Education in South Korea

Education in South Korea () is provided by both public schools and private schools with government funding available for both. South Korea is known for its high academic performance in reading, mathematics, and science, consistently ranking above the OECD average. South Korean education sits at ninth place in the world.

The education system in South Korea is known for being very strict and competitive. Students are expected to get into top universities, especially the "SKY" universities (Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University). While this focus has helped the nation's economy grow and boost the rate of education of its people, the issues that arise from this has left much up for debate.

History

Pre-division period

thumb|The 18th-century [[Education in the Joseon dynasty|Joseon School painted by Kim Hong-do]]

Education has been present throughout the history of Korea (1945–present). Public schools and private schools have both been present. Reforms to education began in the late 19th century. Since its founding, Korean education has been heavily influenced by Confucian values. Confucianism instills the facilities of governance of men by merit, social mobility through education, and the civil examination system based upon the system used during Tang Dynasty China. As a result, reading, writing and knowledge of Chinese classics became the primary method in choosing individuals for bureaucratic positions, gaining them a respective social status and privileges.

The Joseon period was significant in shaping the dynamics and foundation of the Korean education system. Schools ingrained loyalty, orthodoxy and motivation for official recruitment into its students. The primary means to receive an education during the Joseon dynasty were through village schools (seodang; seojae) and through private tutoring. The seodang was the most common method of formal education until the late twentieth century. This was pronounced by the Educational Ordinance of 1911, where Japanese residents had fourteen years of schooling available, whereas Koreans only had eight years available to them. The new educational philosophy was created under the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK), with a focus on democratic education. The new system attempted to make education available to all students equally and make the educational administration more self-governing. It emphasized a decentralized system under local and community control in order to maintain education's separation from politics. Specific policies included re-educating teachers, teaching adults to read and write, restoration of the Korean language for technical terminology, and expansion of various educational institutions.

During the years when Rhee and Park Chung Hee were in power, the control of education was gradually taken out of the hands of local school boards and concentrated in a centralized Ministry of Education. In the late 1980s, the ministry was responsible for the administration of schools, allocation of resources, setting of enrollment quotas, certification of schools and teachers, curriculum development, including the issuance of textbook guidelines, and other basic policy decisions. Provincial and special city boards of education still existed. Although each board was composed of seven members who were supposed to be selected by popularly elected legislative bodies, this arrangement ceased to function after 1973. Subsequently, school board members were approved by the minister of education. By the late 1980s, sources estimated it at around 93 percent.

Reforms in the 1980s

Following the assumption of power by General Chun Doo-hwan in 1980, the Ministry of Education implemented a number of reforms designed to make the system more fair and to increase higher education opportunities for the population at large. In a very popular move, the ministry dramatically increased enrollment at large.

School grades

{| class="wikitable"

!Level/grade !! International age

!Korean age

|- style="background:silver;"

| colspan=2 | Infant school

| Nursery school || 0–2

| Kindergarten || 3–5

|- style="background:silver;"

| colspan=2 | Elementary school

| 1st grade || 6–8

|8–9

| 2nd grade || 7–9

|9–10

| 3rd grade || 8–10

|10–11

| 4th grade || 9–11

|11–12

| 5th grade || 10–12

|12–13

| 6th grade || 11–13

|13–14

|- style="background:silver;"

| colspan=2 | Middle school

| 7th grade || 12–14

|14–15

| 8th grade || 13–15

|15–16

| 9th grade || 14–16

|16–17

|- style="background:silver;"

| colspan=2 | High school

| 10th grade || 15–17

|17–18

| 11th grade || 16–18

|18–19

| 12th grade || 17–19

|19–20

|- style="background:silver;"

| colspan=2 | Post-secondary education

| Tertiary education (college or university) || Ages vary (usually four years,<br />referred to as freshman,<br />sophomore, junior and<br />senior years)

Primary education

thumb|The front Entrance of Daehyun Elementary School in Ulsan

Elementary schools (, chodeung hakgyo) consists of grades one to six (age 8 to age 13 in Korean years—7 to 12 in western years). The South Korean government changed its name to the current form from Citizens' school ().

