The number of teachers holding master’s and doctorate degrees increased 55.1 percent in seven years, according to a statistics report by the Korean Educational Development Institute released Sunday.

The incentives in financial reward and promotion and their desire for self-improvement led them to attain higher education, the report said.

The report said 143,917 teachers, or 30.8 percent of the 467,627 teachers from kindergarten to high school last year, held a master’s degree, and 4,852, or 1 percent, held a doctorate.

In 2005 master’s degree holders made up 22.8 percent or 93,410 among 410,478 teachers, and doctorate holders were 0.6 percent or 2,499.

More teachers in secondary education held the higher degrees than those in pre-primary and primary education.

One-fourth, or 38 percent, of high school teachers held a master’s degree while 1.9 percent had a doctorate.

Teachers with a master’s degree took up 35.9 percent at middle school, 26.3 percent at elementary school and 13.8 percent at kindergarten, while those with a doctoral degree accounted for 0.9 percent, 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent respectively.

“Teachers are more willing to improve their expertise in teaching than before and higher degrees can help them get advantage in promotion,” said an official from a teachers’ union.

The increase reflects the trend among Koreans pursuing higher-education credentials. The number of Koreans with master’s and doctoral degrees rose consistently from 34,875 in 2006 to 41,136 in 2010.

“The increase in the number of teachers with higher educational degrees is good news to overall Korean education as children can receive a high quality education,” said Kim Dong-seok, a chief director at the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Association.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)