Government legislation ministry rules academy professor service counts as education career

The government legislation ministry said that service as a military professor at one of South Korea's military academies counts as education experience for candidates seeking to become a provincial education superintendent.

The ruling, issued in response to a query from the education ministry, settles whether a military professor's time at the Army, Navy or Air Force academies can be counted toward the three years of education experience that the Local Education Autonomy Act requires of anyone registering as a superintendent candidate.

The ministry found that the academies qualify as educational institutions established under separate law that confer a level of schooling equivalent to those named in the Higher Education Act. The Service Academies Establishment Act requires the Army, Navy and Air Force each to operate an academy, treats them as four-year universities and awards graduates a bachelor's degree.

Military professors are officers and civilian military employees holding qualifications set out in the Higher Education Act and appointed as professor, associate professor or assistant professor. Academy instructors are subject to the same qualification standards as university faculty because the academies' general studies and master's programs operate under the Higher Education Act.

The ministry said counting military professor service at the academies as education experience fits the purpose of the candidate requirement, which is to ensure that education administration is led by people with professional expertise and experience in schooling.

Under the Local Education Autonomy Act, a superintendent candidate must hold at least three years of qualifying experience, whether from a single category or a combination, as of the start of the candidate registration period. Education experience is defined as service as a teacher at kindergartens, schools under the early childhood, elementary and secondary and higher education acts, or equivalent institutions established under other laws.