In elementary school, students learn the following subjects. The curriculum differs from grades 1–2 to grades 3–6.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Contents !! Grades 1~2 (Elementary School Adaptation Stage) !! Grade 3 and after (Beginning of Full-scale Study)

| Topics ||

Korean (listening, speaking, reading, writing)
Mathematics
Disciplined life (바른 생활) (moral education, social studies)
Sensible life (슬기로운 생활)
Safe life (안전한 생활) (safety education)
Enjoyable life (즐거운 생활) (music, arts, physical education, and other basic skills and basic lifestyle habits)

Korean (listening, speaking, reading, writing)
Social studies
Moral education
Mathematics
Science
Physical education
Music
Art

Practical (technical/household) skills and English added
Safe life (안전한 생활): safety education is merged into physical education

| Classroom Location || Mostly in levels 1~2 || Mostly in upper floors above level 3

| Class president election || None || Class president and vice presidents elected by voting

| Class Duration || Maximum 5 periods (40 minutes per period) || Maximum 7 periods

| Exams || Issued in Four-choice (one correct answer out of four questions per problem, 25% probability) format. || Changed to Five-choice (one correct answer out of five questions per problem, 20% probability) format.

| Special classes (PE, Music, Science, Languages, etc.) || Only done in places like Schoolyard, Auditorium, and Gym || Many transfers to special classrooms (language room, art room, science room, etc.).

| Club activities || None || Done in each grade and class

| Daily schedule || Over by 2 PM || Over before 4 PM

Usually, the class teacher covers most of the subjects; however, there are some specialized teachers in professions such as physical education and foreign languages, including English.

Those who wish to become a primary school teacher must major in primary education, which is specially designed to cultivate primary school teachers. In Korea, most of the primary teachers are working for public primary schools.

In 2023, the Korean Ministry of Education announced a new policy. Therefore, mobile phone use during class is prohibited in elementary, middle, and high schools except for emergencies. If a student uses a mobile phone during class, the teacher may confiscate it. In addition, acts of sending a student who disrupts class out of the classroom or physically restraining them are also recognized as "legitimate discipline." Corporal punishment has been officially and legally prohibited in every classroom since 2011.

Secondary education

In 1987, there were approximately 4,895,354 students enrolled in middle schools and high schools, with approximately 150,873 teachers. About 69% of these teachers were male. About 98% of Korean students finish secondary education.

High school

thumb|Animation Vocational High School in Hanam, South Korea

High schools in Korea can be divided into specialty tracks that accord with a student's interest and career path or a normal state high school. For special high schools, there are science high schools like Seoul Science high school, foreign language, international, and art specialty high schools that students can attend by passing entrance examinations which are generally highly competitive. These schools are called special-purpose high schools.

Autonomous private high schools are relatively free of the policy of the Ministry of Education. There are schools for gifted students. Tuition of many special-purpose high schools, autonomous private high schools, and schools for gifted students are extremely expensive. In 2009, the average tuition cost of special-purpose or autonomous private high school was US$5,614 per year. One of the schools for gifted students is US$7,858 per year.

High school is not mandatory, unlike middle school education in Korea. However, according to a 2005 study of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries, some 97% of South Korea's young adults complete high school. This was the highest percentage recorded in any country.

Since 2025, the Korean government has been gradually implementing a high school credit system, which allows students to choose courses according to their interests and career goals.

In vocational high schools, curriculum is split equally between general courses and vocational courses. General education teaches academic core courses such as Korean, mathematics, science, and social studies while vocational training offers courses related to agriculture, technology, industry, commerce, home economics, fishing, and oceanography.

Agriculture, fishery, and oceanography high schools have been set up in rural areas and harbor cities to combat the shortage of labor due to urban sprawl. Agricultural high schools focus on scientific farming and are designed to produce skilled experts in agriculture while fishery and oceanography high schools utilize maritime resource to focus on navigation technology. Since the 1980s, vocational high schools have offered training in various fields to create a labor force that can adjust to the changes across South Korean industry and society.

