The purpose of this study is to investigate the present state of the
special education assistant system in Korea and to find out the
improvement plan, which has been in its 15th year since it was first
introduced in 2002.
As of 2016, there are 11,481 special education assistants, 0.6 per special
education teacher, but their recruitment standards, management, working
conditions and relationship with teachers have not improved significantly.
In addition, special education assistants are more likely to use recruitment
standards (education level above high school) and job title ("assistant") that
undermine their self-esteem, poor work environment, exposure to bodily
injury, constantly growing workload, It is recognized as a problem.
As a solution to this problem, this study suggested three ways (1) to
improve the self-esteem of a special education assistant and to improve
his/her status, (2) to improve working environment, and (3) to resolve
conflict with teachers.