To meet the global and informational 21st century, numerous countries around the world, including Korea, have begun to reform their own educational systems. However, the experience of their reforms did not solve the problems of traditional education but rather have made the problems worse. In the early 1990s, thousands of students committed suicide, and tens of thousands of students dropped out from schools or could not adapt themselves to the schools in Korea. In order to solve the problem, the government and people from all classes started to promote the idea of alternative education enthusiastically. The first alternative school in Korea was established in March of 1997, and the number of alternative schools had amounted to about 80 in 2005. Although most alternative schools did not get the recognition from the education authorities because they didn¡¦t conform to the education legislations and regulations, and thus making them lack of financial support, the number of alternative schools still kept rising due to the efforts of the religious groups, the societal communities and parents. By analyzing the backgrounds such as philosophies, humanities, politics, economy, history and geography of Korea, the researcher try to realize why the alternative education quickly developed in Korea these past years. The conclusions of the research are as follows: I.As policies changed, traditional education can¡¦t help but ignore the expectations of the minority. The minority then turned to seek new methods, and alternative education constantly developed under the situation. II.Before the development of alternative education, the masses of every field were awakened by this social revolutions. Hence, they could be the main force to develop alternative education. III.In Korea, alternative schools began in senior high school, and most of them were authorized by the education bureaucracies. But most alternative schools at junior high and elementary education levels were not authorized because of the compulsory education statue. IV.Unlike the other education revolutions, the alternative education movement was actively participated by various kinds of groups. V.Without adequate preparation, many alternative schools were established too hastily in a short time. In addition, the society and educators didn¡¦t have enough time to gain the correct knowledge about alternative education, and thus have encountered quite a few difficulties which need to be solved. VI.The development of alternative education in Korea is deeply concerned with its history, geography, politics, economy, philosophy and humanities roots. According to the above conclusions, the researcher proposes some suggestions with the consideration of Korean culture: I.Suggestions for alternative schools A.To try to find workable strategies, and ask the government for more practical help. B.To improve the working conditions and environment of the teachers. C.To get involved in the activities in the neighborhood or in the society, and to make the activities successful. II.Suggestions for the government A.To enforce the compulsory education legislation flexibly and to respect the right of school choice in the part of parents. B.To actively support alternative schools. C.To lessen and simplify the sophistication of regulations at school administration procedures. D.To provide some measures to train the teachers of alternative schools. III.Suggestions for the teachers of traditional education A.To identify oneself as the subject of education activity itself. B.To actively explore alternative education and apply the workable part of it to the traditional education. IV.Suggestions for further research A.To do a thorough research on alternative education of Taiwan. B.To locate some possible ways to apply several aspects of Korean alternative schools to education in Taiwan. Keywords: Korean education, alternative education, alternative schools.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable scale for evaluating intelligence of Korean children of age ranges from 9 to 12 in group-test method. / 2031-01-01

Korean middle school students have shown outstanding performance in various international assessments since a decade ago. The current study focused on parental variables and their relations to their children's achievement. In this study, the researcher sought to explore how parental variables such as parental involvement, attributions, education, and income influence performance of Korean youths. Completed questionnaires from 138 Korean parents whose children are middle school students were analyzed to answer the research questions. The analyses of data in this study confirmed that parents' educational level, private tutoring expenditure, satisfaction with private tutoring, parents' home and school based involvement, parents' perception of their children's GPA, parents' attribution of luck, effort, and strategy to their children's academic success were associated with children's achievement in Korean families. The results of this study indicated that not only parental involvement in home based and school based activities, but also private tutoring based activities, were positively associated with Korean middle school students' achievement. In particular, parents' involvement in private tutoring based activities was a strong factor to enhance children's achievement in core academic subjects (math, Korean, English). The findings of this study suggested that Korean parents' involvement includes the private tutoring system as well as home and school involvement, and this unique aspect of parental involvement is used as an important strategy to promote children's academic achievement by current Korean parents.

Korean education policies were derived from the 5.31 Education Reform oriented to the increase of autonomy and accountability for school effectiveness and the quality instruction through teacher professionalism enhancement. The policies are related to the influences of historical events and contexts embedded in the interactions of policy players who have their own arguments, particularly professionalism versus managerialism. The policies have been driven by right-wing perspectives. As a result, the roles, powers, functions, and structures of teaching profession have gradually changed. From the structural analysts, Basil Bernstein and Michel Foucault, teaching profession has become a system of supervision, compliance, normalization, isomorphism related to the collection code. The dynamic, complex and multilevel policy implementation need to be analyzed from a multifocal approach coupled with historical institutional, political, and structural analysis. This analysis contributes to understanding the changes of teaching profession resulted from intricate and dynamic interactions embedded in policy environments causing or influencing policy implementation directly and indirectly. Korean educational policy analysts, generally, tend to use one of the institutional, the political, and the structural perspective. Most policy analyses are concerned with the political analysis focused on exploring the political interaction between policy players, presenting policy issues and alternatives, analyzing the new institutionalism of education policy formation and implementation process, and influencing of policies on school organization and teachers apart from the political environment and the political interactions. In this respect, the multifocal policy analysis will be beneficial to shed light on a multifocal analysis of Korean educational policies. / text

