Analysis of Domestic Research Trends Related to Teachers’ Rights: Focusing on Korean Academic Journals from 2000 to March 2024

Objectives The purposes of this study is to analyze the trends of studies related to “teachers’ rights” that have been published in Korean academic journals to identify the current status of research on teachers’ rights, and to suggest policy implications and future research directions to clarify the rights and roles of teachers. Methods A total of 101 articles published in Korean academic journals from 2000 to March 2024 were selected as the research subjects. The content was analyzed and frequencies were calculated based on the research period, research subjects, research methods, and research topics through classification criteria and inter-rater agreement verification. Results First, the research topics were classified into six major topics, and 31 subtopics were derived based on them. Among the major topics, the most frequent three topics were “teachers’ rights,” “infringement of teachers’ rights,” and “protection of teachers’ rights,” accounting for 86.2%. In terms of subtopics, articles related to “rights,” “power,” “authority,” and “status” were the most studied at 18.1%. Second, the timing of the research shows that the issue of “teachers’ rights” is gaining significant attention in society, as can be seen in a large number of articles published starting in 2012 and an explosive increase in 2023, more than 10 times that of the previous year. Third, in terms of research subjects, 66.3% of the articles targeted human subjects and 33.7% targeted material subjects, such as literature reviews. Fourth, in terms of research methodology, a variety of research techniques are being utilized, with literature reviews being the most common (44.6%). Conclusions Based on these findings, this paper discussed the policy implications of research on “teachers’ rights” and the diversification and deepening of future research directions.