extracurricular, volunteer work and career activities (Ministry of Education,
Science and Technology, 2009). Through a variety of activities in these four
categories, students are expected to develop traits such as self-directedness,
cooperation, communalism, consideration, responsibility and etiquette.
The revised curriculum also places much emphasis on ‘character education’,
which should include the following: communalism, cooperation, sharing
and consideration, and autonomy and individuality (Park et al. 2010). Each
subject has its own virtues and humanistic capacities to be pursued, which
are differentiated from others. Studies have been conducted on how the
subjects can be learned and taught to best foster the desired virtues and
capacities (Kim et al., 2013).
Several creativity-character experimental schools were selected to participate
in the initial rollout of the new curriculum in 2013 (Kim et al., 2013). This
experimental phase aimed to show what works, and what does not, for
creativity and character education, and what should be done to bring about
effective changes in schools.
Description of the study
In the context of the 2009 curriculum reform described above, this study
explores the following questions:
- What are the prevailing pedagogical approaches used under the new
curriculum? - What are some of the existing innovative practices which are found to be
effective for learning under the new curriculum? - What are some of the issues and challenges in bringing about the changes
that the new curriculum intends to make?
The researcher compiled data from secondary sources, including research
and statistical reports by institutions such as universities, government-
funded education research institutes, the Ministry of Education, 17 local
offices of education, Statistics Korea, and international organizations. Data
on prevailing pedagogical practices were gathered from school syllabi,
teaching and learning materials, assessment materials and other resources.
Data on students’, teachers’, administrators’ and parents’ views on the revised
curriculum were gathered from studies and evaluations of the curriculum
conducted by education institutes and individual researchers at universities.