Young Chun Kim

Now and forever: portraits of qualitative research in Korea

The purpose of this article is to explore the recent qualitative research movement in South Korea: its initiation, challenges and ultimate acceptance. Intellectual achievements are reviewed extensively to provide Western readers with a better understanding of Korean scholarship in qualitative studies. To prepare the manuscript, related literature was reviewed, and interviews were conducted with those making major contributions to the Korea qualitative research movement. Qualitative research exemplars conducted in Korean contexts are juxtaposed against studies conducted in Western contexts. The authors suggest that the Korean research community build a subjective educational theory that works best in its own practice. The authors conclude this article with a reflective tale assessing their initial missions toward deconstructing the culture of traditional educational research and acknowledgement of the numerous challenges that remain.

Transnational Curriculum Studies: Reconceptualization Discourse in South Korea

Abstract Creating transnational spaces of curriculum inquiry calls for dialogic encounters between East and West. This article makes visible, both for Western and non‐Western curriculum scholars, the historical development of curriculum studies in South Korea over the last 3 decades. Focusing on reconceptualist approaches to curriculum, the article argues for a reconfiguration of Western discourses in terms of local and regional knowledges. Beginning with the initial translation of Western texts in the 1980s and moving into the contemporary production of Korean texts on Korean practices of curriculum and schooling, the paper offers a case study in the creative challenges of merging global and local priorities. Writing “regional tales,” it is argued, sets a critical example for Western curriculum scholars while at the same time inviting links to curriculum studies and researchers in other non‐Western countries.

Elusive Images of the Other: A Postcolonial Analysis of South Korean World History Textbooks.

South Korean educators and curriculum scholars have attempted to challenge Eurocentric points of view in history education. Despite these efforts, the dominant textbooks and teaching practices in South Korea continue to project colonial epistemologies. This article argues that postcolonial inquiry into knowledge production can help expand the debate. Grounded in a framework of postcolonial theories, we examine three Korean high school world history textbooks for the ways in which they reproduce Eurocentric colonial hegemony. To conduct our study, we developed four analytical criteria: (a) constructions of Subject/Other, (b) discourses of inclusion/exclusion, (c) silencing of voices, and (d) narratives of re/colonization. Focusing on two major historical themes in the textbooks—the Discovery of New Trade Routes and the Industrial Revolution—we postulate the need to pluralize historical consciousness, reflect the contributions of the East to world history, and rethink curriculum and teaching practices.

Good and Bad Effects of Hakwon Education

This chapter discusses the effects of hakwon education on students, parents, and Korean society. Since most Korean students experience hakwon education, we need to know how it influences educational life, students’ learning, and society. In relation to this topic, Bray (Adverse effects of private supplementary tutoring: Dimensions, implications, and government response (pp. 29–38). Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning, UNESCO, 2003) first noted its roles and impact in three dimensions: mainstream schools, students, and society. Based on data from many nations, he showed that it has positive and negative impacts on these three dimensions (pp. 29–38). According to his analysis, the positive effects are as follows: complementary teaching of subjects not learned at school and individualized instruction for fast learners. On the other hand, the negative effects are as follows: imbalance in the curriculum between school and hakwons; student’s physical fatigue; reproduction of social inequality; boredom at school; and teachers’ ignoring fast learners.

Middle School Years

This chapter, I would like to illustrate the experiences of Korean middle school students at hakwons. After primary school, Korean students also head to hakwons as they enter middle school. Moreover, middle school students spend more time and study harder at hakwons than they did as elementary school students. From now on, I will describe a prototype of middle school students’ three-year long lives at hakwons. Through this, we can understand how Korean middle school students experience hakwons as their learning/living spaces compared with their school lives.

High School Years

This chapter describes Korean high school students’ hakwon experiences. As well we know, high school days are the most important period for Korean students not only for college admission, but also for their future. To compete with other students and to enter highly ranked colleges, what they learn at school is not enough and most high school students rely on extra learning at hakwons. This means that they continue to study after school at hakwons. This is an aspect of the excessive and competitive learning culture. In the light of this, the chapter is devoted to understanding Korean high school students’ lives with regards to hakwon education. For this purpose, I first describe the typical three years of high school education, and then the characteristics of hakwon education for high school students.

History of Shadow Education in Korea

Since the 1950s, private tutoring for college admission exams has spread widely in Korea, raising social controversies and tension within society that the government has consistently implemented policies to reduce (Ko 2013). However, in spite of these policies, the place of hakwons in Korean education has increased sharply in numerous aspects, for example, the number of hakwons, the expenditure on hakwons, the number of enrolled students, and the number of teachers. According to Lee et al. (2010), participation rates in hakwons have increased rapidly, totaling 6.23% in 1979, 14.9% in 1980, 59.4% in 1997 and 75.1% in 2008.

PISA, Korean Students’ World-class Achievements and Dark Side of Korean Schooling

Korea is well known internationally for its excellence in education: the high academic achievements of its students, Korean parents’ enthusiasm for their children’s education, its teachers’ high levels of commitment, and so on. Of these, Korean students’ notable levels of academic achievement in international tests such as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are often cited as evidence that Korea is a model of public schooling and teaching. Indeed, Koreans are proud of how these TIMMS and PISA scores have garnered foreign recognition for the quality of Korean schooling.

Hakwon Education as a Worldwide Curriculum Question

In previous chapters, we researched the various types of hakwons and the life of students in elementary hakwons to high school hakwons. Moreover, we reviewed the positive and negative aspects in hakwon education. In this chapter, I would like to present the possible theme dealing with hakwon education as a promising upcoming realm of curriculum studies worldwide based on experiences in Korea. There are several possible research topics for curriculum studies in hakwon education that could be studied more in depth. I propose six research topics on hakwon/shadow education for curriculum studies: (1) hakwon/shadow education and ecology of education; (2) hakwon/shadow education on child development; (3) individualization; (4) students’ lived experience at hakwons; (5) hakwon educators; and (6) curriculum and teaching strategies of hakwons.

Elementary School Years

Before discussing the hakwon experiences of Korean elementary school students in depth, we need to look at an elementary school student’s general daily routine, given that the after-school life of Korean elementary school students is closely related to their educational experiences in a hakwon. Consider what elementary school students in Korea do after school. Are they to be found in twos and threes in alleys, just like 20 years ago, playing hide and seek, and Korean hacky sack until the sun sets and going home when mom yells for them―wishing they did not have to stop playing!― having dinner with the family, and going to bed after doing their homework? The answer is “No.”