Making a Good Future Through Student Initiative Learning: Focused on the Policy of Gyeonggido Office of Education in Korea

• In Event: The Schools of the Future? The Future of Schools? Learning From the International Perspective

Abstract

Objectives: From a traditional view point, students are the objects of learning. This viewpoint also characterizes educational systems of East Asia including Korea. Gyeonggido Office of Education (GOE) believes that this type of education does not help to create a good and sustainable future. Therefore, GOE has provided various support for students to plan and practice their learning for themselves. Hyukshin School (H-School), Dream School (D-School), and Mongsil school (M-school) are representative policies. In this article, we apply quantitative research methods to analyze how this policy contributes to fostering student initiative learning competency. In particular, this article attempts to analyze under what conditions and to which students these effects are maximized.

Perspectives: Several researchers have argued that future societies will become more inequalities in everyday uncertainty. GOE believes that education can overcome the concerns about the future. To deal with these problems, GOE emphasizes that it is more important to create new value by oneself than to look for the right answer in a given frame. So GOE has made every effort to empower students to deal with their life issues independently. Lately, GOE focus on responsibility and citizenship beyond individual student autonomy. H-School, D-School and M-school are good examples of this effort. According to previous studies, students who participated in D-school or M-school showed positive changes in self-esteem, self-initiative, career capacity and community consciousness. Through student-centered activities, they became aware of the possibility that they could do something to initiate and find a way to realize their dreams. In addition, they came to recognize the importance of cooperation and solidarity through the community activities conducted at D-school or M-school. However, these studies applied qualitative methods of a small number of cases and have not been able to elucidate under what conditions and to which students these effects are maximized.

Data & Methods: Quantitative data will be collected from the above mentioned schools in the second half of 2020. The expected sample size is over 2,000. Major variables will be self- initiative learning competency. In this study, the variable related to the ability to define a social problem from the public point of view will be collected. We will analyze whether these competencies are cultivated through the three types of schools by multi-level analysis. In particular, this study will also examine whether these effects are more pronounced for students with poor academic performance or lower socio-economic background by the analysis of interaction between levels.

Results: This study will verify whether future competencies are being developed through student initiative learning policies of GOE. In particular, this study expects that students who have poor academic achievement can be subjects of learning for themselves and the disadvantaged will get more effects from student initiative learning.

Scientific Significance: The findings contribute to changing the existing notion that students have been regarded as the object of learning. Furthermore, it will present the possibility of applying a new learning model for good and sustainable future.

Authors

• Jaejoung Lee, Gyeonggi Office of Education

• Byongbu Baek, Gyeonggido Office of Education

• Yunjeong Jo, Gyeonggido Office of Education

• Hanbok Lee, Gyeonggi Office of Education

• Hyejin Park, Gyeonggi Office of Education