Reconceptualizing kindergarten education in South Korea: a postcolonial approach

This article examines the relevance of postcolonialism in early childhood education, with special reference to the kindergarten education system of South Korea. Most of the research on Korean kindergarten education has conceptualized it as preparing children for their later schooling and helping them learn the moral and social values most desired by society. In order to problematize such a monolithic conceptualization of kindergarten education, this article intends to reconceptualize it by analysing Korean kindergarten education in the context of its postcolonial condition. Using a postcolonial framework and Foucault's concepts of power and discourse, this article provides significant insights into reclaiming kindergarten education as a historical, cultural, and discursive product. With a specific focus on different conceptions of “readiness” as an example, how kindergarten education in Korea has become hybrid through postcolonial experiences is further elaborated.     

The rise of Korean education from the ashes of the Korean War

Over the past few decades, South Korea has made remarkable achievements in education despite many obstacles. Education, in turn, has played an important role in Korea??s achieving both economic development and political democracy. This article examines how South Korea expanded access to education and improved its quality. The article also identifies several tasks Korean education faces in the context of the new challenges of globalization and social polarization, and some of the broader policy implications that the Korean model of educational development has beyond South Korea.     

韩国高职教育的特点及对我国的启示

为了适应社会经济发展的需要，韩国政府十分重视高等职业教育的发展，并在多年的发展中形成了自己的特点。通过对韩国高等职业教育特点的介绍，企望对我国高等职业教育发展有所借鉴与启示。     

韩国高等教育大众化的发展历程及其特征分析

本文在考察韩国高等教育大众化发展历程的基础上,揭示出韩国高等教育大众化以社会需求为导向、以多样化的高等教育体制为保障、以社会办学力量为主要动力等特征。韩国与中国具有许多相似的文化背景,该国高等教育大众化进程中的成功经验值得借鉴。     

Racism,Equity, and Quality of Education for International Students in South Korean Higher Education Institutes

This study aims to understand equity issues of international students’ learning in Korean higher education institutions by engaging with the issue of racism and identifies how international students in Korea reshape their learning trajectory and how we could provide equitable and quality education for international students. Espousing a qualitative case study design, six students from different background were interviewed to examine features of perceived institutional racism based on their learning experience in Korea. Major findings showed that internationalization has not been fulfilled in terms of engaging with international students although Korean government and higher education institutions have developed relevant policy to attract international students. This study indicates that Korean universities need to reconstruct their social, cultural, and institutional systems to embrace equity, diversity and inclusiveness to empower international students’ capacity.     

Japanese colonial education as a contested terrain: What

This historical analysis examines the process of structuring the Korean elementary schooling under the Japanese colonial rule for the period of 35 years, spanning from 1910 to 1945. Colonial education in Korea was used as an ideological device for perpetuating the colonization of Korea. But Koreans resisted to such education policy persistently, unlike for the case of other colonized countries in the same era. The majority of Koreans, including even a small number of pro-Japan people, irrespective of their social class status, demanded the expansion of elementary education and further took initiatives to raise necessary funds for it. Here we must realize that the aspiration of Koreans was incompatible with Japanese ruler’s intention. Korean and Japanese had different ideologies and expectations of establishing Common Schools. Japan’s colonial education resulted in unintended and unwanted consequences in Korea.     

Globalisation and citizenship education: diversity in South Korean civics textbooks

This study examines how textbooks in the Republic of Korea incorporate liberal, Western notions of diversity and multiculturalism. Through a systematic analysis of 60 civics textbooks over time, this study shows that ideas of multiculturalism and diversity have dramatically increased in the South Korean intended curriculum. While in the past, textbooks depicted South Korean society as racially and ethnically homogenous with little or no mention of disadvantaged groups or ethnic minorities, starting in the 1990s, textbooks increasingly discuss the rights of diverse groups and the need to empower these groups to address problems of social inequality. Yet, traditional citizenship narratives of national homogeneity still remain, especially in textbooks that discuss prospects for the reunification of the Korean peninsula.     

The trend of body donation for education based on Korean social and religious culture

Until a century ago, Korean medicine was based mainly on Oriental philosophies and ideas. From a religious perspective, Chinese Confucianism was prevalent in Korea at that time. Since Confucianists believe that it is against one's filial duty to harm his or her body, given to them by their parents, most Koreans did not donate their bodies or organs for education in the past. However, by the end of the 20th century, a unique fusion of Western and Oriental medicines were produced on the Korean Peninsula, revolutionizing traditional perspectives on the human body, mortality, and the relationship of medical science to society. Koreans began to think about others' lives as well as their own by realizing the importance of donating one's organs and bodies for scientific purposes. Since then, the number of people donating their bodies to Korean medical and dental schools for the purpose of improving academic learning has increased dramatically. In response, Korean medical schools have begun to hold various types of funeral ceremonies to honor body donors. We have compared such ceremonies performed in Korea with those performed in the United States of America and Taiwan. These ceremonies are viewed as a suitable way to pay proper respect to the dead and to promote knowledge about body donation programs in Korea. Overall, the transition of religions and social ethics in Korea has greatly facilitated body bequeathal programs, benefiting both medical education and the Korean public health administration.     

