This study intended to examine the issues, causes, and possible solutions of Master
Teacher System using Bolman & Deal’s reframing approaches, which are developed to
provide solutions for issues and problems occurring at an organization. To this end, five
focus group interviews (FGI) were conducted within a group of each position such as
general teacher, head teacher, master teacher as well as principal and deputy principal.
Based on the findings from the FGIs, the issues, causes and possible solutions for those
issues were revealed. First, in terms of the structural frame, the FGI participants raised the
issue of unclear status and roles of master teachers due to an unclear law regarding master
teacher system, and then suggested to bolster a law to support master teachers’ legal status
and roles. In terms of the human resource frame, the teachers and school administrators
argued to make a system for selecting master teachers more rigorous so that teachers and
school administrators can acknowledge master teachers’ professional abilities. From the
political frame, the participants pointed out the issues of politics and conflicts between
master teachers and deputy principals, who have had the most similar status and roles with
master teachers. As a possible solution for the issue, master teachers were suggested to have
leadership skills to establish good relationships with others including deputy principals in
schools. From the symbolic frame, the master teacher system, which includes the nature of
horizontal culture, has conflicted with hierarchical and seniority-based culture which has
dominated Korean schools. As a solution for the issue, the FGI participants suggested for
master teachers to foster instructional leadership in order to lead teaching-oriented culture.