Developed to revamp South Korea's vocational education system to be specifically designed to prepare youths to work in high-skilled trades and high-skilled manufacturing jobs and other fields, these schools are based on the German-style Meister schools, to teach youngsters to become masters of a skilled trade.

Many of Meister schools offer a wide range of skilled trades and technical disciplines that offer near guarantee of employment to graduates with an industry-supported curriculum design, and focus on developing skills required by various trades.

The government of South Korea has taken initiatives to improve the perception of manual labour and technical work.

In addition, vocational streams have been integrated with academic streams to allow a seamless transition to university in order to allow further advancement. Meister schools offer apprenticeship-based training which takes place at vocational high schools, community and junior colleges. Meister schools also offer employment support systems for specialized Meister high school students. The South Korean government has established an "Employment First, College Later" philosophy wherein after graduation students are encouraged to seek employment first before making plans for university. South Korea has also streamlined its small and medium-sized business sector along German lines to ease dependence on the large conglomerates ever since it began introducing Meister schools into its education system.

In spite of the country's high unemployment rate during the Great Recession, Meister school graduates have been successful in navigating the workforce. Boosting employment for young people through high quality vocational education has become a top priority for the Park administration, since youth unemployment is roughly three times higher than average. Graduates from vocational high schools have been successful in navigating through South Korea's highly competitive and sluggish job market. Many graduates have found more and better employment opportunities in a number of industry sectors across the South Korean economy. As more vocational schools take hold, more young South Koreans are joining their world-wide peers in realizing that employing their interests and abilities in educational pursuits far outweighs the importance of the names of the schools and majors.

The South Korean higher education system is modeled after the United States. Colleges, namely junior colleges and community colleges, award apprenticeships, licenses, citations, certificates, associate degrees or diplomas. Universities award bachelor's, master's, professional, and doctoral degrees.

History

The history of higher education in South Korea traces its roots back the 4th century AD, starting with the founding of Daehak (National Confucian Academy) in Goguryeo in 372 CE. The modern Korean higher education system traces its roots in the late 19th century. Missionary schools introduced subjects taught in the Western world and vocational schools were crucial for the development of a modern society.

Today there are colleges and universities whose courses of study extend from 4 to 6 years. There are vocational colleges, industrial universities, open universities and universities of technology. There are day and evening classes, classes during vacation and remote education classes. The number of institutes of higher education varied consistently from 419 in 2005, to 405 in 2008, to 411 in 2010.

Private universities account for 87.3 percent of total higher educational institutions. Industrial universities account for 63.6% and vocational universities account for 93.8%. These are much higher than the percentage of public institutes.

University

thumb|The reading room of a universities' library with private cells

thumb|Konkuk University campus

University is the traditional route pursued by young South Koreans after graduating from high school as it is by far the most prestigious form of higher education in the country. In 2004, nearly 90 percent of general high school graduates achieved university entrance. In 2017, over 68.9% of South Korean high school graduates advanced to a university. The three most prestigious universities in South Korea, collectively referred to as "SKY," are Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University.

There are also renowned research-intensive universities such as Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Pohang University of Science and Technology.

In contrast to Canada and the United States, where grade point averages and percentages serve as primary indicators of eligibility, university admission in South Korea heavily relies on the results of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), which accounts for 60 percent of the evaluation criteria. The remaining 40 percent is determined by the academic performance reflected in high school transcripts. In addition to the CSAT scores, universities also take volunteer experience, extra-curricular activities, letters of recommendation, school awards, portfolios into consideration when assessing a prospective applicant.

Bachelor's

Bachelor's degree's in South Korea are offered by universities such as four-year colleges and universities, industrial universities, national universities of education, the Korean National Open University, technical colleges and cyber universities. Bachelor's degrees typically take four years to complete while professional degrees related to medicine, law, and dentistry can take up to six years. Students typically major in one or two fields of study in addition to a minor. A bachelor's degree requires up to 130 to 140 credit hours to complete. After all course requirements are met, the student receives a bachelor's degree upon graduation. In order to be eligible and gain acceptance into a master's degree program, the applicant must possess a bachelor's degree with a GPA of 3.0 (B) or greater from a recognized higher education institution, submit two undergraduate recommendation letters from professors, and an undergraduate record showing their GPA.

