교원의 표현의 자유와 품위 유지 의무 - 부산 S 초등 교사의 징계 사건을 중심으로 -

A teacher is a person who teaches students from a future-oriented, value-creating standpoint. Freedom of expression is people’s basic rights, but for teachers, free expression of opinion also has a significance as an important element in realizing the people's right to education. Considering that Korea's ideals of education provide a quality requisite to a democratic citizen, teachers’ freedom of expression critical in developing creative educational activities and stimulating to produce students' independent thinking and judgment. Therefore, their freedom of expression should not be overly curtailed on the pretext of teachers’ duty of dignity maintenance. We should not easily determine that teachers’ duty of dignity maintenance is violated simply because it causes a scandal or brings a lot of complaints about teachers’ expression. It is undesirable to hold teachers responsible for violating the duty of dignity maintenance including even somewhat negative or exaggerated expressions, as long as a teacher’s expression does not lead to malicious or derogatory expressions that distort, slander, and defame the facts in criticizing someone. Teachers’ freedom of expression is not pertaining to their work and if it is not related to political neutrality, the freedom of expression should be guaranteed as much as possible by allowing challenging expression, openness, and adventurous freedom.