Grand prize winner of the 14th Irregular Labor Memoir Contest
A contract teacher's account of a grueling commute that required more than 500 ferry rides — and of the classroom moments she shared with students against a backdrop of vast salt flats stretching beyond the window — has been published as a book.
Author Han Hae, grand prize winner of the 14th Irregular Labor Memoir Contest, has released her debut book, "What It Means to Live as a Contract Teacher." Currently working as a social studies contract teacher at a school in Sinan-gun, South Jeolla Province, Han draws on 1,004 days she spent as a career-guidance teacher at a middle school on Sinuido island to document the harsh realities contract teachers must endure — and the vivid classroom moments that helped her push through them.
The book is more than a record of suffering or resignation.
Han filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea after being excluded from the teaching-rights violation provisions of a staff insurance policy solely because of her contract status. She also exposed the education office's unauthorized collection of career information and its unfair hiring practices, ultimately driving concrete policy reforms. Even within the precarious confines of job insecurity, she maintained solidarity with the Korean Contingent Teachers' Union and the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union's contract teacher committee, sustaining firm resistance against discrimination in schools.
Despite her unstable employment status, her calling as an educator was never temporary. Han personally designed and produced her own career-guidance teaching materials, weaving together films, drama series, pop songs, college entrance exam passages and speeches by Barack Obama. She also organized online choral music classes with a neighboring island school and international exchange lessons with a secondary school in Malaysia, using those opportunities to introduce Sinuido's sea salt to the world. Her efforts earned her a commendation from the Minister of Education for distinguished service in career education.
The book stands out as what its author calls a "three-dimensional education documentary" that goes beyond the printed page. Scanning QR codes embedded throughout brings up video footage of the waves Han loved on Sinuido, the voices of her students and the scenery of the island village.
"Even amid the sorrow of irregular labor and unjust discrimination, I wanted to transform pain into meaning through writing," Han said.
sij@heraldcorp.com
