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Korean education as I saw

Mao Jianguo: Secretary and director of Zhenjiang Educational Science Institute, senior middle school teacher. He once served as the director of the Basic Education Department of the Zhenjiang Education Bureau, and the vice president and secretary-general of the Zhenjiang Education Society. His main research fields are vocational education and curriculum reform, and he has published dozens of papers in magazines at the provincial level and above.

This spring, the author was fortunate enough to be a member of the "Chinese Primary and Secondary School Educators Delegation to South Korea" and went to South Korea for a ten-day inspection. During our stay in South Korea, we visited Korean universities, middle schools and primary schools, and met with Korean education administrators, primary and secondary school teachers and relevant business people, and gained a rough understanding of Korean education. Watching education, what impresses me the most is some of their measures and practices in developing education. There are many things worth learning from.

Fair education requires balance

South Korea has a population of more than 46 million. In 2003, South Korea’s GDP growth rate was about 6%, and its GDP ranked around 13th in the world; per capita The national income exceeds US$8,000, ranking around 30th in the world. It can also be regarded as a moderately developed country in the world. However, even such a wealthy country has struggled for more than 50 years to universalize compulsory education.

As early as 1954, South Korea first implemented free education in unfavorable areas such as rural areas, fishing villages, and islands, and then gradually expanded it from remote rural areas to central cities. It was not until 2002 that it announced the expansion of compulsory junior high school education nationwide. scope, and promised to make all junior high school students enjoy compulsory education by 2004. The most direct result of the approach taken by the Korean government to "encircle the cities from the countryside" is that it relatively reflects the fairness of education, achieves a balanced education, and disadvantaged groups can truly enjoy educational benefits. This also fully reflects the pragmatic side of Koreans: they do not easily call it compulsory education, but actually provide free education. The compulsory education implemented by the Korean government is basically free education: the government pays students' tuition fees, admission fees and teaching material fees? About 520,000 won/year. Parents of students do not need to pay any fees except for a small amount of teaching assistance fees.

There are many unique features in the Korean government’s implementation of balanced education. In the 1970s, primary and secondary schools were also divided into three, six, and nine grades. School education was obviously exam-oriented, and academic competition among students was fierce. To this end, the government has launched an "education standardization" policy to increase education funding for "disadvantaged schools" and vigorously improve their school running conditions. At the same time, teachers will be transferred every four years to ensure a balanced level of teachers in the school. Students are comprehensively scored, and computers in each school district randomly determine the schools for school-age children. Since the implementation of the “standardized” education policy, it has effectively promoted the overall improvement of the quality of compulsory education in South Korea.

How does the Korean government get rid of the pressure of competition for higher education? I took this question to the schools I visited to find out more, and finally found the answer. In fact, it is very simple. The government only assumes limited responsibility for national education. For example, the subjects uniformly offered in high schools across the country include Korean, mathematics, English, science, and social studies. Science is a synthesis of physics, chemistry, biology and other subjects, and society is a synthesis of traditional history, geography and other subjects. It is in line with my country’s Eighth Curriculum The reformed comprehensive curriculum is similar. The school is only responsible for completing the task by meeting the teaching objectives of the five subjects according to the syllabus. Teachers are all national civil servants and are not allowed to use their spare time for tutoring. Anyone who violates this will be dismissed from public service. In addition to Korean, mathematics, and English, students are required to choose two examination subjects from physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography and other subjects, which is similar to Jiangsu's "3+1+1" model. In the fierce competition for further education, since schools only undertake education equivalent to graduation level, the responsibility for students' further education is naturally left to the society. In South Korea, schools called so-and-so "academies" always refer to college entrance examination cram schools. These academies are basically private institutions that specialize in preparing students for the college entrance examination, but parents must pay a considerable fee. This school-running model in South Korea eliminates the need for the government to issue admission indicators to schools as we do now, resulting in the government and schools being tied on the same chariot, leaving the stubborn problem of exam-oriented education unresolved for a long time. However, some people criticize South Korea's approach for widening the gap in education between the children of the rich and the children of ordinary people, leading to new imbalances.

Most of the mothers of Korean students are full-time housewives and their educational level is relatively high. Schools in Korean primary and secondary schools generally end early. After school, many children are tutored by their mothers, and some students also attend tutoring classes. This has brought opportunities to many private education institutions. JEI Talent Education Group, a Korean company, has entered the education market since 1977 and developed the "active learning method" and its supporting subject series courses. So far, it has established teaching institutions in many countries and regions such as China, the United States, Canada, and Australia. The group has more than 10,000 employees. One can imagine the development of South Korea’s private education market.

Excellent schools look at their connotations

Although South Korea is relatively wealthy, the several primary and secondary schools we visited were not outstanding in terms of school construction compared with domestic schools. Whether it is building decoration, Most of the internal facilities are not as good as domestic schools. We visited Hanrong Foreign Language School, which is said to be the best high school in Korea, which once again confirmed my opinion. Hanrong Foreign Language School is one of the few high schools chartered by the Korean government to enroll students nationwide (according to reports, there are only 4 in the country). In South Korea, high school admissions are based on the nearest admission method, which is similar to the admissions method of public junior high schools in my country. However, Hanrong Foreign Language School can conduct selection examinations nationwide and mainly recruits students who belong to elite talents. Even such a school only has 70 to 80 acres of land. The school does not have a plastic track, but only a yellow sand playground, where students can exercise and play at any time.

