In this research, we investigated the historical development and ways of improvement of the teacher employment test (TET, hereafter) in Korea. This paper consists of three parts. The first part details the secondary science teacher education system in Korea. The second part elaborates upon the development of the TET since 1990's. The third part provides conclusion by addressing ways to improve science teacher education and employment systems in Korea. After all, the keen competition for teacher education and the demanding entry test ensure that secondary science teachers are selected from a pool of candidates with high academic achievement. Korean teacher employment system in general places more weight on subject knowledge. Although we cannot simply conclude that Korean science teachers must have profound knowledge in the subject matter and are competent in pedagogy, it stands to reason that the teachers could be more competent in performing their roles than those of many western countries with an acute shortage of teachers. We also suggested future directions and ways of improvement regarding teacher education and the TET in Korea.

• Kwak, Young-Sun(Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation)
• Lee, Yang-Rak(Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation ) | Lee, Yang-Rak