Qualifying examinations must also be taken in addition to an interview. Master's programs have 24 credit hours of coursework in addition to a thesis that is generally has to be completed within two years. In a master's degree program, the student must achieve a GPA of 3.0 (B) or higher, pass a comprehensive oral and written examination as well as a foreign language examination, as well as completing and defending a master's thesis in order to graduate.

Industrial universities

Industrial universities in South Korea are also known as polytechnics. These institutions were established in 1982 as an alternative route to higher education for people already in the workforce. Industrial universities offer both diplomas and bachelor's degrees.

Community and junior colleges

Community and junior colleges, also known as junior vocational colleges offer professional certifications in trades or technical careers and programs related to the liberal arts, early childhood education, home economics, business administration, technology, engineering, agriculture, fisheries, radiation, clinical pathology, navigation, and nursing.

!Schools||Students!!Schools||Students!!Schools||Students!!Schools||Students

|style="text-align:left;" rowspan=7|Junior college course||style="text-align:left;"|Junior college||134||576,041||2||2,803||7||8,923||125||564,315

|style="text-align:left;"|Distance college||1||1,585||0||0||0||0||1||1,585

|style="text-align:left;"|Cyber college||2||6,972||0||0||0||0||2||6,972

|style="text-align:left;"|Corporate university||5||131||0||0||0||0||5||131

|style="text-align:left;"|Specialization College||3||14,821||0||0||0||0||3||14,821

|style="text-align:left;"|Polytechnic college||9||23,910||0||0||0||0||9||23,910

!style="text-align:left;"|Total||154||623,460||2||2,803||7||8,923||145||611,734

|style="text-align:left;" rowspan=10|Undergraduate course||style="text-align:left;"|Regular college||190||1,938,254||33||430,323||1||12,331||156||1,495,600

|style="text-align:left;"|Special college of education||10||15,409||10||15,409||0||0||0||0

|style="text-align:left;"|Industrial college||2||14,539||0||0||0||0||2||14,539

|style="text-align:left;"|Technical college||1||62||0||0||0||0||1||62

|style="text-align:left;"|Open college||1||142,719||1||142,719||0||0||0||0

|style="text-align:left;"|Miscellaneous college||2||3,438||1||3,239||0||0||1||199

|style="text-align:left;"|Distance college||3||209||0||0||0||0||3||209

|style="text-align:left;"|Cyber college||1||901||0||0||0||0||1||901

|style="text-align:left;"|Corporate university||17||135,155||0||0||0||0||17||135,155

!style="text-align:left;"|Total||227||2,250,686||45||591,690||1||12,331||181||1,646,665

|style="text-align:left;" rowspan=3|Graduate course||style="text-align:left;"|Graduate school university||45||10,452||2||348||0||0||43||10,104

|style="text-align:left;"|Regular graduate school||1,129||316,963||230||102,363||10||3,161||889||211,439

!style="text-align:left;"|Total||1,174||327,415||232||102,711||10||3,161||932||221,543

English education

Korea has an extensive English education history dating back to the Joseon Dynasty. During this time, Koreans received English education in public institutes, where translators were instructed for conversion of Korean into foreign languages. The Public Foreign Language School established in 1893, educated young males to perform tasks to modernize Korea. This school, unlike facilities such as Yuk Young Gong Won (1886), disregarded social statuses, welcoming more students into the institute and introducing the first Korean foreign language instructors into the field of English education. English Language Education programs focus on ensuring competency to perform effectively as a nation in an era of globalization using proficiency-based language programs that allow students to learn according to their own abilities and interests and driving Koreans to focus more on oral proficiency.

There are more than 100,000 Korean students in the U.S. The increase of 10 percent every year helped Korea remain the top student-sending country in the U.S. for a second year, ahead of India and China. Korean students at Harvard University are the third most after Canadian and Chinese. In 2012, 154,000 South Korean students were pursuing degrees at overseas universities, with countries such as Japan, Canada, the United States, and Australia as top destinations.