Higher education development in Korea: western university ideas,Confucian tradition,and economic development

The features of Korean higher education development are related to sociocultural tradition (Confucian tradition), the model university ideas, and economic development in Korea. The modern university ideas adopted in Korean are based on the German model which was established by the Japanese colonial government and drawing on the US university model after the World War II. However, the modern university ideas are intertwined with socio-cultural factors and have been embedded in current Korean universities. As well as the western ideas and the Confucian tradition, the growth of Korean higher education has relied upon the rapid growth of the Korean economy. Education development is well aligned with economic development in Korea thanks to government policy initiatives. This framework can be applied in the analysis of higher education development in other countries. Higher education development cannot be solely explained by individual cultural, historical or economic factor. These three factors are interlinked and influence the development of Korean higher education.     

A case of korean higher education reform: The brain korea 21 project

The purpose of this paper is to examine current status, issues, and visions of higher education reform in Korea by focusing on ‘Brain Korea 21’ (BK21). ‘Brain Korea 21’ (BK21), is a major higher education reform project initiated by the South Korean government to prepare Korean human resources for the 21^st century. ‘Brain Korea 21’ (BK21) aims at fostering world-class graduate schools and high quality scholars by providing funds to higher education institutions. In this paper, societal, economic and educational changes which led to the initiation of BK 21 and its implementation processes are described first. Then, some resistance and controversies against BK 21 are discussed. Major achievements of BK 21 are highlighted and future directions of higher education reform in South Korea are addressed.     

Learning to redesign teacher education: a conceptual framework to support program change

University-based teacher education faces intensifying pressure to prove its effectiveness. This has prompted renewed interest in program redesign. In this article, we argue that enacting meaningful redesign requires university-based teacher educators to learn new ways of thinking and acting not only with teacher candidates but also with their university and K-12 colleagues. Drawing on Engeström’s expansive learning theory and our own efforts to redesign our teacher education program along a practice-based teacher education model, we delineate a conceptual framework and illustrate how it supports the organizational learning necessary to enact change in university-based teacher education. The expansive learning redesign framework specifies conceptual tools and social practices to guide, enact, and sustain university-based teacher education redesign. It acknowledges the multi-organizational nature of university-based teacher education and provides tools for engaging K-12 educators in the redesign of teacher education.     

Employing subgoals in computer programming education

The rapid integration of technology into our professional and personal lives has left many education systems ill-equipped to deal with the influx of people seeking computing education. To improve computing education, we are applying techniques that have been developed for other procedural fields. The present study applied such a technique, subgoal labeled worked examples, to explore whether it would improve programming instruction. The first two experiments, conducted in a laboratory, suggest that the intervention improves undergraduate learners’ problem-solving performance and affects how learners approach problem-solving. The third experiment demonstrates that the intervention has similar, and perhaps stronger, effects in an online learning environment with in-service K-12 teachers who want to become qualified to teach computing courses. By implementing this subgoal intervention as a tool for educators to teach themselves and their students, education systems could improve computing education and better prepare learners for an increasingly technical world.     

Reflection on the education policy orientation in post-May 31 reform in Korea

For the last 70 years, since the establishment of the Republic of Korea, Korean education has achieved universal expansion of educational opportunity from elementary to secondary to higher education. Planning, centralized policy making, top-down implementation, and administrative control had been the standards of the first few decades of Korean education. The so-called May 31 education reform implemented in 1995 made a turning point for these approaches to education policy and administration by highlighting autonomy, openness, diversity, accountability, consumer centeredness, market control, and governance for quality education. However, these government-driven education reform initiatives have resulted in limiting the expected outcomes. In this paper, the authors call for a new approach to education policy and administration and propose supporting school innovation, empowering an internal accountability system in governance. The authors also suggest a search for normative values for democratic communitarianism as a new philosophical foundation of education policy framework, beyond instrumental values of education.     

Chinese perceptions of the interface between school and museum education

The current political and social backdrop in China that is characterized by rapid educational reforms to the K-12 education system, rapid growth in the number of science museum institutions, and Central Government policy which encourages collaboration between museums and school has the potential to be fertile ground for meaningful engagement between museums and schools. Notwithstanding, the Chinese K-12 education system generally does not utilize museum resources to support the curriculum, as is common in Western countries. This hermeneutic phenomenographic study elucidates the current Chinese views and perceptions among three stakeholders—school teachers, museum staffs and science educators—around this collaborative concept. The outcomes demonstrate that strongly entrenched cultural views and long-standing practices among stakeholder groups are obstacles to meaningful collaboration despite Central Government policy which encourages such engagement. The cultural values and perceptual views of stakeholder groups were discerned with the purpose of promoting mutual understandings and ultimately enabling meaningful collaboration in support of K-12 education in China.     

