Relating to world culture theory, this article aimed to discern similarities and differences between the South Korean national curriculum (1981, 2015) and the Swedish national curriculum (1980, 2018) and a set of complementary documents, both more broadly and with special emphasis on middle school level mathematics education. The findings suggest…

This study explores what it means to be Korean as seen in North and South Korean elementary school textbooks. Mass schooling transforms students into national citizens belonging to specific nation-states, an exercise particularly important for both the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. To gain insight into how these…

South Korean society tends to undervalue Physical Education (PE) and overemphasizes academic subjects such as Korean, English, mathematics and science. This study problematizes the challenges within PE in the South Korean primary school context, where teachers find it difficult to deliver quality PE. Data were collected from archives and…

This study examines the implications of the 'equalisation policy' and the expansion of secondary education in South Korea in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The equalisation policy is one of the most radical school reform attempts in South Korea. A random assignment or lottery system for students was introduced for all middle schools in 1968 and…

This paper examines the memories of Japanese teachers who worked in Korea during the colonial period. By focusing on the autobiographical narratives of three Japanese primary school teachers who worked in rural Korea between 1931 and 1945, this study aims to unpack the relatively under-studied aspects of colonialism. Their narratives carried…

This research explores the influences of ideology and nationalism on education reforms in South and North Korea through a comparative historical analysis of education reforms during the transition period from Japanese colonialism to the period of US and Soviet military government control. Ideas of modern education and nationalism had already…

This paper investigates the differentiated educational ideologies projected during the Japanese colonial era by comparing the Japanese language textbooks used by Korean and Japanese primary students at that time. By comparing the texts and images in "Kokugotokuhon" (Japanese language textbooks for Korean students) and…

Theoretical thought on adult and/or lifelong learning in the Republic of Korea has been largely indebted to Western theoretical frameworks in the past few decades. Academic journal articles and doctoral dissertations dealing with the topic of learning in adulthood flooded with Western, typically North American, theories and concepts. Is it indeed…

The eight-year-long period from Japan's initiation of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 to its unconditional surrender in 1945 forced Japan to invest its national economy and industrial and scientific technologies in the war. In addition, in the name of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, Japan initiated its assimilation and Kominka…

This article discusses how European and American communities in Korea organised the education of their own children from the "opening" of the country to foreign residents in the 1880s until the Second World War. Education serves as a lens to investigate these dominantly bourgeois communities of missionaries, merchants, experts and…

Based on the socio-historical dynamics of English ideologies that percolated into Korean society, this paper explored the significant aspects of ESL ideology in the Korean context. Despite the generally accepted EFL context in Korea, the country is situated at the intersection between two categories: ESL from a perspective of English ideologies…

This paper aims to study the comparative comparison of implementing school-based management in developed countries in the historical context: from theory to practice. School-based management is not by itself and objective but a valuable tool in order to reach sagacity, capabilities and the enthusiasm from most people having shares in school.…

The Republic of South Korea is a nation that has seen dramatic changes in its economic and educational systems over the course of the last 50 years. These circumstances present unique views of citizenship and the roles that teachers and teacher educators play in this process. This study presents two case studies, one a classroom teacher and the…

It has been argued that the provision and organization of In-Service Education and Training (INSET) for teachers in Korea has been carried out under the strong leadership of government authorities. However, it was not until the early 1970s that laws and government institutes specifically for INSET provision were established and began to fulfill…

Christianity as a world religion was propagated from Europe and North America to Africa and Asia. Global Christianity spread to East Asia when Robert Morrison (1782-1843) arrived in Canton, China in 1807, and later in the late 19th-century Protestant missionaries from North America arrived in Japan and Korea. This Christianity experienced a modern…