South Korea—Education System

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Confucianism dominated education in Korea until the end of the nineteenth century, when a modern schooling system was introduced. During the Koryo dynasty (918–1392) and the Choson dynasty (1392–1910), civil officials were selected through the state examination system, which tested mainly an applicant's knowledge of Confucianism. This system made the learning of Confucian classics an educational tradition of the elite class.

In 1895, a royal decree mandating education reform established a modern education system. King Kojong (d. 1907) started to build public primary, secondary, vocational, and normal schools in the capital and in the provinces. Many private schools were also founded around the country. The modernizing of education under the Choson dynasty was interrupted, however, by the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1905. Korean education was restored in 1945, when the country was liberated from Japanese colonial rule.

The South Korean education system consists of five parts: preschool, primary, secondary, higher, and continuing education.

Preschool education is carried out by nursery schools and kindergartens. Nursery schools and kindergartens are mostly private institutes, some of which get financial support from the government. Two-thirds of students are enrolled in private kindergartens. Fifty percent of children three to five years of age receive preschool education. Generally, parents pay substantial amounts for preschool education.

Primary education is compulsory and free from the age of six for six years. The enrollment rate for primary schooling reached 100 percent in the early 1960s. Almost all primary schools are public, enrolling 90 percent of all students.

Secondary education lasts for six years: three years in middle school and three years in high school. Students enter middle school generally at the age of twelve. Middle school education is compulsory andfree. The enrollment rate is 100 percent for children twelve to fourteen years; 23 percent are enrolled in private middle schools. Almost all graduates from middle schools advance to high school.

High schools provide two tracks: general academic and vocational. General high schools enroll 61 percent of the total number of high school students, while vocational high schools enroll 39 percent. Most high school students pay a tuition fee.

About 67 percent of high school graduates advance to higher education. Higher education includes junior colleges, four-year colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher learning, such as the Open University (which teaches via the Internet, broadcasting, and correspondence courses rather than classroom lectures), colleges in workplaces, and cyber colleges. Junior colleges provide two to three years of postsecondary education, with mostly vocational and technical programs. Colleges offer four years of courses at the undergraduate level. Universities provide graduate programs for masters' and doctors' degrees, as well as undergraduate programs for bachelors' degrees.

Higher education in South Korea depends heavily on private institutions, which enroll 81 percent of the total number of students. Students in higher education generally bear the substantial part of their educational costs, though students at the Open University and teachers' colleges pay only nominal tuition fees.

For all schools and universities, an academic year consists of two semesters. The first semester begins on 1 March and ends on 31 August. The second semester runs from 1 September through the end of February. The minimum number of school days for an academic year is established by law. Primary through high schools must provide instruction for more than 220 days. Colleges and universities must give lectures for more than thirty-two weeks per academic year. There are two vacations every year: summer vacation from mid-July through August and winter vacation from late December through February.

The structure of educational administration includes three layers of administrative authorities: the Ministry of Education and Human Resources, the boards of education at the municipal and provincial levels, and district offices of education at the local level.

The Ministry of Education and Human Resources (the former Ministry of Education, renamed in 2001) is the central authority responsible for executing the constitutional mandates for national education. The Ministry formulates and implements national policies and plans related to education and human-resource developments. The Ministry is also authorized to control the school curriculum and textbooks.

There are sixteen boards of education at municipal and provincial levels. Members of the board are elected by the electoral college, consisting of representatives of parents, teachers, and residents. The top executive officer of the board is the superintendent of education, who is elected every four years by the school council members. At the local level, 180 district offices of education take charge of supervising primary and middle schools as well as kindergartens in a city or county, under the direction of the provincial board of education. The head of the district education office is appointed by the provincial superintendent.

Curriculum regulation prescribes the national curriculum and the criteria for textbooks for each school level. The government determines and monitors almost every detail of curriculum, so that the curriculum contents and time allocations are uniform at each school level around the nation, with only a few variations by province. The national curriculum is subject to regular revisions every five years or so. The seventh, and current, national curriculum was implemented in the year 2000.

The government has pursued education reform since the early 1990s. The Presidential Commission on Education Reform presented an overall reform plan to the president in May 1995. The plan stressed the following points: all education must be student oriented; school and curriculum must be diversified to provide more choices in learning experience; there must be accountability in school management; equal opportunity and new technology must be adopted to facilitate continuing education; and the quality of education must be improved.

Currently the government emphasizes developing human resources to cope with the knowledge-based society. Every level and type of schooling has been reformed to meet the new challenges. At the same time, the government has proposed constructing an open system for lifelong learning, which provides everyone with learning opportunities at any time and place. An overall scheme for building a lifelong learning society was enacted in the Lifelong Education Act in March 2000.

Adams, Don, and Esther Gottlieb. (1993) Education and Social Change in Korea. New York: Garland.

Kim Shinil. (April 1987) "Korean Education Past and Present." Korea Journal 27, 4: 4–20.

Ministry of Education. (2000) Education in Korea: 1999–2000. Seoul: Ministry of Education.

——. (1996) The Korean Education System: Background Report to the OECD. Seoul: Korean Educational Development Institute.

Presidential Commission on Education Reform. (1996) Education Reform for New Education System. Seoul: Presidential Commission on Education Reform.

Shin, Se-ho. (1995) "Korea, Republic of." In International Encyclopedia of National Systems of Education, edited by T. Neville Postlethwaite. 2d ed. Oxford, U.K.: Elsevier Science, 515–524.

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