Many juvenile training schools faced problems of excessive workload of staff caused by the day and night shifts, as well as reinforcing substances of correctional of education. In 2018, to deal with these problems, the system of separating works of correctional education and detention was first introduced as a p ilot p rogram a t by two juvenile t raining s chools in Gwangju and Bus an. The system has now been expanded nationwide (excluding Jeju Juvenile Training School).

The purpose of this study is to identify the operating conditions of the system of separating works of correctional education and detention as three years have passed since the implementation of the system, and to suggest a more effective operation measures based on outcomes of research on it. To this end, survey and interviews were conducted for juvenile training school staff. Main results of the s urvey a re s ummarized as follows .

First, workload of staff of juvenile training school was examined under the system of separating works of correctional education and detention. When looking at the average weekly working hours of staff, 59.6 percent of respondents answered that they work less than 40 hours a week, followed by 41-50 hours (29.6%) and more than 50 hours (10.3%). By team, 15.1 percent of staff of support teams answered that they work over 50 hours per week, which was higher than that of detention teams (15.1%) and correctional education teams (2.0%). With regard to the average monthly overtime hours by team, correctional education teams and detention teams showed the highest rates of no overtime work (46.4% and 37.1%, respectively). However, for the same question, 28 percent of support teams answered that their monthly average overtime hours were 21-40 hours and the same number replied they work more than 40 extra hours on average in a month, while only less tan 10% of support teams answered they do not work extra hours.

With regard to the frequency of night shifts on weekdays or day and night shifts on Saturdays and holidays, 37.5% of respondents answered that they work night shift more than 4 times a month, 33.1% answered that they do not night s hift work at all, followed by 2 times a month (15.2%), 3 times or one time in a month (7.6%) and 6.5%, respectively. Only 8.0% of staff of support team replied they do not work night shift at all, which is much lower than other teams.

The next question was about staff’s perception of current work. The item marked the highest percentage of positive responses regarding work performance (the percentage of respondents who answered yes to each item) was cooperation with other staff (90.9%). followed by smooth transfer of duties (85.2%), clarity of performance goals (80.9%), and appropriate workload (77.5%). Regarding questions about work load and difficulties of their duties, 82.8 percent of respondents answered that they usually perform multiple roles at the same time, 78.6% pointed out work fatigue while 71.6% replied unexpected substitution of coworkers.

Regarding overall working conditions, those who answered they are generally satisfied with their work was around 60 percent, which is higher than those who were unsatisfied (around 30%). In detail, overall work satisfaction of staff of team for correctional education and those for detention was higher than those of support team.

The study examined the views of staff on transfer of duties. Questions about hours the respondents spend for joint work with co-workers, 47.5% answered that they work together with co-workers less than an hour, 22.4% said less than 30 minutes, 18.9% said less than 10 minutes, and 11.2% said they do not work together with others. Next, methods of transfer of duties, 56.3% answered they do both in writing or orally, 40.1% and 0.9% of respondents replied they do orally or in writing respectively. In response to the question about what is necessary for smooth transfer of duties, 90% of the responses said setting a clear range of duties transfer, the clear scope of responsibility for each staff, appropriate joint working hours, and smooth communication between those who hand over duties and take over as well as within the team are necessary (jointly). The study found that all those factors are important for smooth transfer of duties.

Third was the perception of the education/accommodation team. As for tasks with the best working conditions, more than 30 percent of the respondents said that the working conditions are the same for any tasks with the detention team (on-call duty team). About opinions of the tasks with the worst working conditions, 30.7 percent answered that tasks of the support team, and 27.4% said all tasks are all the same. As the most recognized task in the organization, 40.2 percent pointed out work related to detention (life guidance), followed by the answer that all tasks were recognized (19.9%), and work for correctional education and training only (administration aspect) and correctional education and training only (correctional education aspect) were 19.4% and 13.8%, respectively. With regard to the work that they most want to be assigned, 32.4% answered that types of work do not matter to them, followed by detention related work (on call duty) 21.5%, education-only (administration) 19.2%, and education-only (education) 18.6%, etc. Questions about works that they most want to avoid, 33.5% answered that all works are the same for them, 25.8% of the support team, and 13.4% and 13.1% of training-only (education) and detention (on-call duty), respectively.

Next question were about the perception of the support team, which accounted for a large proportion of works with the worst working conditions and that were pointed out as the most unwanted to be assigned. Although 80% of the respondents said that they well recognize of importance of the support team for operation of correctional education, training, and detention of juveniles in training schools, negative responses about compensation as well as predicable assignment of support tasks were more than positive ones. The survey results with higher negative responses to supportive works suggest that improvement measures should be taken for stable operation of the support team.

Fourth, the respondents were asked about how they think about the effect of the system of work separation of correctional education and detention. Reduction of overtime hours (80.6%) marked the highest score among the answers about the effectiveness of the system of separating works of correctional education and detention, followed by continuity of tasks (77.3%) and help in concentrating on separative tasks between correctional education and detention tasks (76.5%), task performance (75.6%), personal life security (74.9%), reinforcement of substances of correctional education (73.6%), freely use of leave (68.2%), possibilities for students to get help from teachers with expertise depending on issues (64.3%), help with stable management of detention (62.8%), efficient work performance through team collaboration (60.6%), response to students’ requests for help (59.9%), reduction of work fatigue (59.4%), reduction of job stress (59.0%), strengthening relationships with students (56.4%), and resolving conflicts over tasks between staff (53.2%) were in that order. In addition, to the question about increase in the overall job satisfaction with separation of work of correctional education and detention system, around 60 percent of respondents said yes. The survey results found that the system of separating works of correctional education and detention, has a positive effect on the job satisfaction of staff. By team, in the case of the support team, the perception of the effect of the system of separating works of correctional education and detention,was lower than that of other teams.

Fifth, about difficulties (problems) of separating work of correctional education and detention, 40.1 percent of respondents pointed out increase in workload, manpower shortage (39.5%), lack of cooperation between teams (38.6%), and avoidance of responsibility (33.6%). By team, the support team answered increase in workload as difficulty of their work (66.0%), which was higher than the correctional education team and the detention team the (30% respectively).

Sixth, when asked about the matters necessary for the effective operation of the system of separation of work of correctional education and detention, the majority number of respondents (96.7%) answered that organic cooperation between staff for correctional education and detention is necessary. Next, followed guaranteeing appropriate working hours for staff in the support team (standby team for supportive tasks) (94.4%), setting a clear scope of work between staff for correctional education and that for detention (92.1%), promoting recognition of the purpose of juvenile detention among staff (91.3%), increase in the number of personnel for correctional education (90.7%) and the support team (standby team) (90.6%). On the other hand, when they were questioned about working hours and incentives for each team, respondents answered that certain working hours and incentives should be specified for the support team compared to other teams (the correctional education team and detention team). With survey results, the study found that juvenile training school staff believes that, regardless of current tasks and work that they are in charge of, guaranteeing appropriate working hours and providing incentives for staff of support team (standby team) are required.

Lastly, the study presents suggestions to improve the system of separating works of correctional education and detention, based on outcomes of survey and interviews with staff of juvenile training schools. First of all, what are needed to improve the current system from the operational perspective, lessening workload on the support team, clear defining business scope of the detention team (on-call duty team), distributing work of the correctional education team, promoting communication and organic cooperation between team staff, and planning optimal duty rotation roaster, strengthening expertise of staff, increase incentives in proportion to their work. Next, in order to harden the foundation for the system of separating works and tasks for correctional education and detention, recommendations that the study presents are to increase manpower, to support the Ministry of Education to reinforce substances of education, and to improve facilities.