Trends in Education-related Legal System: Overview 8)

Lee and Kang (2013) classified the trends in the education-related legal system based on the different stages of Korea’s economic development into four periods (see <Table 3-1>). For the period from independence from Japan until the mid-1960s, during which the government sought to build the framework of economic growth by nurturing labor-intensive industries, the key policy content included the establishment of the school system and compulsory elementary education. From the late 1960s to the 1970s when the foundations of industrialization were established and the development of heavy and chemical industries was highly promoted, Korea’s educational policy was focused on expanding opportunities for secondary/technical education through various efforts, including admittance into middle schools without examinations, high school equalization, and the specialization of vocational high schools. In the 1980s and 1990s, higher education was promoted heavily under the industrial policy for the development of technology-intensive industries. Since 2000, when the Korean economy began to open up to the world, lifelong education was emphasized to enhance global competitiveness, and various education-related laws, including the Early Childhood Education Act and the Act on the Promotion of Specific Education For Brilliant Children, were enacted.

The Government of the Republic of Korea was inaugurated in 1948 and the Education Act was enacted in 1949. At the time of enactment, Korea’s school system included six years of compulsory elementary school, four years of middle school, two to four years of high school, and four to six years of university (6-4-2-4 system), and separate years

of education were prescribed for teacher-training schools, technical schools, and civil education schools, among others. To supplement the insufficient school facilities, the Act allowed the use of non-school educational and commercial facilities for education purposes. The Education Act stipulated ‘adequate education policies must be established and enforced for those without primary education or the general public as citizens of a democratic country’ in Article 10, and national and regional public institutes were required to submit plans for the enforcement of compulsory primary education. The compulsory six-year primary education system contributed greatly to the lowering of the illiteracy rate for this period. Subsequently, debates continued concerning the pluralization of years of education in high school and the adequacy of the years of education in middle school, and the ‘6-3-3-4’ school system for elementary school-middle school-high school-university came into effect upon the second amendment of the Act in 1952 and still remains in force today.

<Table 3-1> Trends in Education-related Legal System by Economic Development Stages

Period

Independence-mid-1960s Late 1960s-1970s 1980s-1990s 2000s

Industrial policy

Labor-intensive industrialization

Industrialization and focus on heavy and chemical industries Key contents Establishment of

school system,

Key policies Establishment of the 6-3-3-4 school on the Promotion of Specific Education for Brilliant Children,

<Continued>

Source: Recent laws were added based on <Table 5> in Lee and Kang (2013).

Elementary school teachers were trained at teachers’ schools at the high school level.

When the supply of teachers became too great, the Second Republic, which was inaugurated after the April Revolution in 1960, abolished the teachers’ schools and established colleges of education without any legal reform. Following the May 16 coup, the junta installed two-year colleges of education through the enactment of the Provisional Act on Education in 1961 and legally recognized colleges of education with the sixth amendment of the Education Act (Act No. 1387) in 1963.

The Park Chung-hee administration implemented the five-year education reconstruction plan from 1962 to 1966 as a part of the education development plan for national modernization. The government made many attempts to amend education-related laws concerning compulsory education and the self-governing education system. Despite the

Period

Independence-mid-1960s Late 1960s-1970s 1980s-1990s 2000s

High school level and supply of R&D manpower

Increased opportunity for development of various talents

awareness and supply the basic manpower required for public awareness reformation and economic development through compulsory primary education.

The Park administration established and implemented a five-year primary/secondary education development plan for the 1967-1971 period. In the 1970s, the administration adopted an industrial policy of shifting the focus of the economic structure from light industries to heavy and chemical industries and implemented an education policy which sought to increase the opportunity for secondary education significantly. In 1964, five-year technical vocational high schools were established for the purpose of producing skilled industrial workers and remained in operation until 1974. Junior colleges were converted to general colleges. As the demand for highly skilled workers continued to increase in line with the government’s emphasis on the heavy and chemical industries, two-year junior colleges were established in 1979 for students who passed the preliminary examination for college entrance. The junior college system became a collection of short-term institutes of higher education such as the former junior colleges, technical vocational high schools, and technical schools that aimed to produce skilled workers. In accordance with the Education Act, more and more junior colleges, which were recognized as institutes of higher education, were established in the 1990s. As university establishment became much easier in 1995, 50 new universities were established. By 2000, the number of private junior colleges rose to 158. From 1995 to 2007, the government evaluated the junior colleges directly, and then encouraged the colleges to adopt autonomous evaluation systems.

