Student Welfare in Australia and South Korea: Linking Relationships for Learning

• In Event: Roundtable Session 32
  In Roundtable Session: The Centrality of Learning to Students’ Welfare in Rural Schools in Australia, Canada, and Korea

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss student welfare research conducted by the National Centre of Science, Information and Communication Technology, and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR) and that implemented by the Korean Rural Education Centre (KoREC) in South Korea. Of interest is what can be learned by comparing the research completed by these two centres, in terms of their commonalities and differences in approaches, and in relation to the resultant findings regarding the welfare and well-being of school students.
The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008) recognizes schools as places that provide opportunities for increased levels of well-being. Similarly, the Korean government announced the Educational Welfare Promotion Plan in December of 2008. This plan aims to reduce educational gaps in rural areas by region and income levels. These similar policy frameworks underpin the work of SiMERR and KoREC in addressing the welfare needs of school students.
In the study that focused on successful junior secondary school contexts, SiMERR researchers found that five key factors contributed to the success of student welfare programs in schools. These were: (i) teachers’ high performance expectations for students’ behaviour and their academic work; (ii) the integrity of student welfare programs and the authenticity of their implementation; (iii) positive links with the school community; (iv) a positive school culture; and (v) a central focus on students and their learning.
By reviewing previous research findings, staff of the Korean Rural Education Centre identified five areas of emphasis important to maintaining and sustaining student welfare programs. These areas are: basic life requirements; safety and security; cognitive development; emotional development; and social development. Subsequently, KoREC researchers have developed a model of educational welfare that subsumes student welfare issues and is structured in terms of ‘Input’, ‘Processes’ and ‘Outcomes’.
This model, the Yearlong Total Care Schools (YTCS) package, includes a focus on students’ cognitive, emotional, and social development and has two major aims. First, it plans to narrow the achievement gap between school performance in urban and rural/regional areas. Secondly, the YTCS also has the lofty aim of revitalising rural and regional settings. KoREC’s model of Yearlong Total Care Schools is currently being implemented in over 300 schools in South Korea.
This paper will compare and contrast the research relating to student welfare from SiMERR and KoREC and suggest a combined model that covers both educational welfare and student welfare issues. This combined model suggests that the maintenance of student welfare programs is essential for making the programs successful, and that all such programs should be sustained by establishing them as part of the school culture. Whereas, Paterson, Graham and Stevens (2007) suggest that welfare programs should be established as part of a school culture, like a deep-rooted tree, Auh and Im extend this metaphor to systems and to environmental issues. They illustrate their conclusions by using a Korean proverb that states, “A deep-rooted tree does not get blown over even by fierce winds”.

Author

• Myung Sook Auh, University of New England