Creating entrepreneurs: National curriculum change in South Korea. Issue 1 (1st January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jang, Soo Bin
• Is Part Of: Curriculum inquiry. Volume 52:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 51
• Page End: 74
• Publication Date: 2022-01-01
• Subjects: Curriculum change -- state-based curriculum making -- neoliberal education reform -- national curriculum -- policy actors -- South Korea; Education -- Curricula -- Periodicals; 375.0005
• DOI: 10.1080/03626784.2021.2021373
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0362-6784

Abstract

Abstract: This article explores national curriculum change initiated by the South Korean state by examining the 2015 curriculum reform. Relying on interviews with policy actors who participated in the curriculum-making process, I aimed to understand how certain reform ideas within an institutionalized, state-led curriculum change made—or failed to make—their way into official documents. Three main themes emerged from interviews: (a) entrepreneurial vision supported by elite bureaucrats and politicians, (b) education professors importing performance standards from the United States, and (c) parent-citizens empowered by education consumerism opposing elitism. Based on the data analysis, I argue cyclical South Korean national curriculum revisions, dominated by Korean elites, function as a social apparatus to disseminate and underpin neoliberal ideology. I also argue parent-citizens' political activism—empowered by three decades of education consumerism policies—succeeded in challenging Korean elitism and demonstrated anti-neoliberalism potential. As a theoretical framework, I chose critical works addressing neoliberal education reform discourses. I conclude by discussing the future of national curriculum making in the continued process of neoliberalisation.