Innovations in Korea’s National Curriculum in Response to the Advance of Globalization

Abstract

 This article examines education reforms, mainly in the national curriculum, carried out in response to the advance of globalization since the mid-1990s in the Republic of Korea. In an effort to meet the increasing demands of globalization, the Korean government initiated the implementation of a string of economic, social, cultural, and educational reforms that were implemented throughout the decade of the 1990s. In 1995 Korea joined the WTO, incorporating its economy in the global economic system. On May 31 of the same year, the Korean Presidential Commission on Education Reform released the “5/31 Education Reform Plan”, in which it recommended several important education reforms to promote national progress through the development of Korea’s human resources in the age of globalization. This neoliberal report which outlined plans to encourage diversity, autonomy, competition, and evaluation, has had considerable impact on innovations in the national curriculum since the late 1990s. The Asian financial crisis of 1997 further emphasized the need for educational reforms to help the nation and its people survive the increasingly knowledge-based society of 21st-century.
 In 1997 English education was formally instituted at the primary school level, and the 7th national curriculum was revised in accordance with the policies specified in the 5/31 education reform plan. Additional revisions were implemented in 2007 and 2009. Relevant features of the national curriculum include the emphasis on English education that develops communicative competency, greater diversification in the levels of educational content, expanded options to provide education more suitable for the ability and aptitude of each individual learner, and the incorporation of experience-oriented approaches that aim to improve students’ abilities in the areas of thinking, problem solving, and creativity, considered essential elements for competitiveness in a contemporary society. In addition, the curriculum pursues efficiency in learning and seeks to enable students to achieve better results in less time and at a lower cost. An important indicator for measuring efficiency in learning in Korea is the multilateral comparative findings based on results of the PISA.
 Korea’s educational reforms and national curriculum innovations have several points in common with those carried out in Japan. Both countries have introduced neoliberal educational reforms in response to the advance of globalization. Korea’s approach, however, differs in that it has responded to international developments in education more quickly and has implemented bolder reforms. Also, compared to Japan, Korea has clearer objectives and guidelines regarding innovation in educational content and tends to emphasize global standards as its main benchmarks when developing and implementing educational innovations. Lastly, the innovations in the national curriculum set the development of Korea’s human resources for economic development as a fundamental goal. These differences between Korea and Japan have been attributed to each countries’ awareness of (and a sense of crisis regarding) globalization, which in turn arose from differences in their political systems, economic structures, and the roles in the global economic system.