Korean English classes focus on vocabulary, grammar, and reading. Academies tend to include conversation, and some offer debate and presentation.

In a 2003 survey conducted by the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, despite being one of the countries in Asia that spent the most money on English-language education, South Korea ranked the lowest among 12 Asian countries in English ability. By 2020, South Korea had significantly improved its English knowledge and proficiency, ranking 6th out of 25 countries in Asia, by Education First.

International students

Controversy and criticism

As university degree grew in prominence to employers during the 1970s and 1980s, the shift toward a more knowledge-based, rather than an industrial economy, resulted in vocational education being devalued in favor of the university when viewed by many young South Koreans and their parents. In the 1970s and 1980s, vocational education in South Korea was less than socially acceptable, yet also a pathway to succeed in obtaining a steady career with a decent income and an opportunity to elevate socioeconomic status. Even with the many positive attributes of vocational education, many vocational graduates were scorned and stigmatized by their college educated managers despite the importance of their expertise and skills in promoting South Korea's economic development.

According to Jasper Kim, a visiting scholar of East Asian studies at Harvard University, "There are a lot of highly educated, arguably over-educated people, but on the flip side, the demand side, they all want to work for a narrow bandwidth of companies, namely the LGs and Samsungs of the world". Kim states that many highly educated South Koreans who don't get selected often become second-class citizens, with fewer opportunities for employment and even marriage.

The negative social stigma associated with vocational careers and not having a university degree was deeply rooted in South Korean society coupled with fading but enduring belief that a university degree from a prestigious university is the only path to a successful career, played a factor in the nation's focus on going to a prestigious university. This caused a necessity for Meister Schools.

Harm caused by entrance exam-focused competitive education

Competition in Middle School

More than 95% of middle school students attend private institutions known as hagwons. Some parents place more stress on their children's hagwon studies than their public school studies.

Many middle school students, like their high school counterparts, return from a day of schooling well after sunset. The average South Korean family was found to have spent 29.2 trillion won per year in 2024, spending more per captia on private tutoring than any other country.

Excessive forced night time self study

High school students are commonly expected to study increasingly long hours each year moving toward graduation, to become competitive and enter SKY universities (Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University). In 2020, most high school students sleep around 7 hours and 18 minutes, which is 1 hour less than the OECD average.

The practice of excessively prioritizing university entrance

A particularly prevalent phenomenon in South Korea is universities being seen as necessary. In 2020, the university enrollment rate was 73.7%, and the university graduation rate for young people of working age (25-34) was 69.3%, which is highest among OECD countries.

Hagwons

Hagwons, or cram schools, are private institutions for education.

An analysis found that the expensive rates of these private institutions had a correlation to South Korea's low birthrates.

Hagwons have also been found to run as late as midnight up until the year 2010, when the nation adopted a new policy which limited the hours that these institutions could stay open. Hagwons were banned from running classes after 10:00 PM. This policy was introduced in order to allow a more balanced system, mostly by fining many privately run specialty study institutes. However, this is often not conformed to.

Special Purpose High Schools

Those who supported the abolishment of these schools have pointed out that they have fallen to entrance examination specialized institutions and that they have turned into schools for the elites. The Ministry of Education has found that the annual rates of these schools to be over 10 million Korean wons by average, with the exception of Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, which reached up to 30 million.

Excessively high rate of mismatch between jobs and majors

According to Statistics Korea, the correspondence between the major and occupation of the South Korean population is only 36.8%.
According to the International Labour Organization's 2020 data, South Korea ranks 30th out of 30 OECD countries in terms of 'skill-matching level'. This is the lowest among 30 OECD countries.

Poor sex education

Students' health

South Korea's scarcity of natural resources is often cited as a reason for the rigorousness and fierce competition of its school systems; the academic pressure on its students is arguably the largest in the world. In an article entitled "An Assault Upon Our Children", Se-Woong Koo wrote that "the system's dark side casts a long shadow. Dominated by tiger moms, cram schools and highly authoritarian teachers, South Korean education produces ranks of overachieving students who pay a stiff price in health and happiness. The entire program amounts to child abuse. It should be reformed and restructured without delay."