Higher education and equity in Portugal

Abstract

The main topic of this article is to consider the role of the State in providing higher education in Portugal, paying attention to the fact that the privatisation of higher education has been in place since the eighties (Amaral 1999) and also that it is difficult for students and their families to find the monetary resources needed for attendance at university (Cabrito 1999). The discussion focuses on the funding of higher education in a quasi‐market situation (Le Grand et al. 1993), as Portugal hasn't escaped the universal trend towards privatisation of education (Whitty et al. 1998). In the last decade, the relationship between State, universities and students has been changing rapidly (Acherman et al. 1989; Barr et al. 1993; Williams 1990; Henkel et al. 1999), and some arguments are presented that equity in access to higher education must be guaranteed (Mora 1997; UNESCO 1998; Williams 1992). In this connection, the need is argued for free attendance on higher education and State subsidies to students to cover the costs of education. Firstly, the economic and social condition of university students is presented. Using data from two periods, one academic year from the 60s and one from the 90s, the increase in the degree of equity that the university system had known in recent decades can be verified. According to the analysis, the Portuguese population in general is better represented in the university student body nowadays, than in the 60s. Therefore, it is possible to discuss the maintenance of a low degree of equity in the Portuguese university system. For this, the economic and social condition of university students is compared with ‐ that of the Portuguese population in the 90s. Secondly, the expectations of the students of higher education are presented, in order to understand the value attached by them to a university degree, which explains the social demand for education. Finally, the costs of higher education, both private and public, are evaluated. From this evaluation, it is possible to conclude that the principal source of funding of higher education costs is the student and his/her family and to discuss the need for a more interventionist State in higher education financing.     

韩国私立高等教育发展的特点

1945年韩国光复之后,韩国高等教育特别是私立高等教育迅猛发展,取得令人瞩目的成果,并形成具有韩国特色的私立高等教育体系。韩国私立高等教育享有国、公立大学一样的法律地位,成为韩国高等教育的重要组成部分。韩国私立高等教育不仅规模大,而且其质量可与国、公立大学媲美。     

A comparative perspective on Finnish higher education policy

The last decades have offered social scientists an abundance of material for studies of governmental reform policy in the area of higher education. Reforms of educational politics have been legion in great parts of the world, probably in a particulary high degree in Europe. My purpose is to describe Finnish higher education policy during the last two decades in the four policy areas of (1) quantitative planning and regionalization, (2) social recruitment, (3) governance, and (4) teaching and studies as compared to the development of Western Europe. In the second part of this paper the implementation of the Finnish higher education reforms is analyzed. The third part analyzes the development of the Finnish higher education system and focuses on the various alternatives not chosen by the government. In the final part I discuss the recent trends in Finnish higher education in respect to consistency and change.     

Achieving quality education for minorities in mathematics,science, and engineering

The QEM Network was established to serve as a focal point for the implementation of strategies designed to achieve the six goals and 58 recommendations of the QEM Project report,Education That Works: An Action Plan for the Education of Minorities. InEducation That Works, we lay out a vision of a restructured education system that would ensure quality education for, and sustained educational achievement by, minority Americans. We discuss what some of the obstacles are that stand in the way of educational equity in our nation and why it is crucial from both moral and practical perspectives to overcome these obstacles. In a second publication,Together We Can Make It Work: A National Agenda to Provide Quality Education for Minorities in Mathematics, Science, and Engineering, issued in April 1992 by QEM's MSE Network, we lay out a plan for achieving specific goals for minorities in mathematics, science, and engineering. Achieving the goals ofEducation That Works and of Together We Can Make It Work requires that the current K-12 education system be totally restructured. The system we have in place produces only an educational elite that does not include significant numbers of minority students.     

The education of academically gifted students in South Korea: Innovative approaches in shadow education

Shadow education contributes to the learning and academic careers of Korean students. It benefits, in particular, gifted students who are strongly motivated and who outperform their peers academically. In this study, we explored the innovative characteristics of shadow education curricula for gifted students in terms of curricular programmes, methods, and teaching-learning materials. Also, we explored how shadow education practices meet the academic abilities and needs of students. Informed by a literature review and qualitative research methods, the results reveal how common shadow education is; effects of shadow education; and innovative elements used in shadow education for gifted students in Korea. Overall, we found that shadow education plays a crucial role in gifted education; it is a necessary component for understanding academic excellence among students in Korea. The findings are helpful for teachers, curriculum developers, and policymakers as they explore how public schooling can help to support strongly motivated and academically advanced students.