Busan's national, public, and private secondary teacher recruitment exam is set to see a decrease of 228 positions compared to last year.
Although the number of applicants has also declined, the reduction in recruitment size has led to an increase in the overall competition rate, rising from 5.9 to 1 last year to 7.8 to 1 this year.
The Busan Education Office announced on October 21 that for the 2027 academic year, 3,662 candidates applied for 471 positions.
According to comparative data provided by the education office, in the 2026 academic year, there were 4,113 applicants for 699 positions, resulting in a competition rate of 5.9 to 1.
This year, the total number of expected recruits across national, public, and private schools has decreased by 228 (32.6%), while the number of applicants has dropped by 451 (11.0%). The competition rate has increased due to a larger proportional decrease in recruitment size compared to the number of applicants.
An official from the education office explained that the rise in competition rate is due to the significant reduction in recruitment numbers despite a relatively stable number of applicants.
In the general recruitment for public secondary school teachers, 2,956 candidates applied for 312 positions, resulting in a competition rate of 9.5 to 1.
By subject, music had the highest competition rate at 21.4 to 1, with 150 applicants for 7 positions. History followed with a rate of 20.1 to 1, as 201 candidates applied for 10 positions, while Earth Science recorded a rate of 14.5 to 1 with 58 applicants for 4 positions.
For Korean, 506 candidates applied for 45 positions, yielding a competition rate of 11.2 to 1; for English, 288 applicants vied for 36 positions, resulting in a rate of 8 to 1; and for math, 251 candidates applied for 42 positions, leading to a rate of 6 to 1.
Information and Computer Science had the lowest competition rate among public secondary school subjects, with 75 applicants for 16 positions, resulting in a rate of 4.7 to 1. Conversely, the special needs recruitment for public secondary school teachers saw only 18 applicants for 26 positions, resulting in a rate of 0.7 to 1. The education office reported that it could not fill the recruitment quotas in 8 subjects.
For public special education school teachers, 88 candidates applied for 17 general recruitment positions, yielding a competition rate of 5.2 to 1. In the special needs recruitment, 1 position was filled by 1 applicant. This recruitment includes not only general subjects like Korean, math, and English but also health, librarian, counseling, nutrition, and secondary special education teachers.
In private secondary schools, 583 first-choice applicants applied for 112 positions, resulting in a competition rate of 5.2 to 1. Additionally, there were 1,440 second-choice applications due to simultaneous applications to public and private schools.
The competition rate for private schools announced by the education office is based on first-choice applicants, excluding second-choice applications. National secondary school teachers will select 3 candidates for navigation subjects, with 16 applicants, resulting in a competition rate of 5.3 to 1.
The first written exam is scheduled for November 28. The exam location will be announced on November 20 at 10 a.m. on the Busan Education Office website.
Candidates must bring their admission ticket and identification to the designated exam room by 8:30 a.m. on the exam day. Final registration status by subject and detailed exam information can be found on the Busan Education Office's 'Notices and Announcements' page.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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