New Discipline Laws

According to my co-teachers, some new laws were recently passed in the Seoul and Gyeonggi-do education offices that basically prohibit any sort of discipline whatsoever.  I don't do too much in the way of discipline.  The only thing I've done is made a few students stand in the back of the room.  For about 5 severely bad kids (i.e. bullying, fighting, seriously disrupting the class) I took away their book or pencil case and then had them write a letter for their homeroom teacher to sign.  Once I got the signed letters back I would give them their belongings back.  One of my co-teachers said that we can't do any of these things anymore (not to mention smack them on the head like all three of my co-teachers are known for).  I was just wondering if anyone else out there had heard of this, and if so what [mod edit: ...] are we supposed to do for those kids that only go to English class with the intention of [mod edit: being rude to] everyone else?

The new law bans any form of physical punishment, eg. hitting, pushups etc but it would not ban what you are doing.  Whatever form of discipline you decide on, run it by your co-teacher first then you know that you are not doing something 'illegal'.

I just heard about this as well. I think it refers more to physical touching from what I heard, as a child may think you are going to hit them.  I don't think it would be any different from how it is back home (in US and Canada) that you can't touch the children or be aggressive towards them in anyways.

But I agree this doesn't mean that you can't punish them in other ways that aren't violent.

I haven't had this very clearly explained and I'd love to have it translated in detail, but here's my take anyway:

The law bans teachers from touching students, from regulating hair length, and from banning phones schoolwide.

Now, I'm not sure, but I think the law leaves much to the interpretation of the schools, or at least that's what's happening. Some schools/teachers are taking this to mean push ups, raising the hands, what have you are included in the ban. They also seem to think it means we're not allowed to take away their phones at all.

I really really really wish that before dropping this bomb on the nation's education system they had properly notified and trained all the teachers or at least department heads and principals in the ins and outs of the new law.

[mod edit: removed last sentence]

Yes you can not touch a child. The teachers at my school have also been advised that they can not raise their voice ever. They must always speak softly to a child. Also, they can never touch a child's cell phone. No matter how much they pull it out during class, it is their property and teachers can not take it... not a fan of the last point.