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Korean Education in Changing Economic and Demographic Contexts pp 173–189Cite as

Multicultural Education in Republic of Korea: Social Change and School Education

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Part of the book series: Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects ((EDAP,volume 23))

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate discourse on and characteristics of multicultural education in South Korea. Since the mid-1990s, children with diverse ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds have increased rapidly in Korea. Recent discussions regarding multicultural education and educational policy, including reflections on school curriculum, show a growing concern about the impact of this change on Korean society. This paper explores two principal issues. One issue is the manner in which multicultural education has gained widespread importance in South Korea, revealing the particularity of Korean society via demographic change. The other issue involves an exploration of multicultural education, with a focus on school education and a discussion of its significance and limitations from the perspective of the social and cultural characteristics of Korea.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Prior to entering into a discussion of multicultural education in Korea, it should first be stipulated that North Korean settlers are not relevant to this discussion. Although North Korean settlers—the numbers of which increased sharply in the mid-1990s—have profoundly influenced Korean society, they represent a set of social issues distinct from the issues of international marriage and immigrant workers with regard to race, ethnicity, social recognition, etc.

  2. 2.

    Foreign nationals married to Korean nationals are eligible to apply for Korean citizenship if they have lived in Korea for 2 years after the marriage or have been married for longer than 3 years and lived in Korea for at least 1 year. Foreign nationals may be required to take a citizenship exam, although in some cases they may be exempted (Lee et al. 2008).

  3. 3.

    The phenomenon of Japanese wives cannot be explained by the same rationale as wives from other countries. The majority of Japanese wives in Korea are married to Koreans due to their adherence to Unificationism, a Korean religion led by Moon Sun-Myung. Therefore, the social conditions of these wives are clearly distinct from those of other foreign wives.

  4. 4.

    Among those students, the number with foreign mothers accounts for 88 % (Lee et al. 2008).

  5. 5.

    Some parts of this chapter was published in considerably revised version in Korean Journal (Lee 2010).

  6. 6.

    Children of international marriage families often do not have the opportunity to learn their maternal language because it usually isn’t acceptable to use their maternal language in the family. Under these circumstances, the lack of communication between children and their foreign-born mothers who often have poor Korean language skills causes a problem of language development.

  7. 7.

    Immigrant students who succeed in adjusting to Korean schools have a strong tendency to embrace a Korean identity and deny their ethnic identity (Kim 2006a, b; Lee and Kim 2009). This demonstrates how ethnic identity and integration into mainstream society can be harmonized.

  8. 8.

    The collective identity is defined as the common characteristics among a group of individuals, and personal identity makes it possible for the individual to be identified by his own definition while also being part of the group. The collective identity emphasizes “resemblance to the others,” while the personal identity clarifies “difference compared to the others” (Sciolla 2005, p. 336).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, Graduate School of Education, Daegu University, 201 Daegudaero, Jinyang, Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk, 712-714, Republic of Korea

    Min-Kyung Lee

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  1. Min-Kyung Lee
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Correspondence to Min-Kyung Lee .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Hyunjoon Park

  2. Department of Education, Korea University, Seoul, Korea, Republic of (South Korea)

    Kyung-keun Kim

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Lee, MK. (2014). Multicultural Education in Republic of Korea: Social Change and School Education. In: Park, H., Kim, Kk. (eds) Korean Education in Changing Economic and Demographic Contexts. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 23. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4451-27-7_10

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