Curriculum Change and Policy Networks: The Case of the Latest National Curriculum Reform in Korea

• In Event: Roundtable Session 56
  In Roundtable Session: Rethinking Curriculum in Nation-States

Abstract

This paper presents the results from a social network analysis in which the theories of Advocacy Coalition Framework and Policy Entrepreneur Model were used to analyze the 2015 National Curriculum Reform in Korea. This study examines the role of policy entrepreneurs have played in curriculum change, their location in policy networks and how that can affect their policy-oriented behaviors, supporters’ reasons for coalition, and the counterarguments of opposing groups. Data sources were documents and interviews with the diverse array of key policy actors supporting and opposing reform. I argue that supporter of curriculum reform succeeded because they formed strategic coalition early on, developed rationale that appealed to public, and filled structural holes by bridging different groups.

Author

• Soo Bin Jang, Michigan State University