This thesis aims to explore how Korean middle school students exercise agency in the Free Semester policy setting. The Free Semester is an education reform policy in Korea which has been implemented to change traditional East Asian learning environment to be more student-centered and creative one since 2013. This qualitative research is motivated by what kinds of difference the Free Semester policy have brought in regards to Korean young adolescents’ perception on schooling, learning and autonomy. Data for this study was mainly consisted of semi-structured interviews with seven Korean public middle school students; three second-grade girls (age of 13), one second-grade boy (age of 13), one third-grade girl (age of 14) and two third-grade boys (age of 14) who experienced the Free Semester one or two years ago. To analyze the interview data, thematic analysis was used and, as a result, three main themes were found as follows: Theme 1. Experiencing autonomy, Theme 2. Hope for more autonomous actions 3. Appreciation of social and cultural values. Korean middle school students experienced a widened range of agency in a newly given school setting under the Free Semester policy. However, their agency was still far limited by East Asian education culture. The students were stuck in ambivalent situations; while the students are encouraged for student-centered and creative learning by the Free Semester policy, they were still pressured to value traditional passive learning attitude since it is regarded as a winning strategy to earn a higher test score.

The current global environment is vibrant, volatile and highly competitive. Many developing societies and emerging economies are seeking to establish ways in which they can gain advantages at the international level but also lay the basis for strong societies with exemplary economic, social and moral foundations. Towards this end, these countries are investing energies in building a skilled citizenry and socially mobile, achievement-driven, populations. One such society is the rapidly changing Republic of Korea. One of the catalysts for change in Korea has been argued to be education. Educational access has been linked to changes in economic status and to potentially the undermining of inequality and flattening of class hierarchies. Some authors argue that Korea has been gripped by an ‘education fever’ and others argue that persisting educational inequalities reflect differences largely in terms of social capital – rather than economic capital. This thesis uses quantitative survey methodology to explore differences in the educational achievement of Korean high school students. Eleventh (11th) grade students in three ‘achieving schools’ with varied characteristics were subjects of the study. The purpose was to establish the factors driving achievement in these schools. It was believed that the identification of various factors which influence high achievement on the part of some students might offer insight into how low achievement can be addressed and the base of exceptional educational achievement broadened. Parents and teachers were also respondents in this study. Social capital and its physical, relational, structural, and cognitive dimensions present the conceptual and analytical tools of the study. These concepts were explored in terms of the ideas of the founding theorists – Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam – and applied to three different domains: family, school and community. The findings suggest that high achievement is linked centrally to familial social capital. Boarding school, whether students who live at home have both parents present, and mothers collecting information from school serve as significant determinants of achievement. Together, Korean mothers and fathers can and do carve important outcomes when they are actively engaged in their children’s learning. As far as school social capital is concerned, physical background and public school status were deemed important. Residential district was the most significant component of community social capital. At a theoretical level, the study finds Coleman’s arguments most relevant in the Korean context, in particular his views on parental involvement and socio-economic status and the ways in which networks of trust and reciprocity augment achievement. The study makes an original contribution in the way it adapts theory and builds novel evidence in the Korean context. The study concludes with a list of key recommendations. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Sociology / DPhil / Unrestricted

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The main objectives of this research were to determine the perspectives of South Korean educators regarding the inclusion of environmental education into the curriculum of South Korean schools and to establish the educators’ level of knowledge of environmental education. The research was conducted using a translated questionnaire, which was administered to the educators. The findings of the research showed that few South Korean educators have had any training in environmental education. While most have had no exposure to environmental education it was found that they would appreciate training in the subject. The study highlights the importance of, and discusses the implementation of, environmental education in some Asian countries, as well as the constraints experienced during implementation. On the basis of the research findings, it is recommended that South Korea draw on the knowledge of other countries in both improving the current curriculum so as to include environmental education at all levels, and in the professional development of its educators, in order to bring about the effective inclusion and implementation of environmental education in South Korean schools. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Environmental Education)

The main objectives of this research were to determine the perspectives of South Korean educators regarding the inclusion of environmental education into the curriculum of South Korean schools and to establish the educators’ level of knowledge of environmental education. The research was conducted using a translated questionnaire, which was administered to the educators. The findings of the research showed that few South Korean educators have had any training in environmental education. While most have had no exposure to environmental education it was found that they would appreciate training in the subject. The study highlights the importance of, and discusses the implementation of, environmental education in some Asian countries, as well as the constraints experienced during implementation. On the basis of the research findings, it is recommended that South Korea draw on the knowledge of other countries in both improving the current curriculum so as to include environmental education at all levels, and in the professional development of its educators, in order to bring about the effective inclusion and implementation of environmental education in South Korean schools. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Environmental Education)