However, in terms of the connotation of running a school, there are many things that are beyond the reach of ordinary domestic schools. Principals of primary and secondary schools in South Korea generally rotate every four to five years. Every time a principal takes office in a school, he will bring his school-running ideas to the school. The school spirit and school motto, which embody the principal's thoughts on running a school, are placed in the most eye-catching positions of the school, allowing teachers and students to be influenced by them. During his tenure at the school, the principal always carried out education and teaching work in accordance with his school-running ideas. The Seoul Okcheon Junior High School we went to is an ordinary school. The school motto proposed by the principal is "Ideals, Efforts, and Life." The school provides dozens of school-based courses for students to take. Among them, ethnic education is the most influential course. In particular, the school focuses on the politics, history, economy, culture and other aspects related to North Korea. Through courses and various activities, the school deepens the Understanding North Korea. We saw a large number of pictures and objects in the North-South reunification activity classroom specially set up in the school. Many students can take the reunification of the North and the South as their ideal and take care of the destiny of the nation as their own responsibility, showing a very strong national spirit.

Although the competition for admission to higher education in South Korea is very fierce, in general, children in the compulsory education stage are still happy to study. Students go home from school at 1:30 every afternoon. The principal of Yusu Primary School in Seoul told us that in their school, each class is a small class with only about twenty children, and every child can receive careful care from the teacher. The school has specially designed a subject activity room for small class teaching. We attended an English class. In the English activity room, five or six children sat around the computer table. The teacher asked the students to listen, draw, and cut and paste, and they easily completed a lesson. In my opinion, this teaching method is a bit like the game class in domestic kindergartens. However, it is this independent and cooperative teaching method that has improved the English proficiency of the new generation of Koreans - most young people you meet on the street can easily talk to you in English. At Hanrong Foreign Language School, the principal gave each of the delegation a VCD disc promoting the school's educational achievements. The contents of the disc, from editing to production, were all completed by the students themselves, and were accompanied by narrations in five or six languages. The ideological, artistic and production level of the CD promotional video were beyond our expectations. The beautiful life on campus shown through students' eyes, the professionalism of teachers, and the scenes of students' diligence and progress moved me to tears. This kind of effect is something that many key schools in China cannot achieve even after spending a lot of money.

Parental participation in management is also a major feature of Korean primary and secondary school management. In the reception rooms of every primary and secondary school we visited, the people who poured us tea and gave us fruits were all mothers of our children. Korean women do not work and have plenty of time. Under the unified arrangements of the home-school committee, several mothers come to school every day to participate in public welfare services. Most places such as libraries and reading rooms are taken care of by mothers. If there are entrepreneurs living in the community where the school is located, entrepreneurs are generally willing to provide material assistance to the school, including buildings, equipment, funds, etc., to express their support for education.

Future resources depend on manpower

At the welcoming ceremony held by the National Education Promotion Agency of Korea, we heard this: Since Kim Dae-jung became president, the Korean government has placed great emphasis on education. The system has undergone drastic reforms and innovations. The country established the "Educational Human Resources Policy Committee" under the direct leadership of the president, promulgated the "Basic Law on Human Resources Development", revised the "Elite Education Law"; abolished the original Ministry of Education, integrated labor, women, science and technology, information and communications, industrial resources, culture and tourism, etc. The education functions of the Ministry will be established by establishing the Ministry of Education Human Resources Development with the Deputy Prime Minister of Education as Minister. Changing the Ministry of Education into the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development is by no means a simple change of name, but a well-thought-out major strategic adjustment. In a country with very poor natural resources, only by putting people first and treating people as the most important resource for social development can we achieve success. In the forest of world powers. The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development has launched the "Policy Report for a 21st Century Knowledge Power" and the "National Human Resources Development Basic Plan", as well as education development strategies such as "People, Knowledge, Leap" to provide institutional guarantees for the development of national human resources. At the same time, it also strengthened basic education development research, formulated plans for the construction and development of faculty and staff, a vocational education development plan, and a five-year national education development plan, established a school work mediation committee, legalized the teachers' union, and maintained teachers' legitimate rights and interests, improved school running and teaching conditions, implemented a new school accounting system, etc., and constructed a relatively complete set of modern school systems.

The National Education Promotion Agency, which is responsible for hosting us, is an institution directly under the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development that is responsible for foreign exchanges and language training for foreign students. With the support of the government, they vigorously promote the educational advantages of South Korea, provide preferential conditions to attract outstanding foreign talents to study in South Korea, and provide attractive financial aid to particularly outstanding foreign students so that they can successfully enter Korean universities. Some universities with development and research nature provide scholarships to outstanding students that are far more than those of ordinary working-class people. This shows how much Koreans attach great importance to human resources.

Our visit is an exchange project between Chinese and Korean countries. All expenses during our stay in Korea will be borne by the Korean government. Our Korean colleagues arranged courses and practical activities to introduce Korean education and culture, and organized visits to some Typical schools and businesses. At the end of the study, President Kim Sung-sam of the National Education Promotion Agency personally presided over the graduation ceremony and invited senior officials from the Chinese Embassy in South Korea to attend and issue graduation certificates to us. The activities arranged by South Korea gave me the feeling that they attach great importance to cultural export, strive to expand the influence of their country's economy, education, and culture, and are eager to attract more outstanding talents to participate in South Korea's economic construction. In the days to come, we did see some Chinese becoming the backbone of many schools and companies.

Source: China Teachers News □ Mao Jianguo