http://www.koreatimes.com/article/1436519

 Perfect storm or perfect opportunity? Future Education in Korea

By Keith Yi, Adjunct Professor at Inha University

 As a Korean American educator who left the motherland almost 50 years ago, I may have a different perspective but the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the continuing globalization is inspiring education reform in Korea. The phrase “perfect storm” oftentimes refers to a rare combination of events that lead to an extremely critical and negative consequence, it is a metaphor to describe when things go terribly wrong. However, currently, the phrase could be used to describe many innovative education trends taking place in Korea that have the potential for a perfect storm to become a perfect opportunity to change the future of public education in Korea.

As the tenth-largest economy in the world, South Korea represents one of the most remarkable economic success stories of the 20^th century. The people’s passion for and state investment in education has been the driving force of national development since the end of the Korean War. However, this extraordinary economic rise came with a cost and is now being threatened. Korea is known for having one of the most merciless education systems in the world– competition over admission into top universities is extremely fierce and the suicide rate amongst young people is one of the highest in the world. Moreover, recently, Bloomberg Global News published an article titled, ‘Burden of raising kids drives South Korean fertility to world’s lowest rate.’ In the article, one of the main reasons for the lowest fertility rate is due to the cost of education, especially a substantial portion of it going to hagwon, private test-prep schools that offer an advantage in the college-admission process.

The above description of the current state of the Korean education system may paint a gloomy picture, but in contrast, there are a number of positive things happening. Educational innovators who “think outside the box” in Daegu and Jeju are disrupting the status quo in their educational communities by partnering with the International Baccalaureate (IB) to implement its core principles such as internationally-mindedness, learner profile, and approaches to teaching and learning. Since the IB is an international educational organization that is driven by its mission to create ‘a better world through education,’ schools are nurturing students as they become compassionate, culturally aware global citizens who think globally and act locally.

Not long ago, Mr. Olli-Pekka Heinonen, the eighth Director General of International Baccalaureate (IB), a former Education Minister of Finland, visited South Korea for high-level engagement with influential educators and offices of education from around the country. The purpose was to participate in an important discussion with Korean educators of how we can better prepare students for the future.

Although the pandemic has given rise to many challenges, it has provided an opportunity, a reset of sorts, to reimagine education in Korea. Like the conceptual learning framework, “Transformative Competencies for 2030,” developed by OECD several years ago, current Korea’s education reform is more competency-based and student-centered. Furthermore, there are plans to establish a credit-based evaluation system for high school students and a renewed focus on digital literacy and AI– these are all positive changes that will ensure the development of students’ knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values to meet the challenges of the 21^st century.

Another area that is receiving a lot of attention from the education community is assessment. Korea is famous for the current college entrance exam called su-neung, which is mostly knowledge-based and summative. The infamous 8-hour exam has been covered by media outlets like CNN and BBC for bringing the whole country to a standstill for one day each November. I’m not sure if it’s true, but I have heard that the stock market opens late, and planes are grounded briefly or rerouted on the day of the exam. Many educators in Korea acknowledge that su-neung, a multiple-choice type of evaluation, does not accurately assess 21^st-century skills and competencies. Therefore, as part of the education reform, there are plans to institute essay-type assessments moving forward starting in elementary schools and then gradually moving up to high schools. Changes to the way we assess students will have a tremendous impact on the teaching and learning that takes place in schools.

Finally, student attainment of capabilities associated with being a global citizen continues to be a priority for many higher education institutions in Korea. Therefore, educators must ensure global citizenship education is integrated into the curriculum and not just as a ‘program’ that is talked about a few weeks or months a year, but rather it needs to become a way of life, a mindset for students. When students are immersed in global citizenship education–deeply, authentically immersed–they will see not only their culture but the world in a new light on the way to becoming a citizen of the world, a true cosmopolitan.

The late Sir Ken Robinson, a world-renowned thinker on education innovation, delivered a speech titled “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” in 2006 that remains one of the most popular TED talks to this day. He said during that speech, “Every education system in the world is being reformed at the moment, and it is not enough. Reform is no use anymore because that’s simply improving a broken model. What we need now is a revolution in education.”  

We may not have a revolution, but there is a perfect storm brewing in the educational community with a variety of innovative and meaningful ideas being implemented by hardworking and very talented teachers, which I hope will result in a perfect opportunity to reimagine education in Korea. As an educator currently working and living back in the motherland, I am looking forward to seeing how this perfect storm will develop in Korea in the next few years.