The use of contract teachers is pervasive in Korean schools, especially in
private schools. While contract teachers are temporary teachers, both in public
and private schools, private school teachers have incentives to work harder to
get a permanent job offer. This implies that public school contract teachers
may have negative effects on students’ academic achievement, but private
school contract teachers may have either positive or negative effects. This
paper estimates the effects of contract teachers on students’ academic
achievement and school satisfaction. The findings indicate that public school
contract teachers have negative effects on Korean and English test scores,
while private school contract teachers have positive effects on the test scores
of the two subjects. No effects were found on math test score. In addition,
contract teachers had positive effects on school satisfaction in private schools,
but had no effects in public schools.