In a response to the article, educator Diane Ravitch warned against modeling an educational system in which children "exist either to glorify the family or to build the national economy." She argued furthermore that the happiness of South Korean children has been sacrificed, and likened the country's students to "cogs in a national economic machine". A 2014 Lee Ju-ho, the minister representing the Ministry of Education & Science Technology, announced a plan on 8 February 2011, to dispatch un-hired reserve teachers overseas for extra training despite the opposition from the Korean Teachers Union and other public workers in the city-level and the provincial level.

South Korean schools have a strong tendency to neglect physical education due to the over-emphasis of classroom-based education.
Primary schools and secondary schools halted saturday schools for extracurricular activities.
81% of middle and high schools forbid relationships among students.
There are concerns of overload of schoolworks and exam preparations that could threaten the students' health and emotions.
The South Korean education system does not allow any leeways for students' rights. The Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Kwak No Hyun made a remark how "it is very embarrassing to discuss verbosely about the poor development of students' rights within the South Korean society" during his seminar in March 2011.
There are concerns about the severe lack of community spirit among South Korean students that comes from examinations as the main educational direction and from an analysis according to Dr. Lee Mi-na from SNU Sociology: "harsh competition-oriented and success-oriented parenting among the parents".
The Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations announced that 40% of teachers are not satisfied with the loss of teachers' powers in classroom due to the new Teachers' Evaluation System.
The Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Korean Federation of Teachers' Association signed an MOU in May 2011 to a verbose national security education to younger kids, in which it potentially violates the UN Children's Rights protocol.
OECD ranked South Korean elementary, middle, and high school students are the lowest in terms of happiness compared to other OECD countries. This survey echoes similar studies of students in Seoul according to SMOE.
Dr. Seo Yu-hyeon, a brain expert from Seoul National University Faculty of Medicines, criticized South Korea's private educations among toddlers due to the forceful nature of these educational pursuits that could deteriorate creativity and block any healthy brain development.
The Korean Educational Development Institute reports that the majority of university students lack the ability to ask questions to instructors, mainly due to the education system that promotes examinations and instructors having too many students to handle.
A 2011 survey from the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations found out that 79.5% of the school teachers are not satisfied with their careers, a growing trend for three straight years.
In 2011, bullying-related sexual abuse was reported, and 41% of school violence was left unpunished.
The government banned coffee in all schools in a bid to improve children's health. The ban came into force in September 2018.

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology
Kuhn, Anthony (2 July 2009). "Korean School Preps Students For Ivy League". All Things Considered,
Ripley, Amanda (25 September 2011). "Teacher, Leave Those Kids Alone". Time. On the problem of the hagwon cram schools.
Information on education in Korea, OECD - Contains indicators and information about Korea and how it compares to other OECD and non-OECD countries
Diagram of Korean education system, OECD - Using 1997 ISCED classification of programmes and typical ages.
Also in country language

Education in South Korea

History

Pre-division period

Reforms in the 1980s

School grades

Primary education

Secondary education

High school

History

University

Bachelor's

Industrial universities

Community and junior colleges

English education

International students

Controversy and criticism

Harm caused by entrance exam-focused competitive education

Competition in Middle School

Excessive forced night time self study

The practice of excessively prioritizing university entrance

Hagwons

Special Purpose High Schools

Excessively high rate of mismatch between jobs and majors

Poor sex education

Students' health

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

History

Pre-division period

Reforms in the 1980s

School grades

Primary education

Secondary education

High school

History

University

Bachelor's

Industrial universities

Community and junior colleges

English education

International students

Controversy and criticism

Social stigma against vocational education

Harm caused by entrance exam-focused competitive education

Competition in Middle School

Excessive forced night time self study

The practice of excessively prioritizing university entrance

Hagwons

Special Purpose High Schools

Excessively high rate of mismatch between jobs and majors

Poor sex education

Students' health

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References

Further reading

External links