in by adolescents who have mercurial tempers.
Penalising teachers in South Korea as a result of teacher appraisal could be discussed in terms of its effects on feelings of inadequacy and lack of job guarantee, and their impact on organisational commitment for self-interest and estranged commitment could be a subject of another research.
Student behaviour is a factor that shapes in-class activities.Since it is necessary to take student discipline into consideration when evaluating the efficiency of a teacher, the disciplinary regulation f or students' in South Korea should also be examined to assure the fairness of the current teacher appraisal system.South Korean teacher appraisal system might cause the teacher to feel oppressed and stressed.South Korea and countries which use similar appraisal systems could be examined in terms of psychological effects of this kind of approach on teachers.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.The criteria for performance-based incentive system and their points Source: Adapted from Kim et al. (2010).

Table 1 .
Teacher assessment systems in South Korea, authorities and executive bodies