The university admissions process was reformed for greater autonomy and diversity in the mid-1990s, but due to growing concerns over the autonomy policy, university evaluation and the admission quota adjustment system were adopted in the late 1990s.

The Education Act, which previously regulated all primary, secondary, and tertiary education, was repealed, and the so-called Four Education Acts system was established,

centering around the Framework Act on Education which came into effect in March 1998 as well as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Higher Education Act, and the Lifelong Education Act.

With the widespread use of the Internet and the advancement of the knowledge-based society, legislation was established to enhance the competency of institutes of higher education and to diversify education. The Kim Dae-jung administration launched the Brain Korea (BK) 21 project under the catchphrase of ‘national construction of brain power in the 21st century’, with the goals of developing research capacity for highly educated manpower and enhancing the research competency of universities. The Sciences Promotion Act was enacted, stipulating the installation of scholarship funds at the Korea Research Foundation (presently, the National Research Foundation of Korea) and the use of academic research evaluation for the evaluation of university teachers. The Roh Moo-hyun administration launched the second stage of the BK21 project and established the legal framework to commission the administration of research fund to the Korea Research Foundation. The Lee Myung-bak administration launched the ‘world-class university’ project to enhance the competitiveness of higher education in Korea through the development of excellent research manpower and support for students in masters and doctorate courses. The Lee Myung-bak administration also sought to enhance the professional management of research projects by enacting the National Research Foundation of Korea Act and designating research project management experts in 2006.

In the 2000s, when the demand for the development of creative manpower increased, over 150 education-related laws were enacted. Diverse aspects of the existing adult education system were integrated for regulation by the Lifelong Education Act⁹⁾. The

9) For the establishment of a systematic and effective lifelong education system, the government enacted the Act on Recognition of Credits, which recognized credit points for people identified as possessing important intangible cultural properties. The Higher Education Act was also enacted, which recognized the industry experience of workers with high

Early Childhood Education Act, which was enacted in place of the Early Childhood Education Promotion Act, provided the legal basis for supporting education costs and teachers’ wages for children aged three and older, and along with the Infant Care Act which provided a legal basis for the expansion of childcare facilities, is supporting the continued use of female manpower among the economically active population and the continued participation in economic activities by female manpower after childbirth.

The education of gifted children was promoted by establishing institutes of gifted education for the early discovery and development of talent and by establishing the national committee for gifted education. To accommodate the increase in foreign manpower and the increasing number of people born overseas or staying overseas for long periods, a legal basis was laid to establish schools for foreign students.

In 2012, in order to promote the diffusion of knowledge and technology from universities to industry through industry-academic cooperation, the Promotion of Industrial Education and Industry-Academic Cooperation Act was enacted, stipulating the establishment of the Industry-Academic Cooperation Technology Holding Company. In order to correct the problems surrounding the training of legal professionals, the Act on the Establishment and Management of Professional Law Schools was adopted in 2007, introducing a law school system which sought to provide professional training in legal theory and practice to students from diverse academic backgrounds.

In order to establish an organization specialized in the comprehensive administration of schooling expenses, the Act on the Establishment of the Korea Scholarship Foundation was enacted in 2009. Also, in 2011, the Act on the Establishment and Management of Seoul National University was enacted for the purpose of improving the

education opportunities to adult students through distance learning, and made it possible for students at junior colleges to earn bachelor’s degrees through intensive study programs.

autonomy and responsibility of Seoul National University and enhancing the university’s education and research competency by establishing it as an independent legal entity.