Humanizing National Curriculum History: Teachers’ Lived Experiences Over the National Curriculum Changes in South Korea

• In Event: Teacher Identity and Lived Experiences in International Contexts

Abstract

This paper explores three teachers’ life history as the national curriculum history of South Korea. Contrary to historicism’s periodization, authoritative stance, and linear relationship between past and present, a life history diversifies curriculum history by honoring individuals’ voices who would be otherwise marginalized in the official curriculum history. Juxtaposing multiple narratives over the national curriculum changes, the study offers empirical evidence to theorize teacher professionalism in relation to externally driven education reforms. Broader implication lies in exemplifying how to make use of history to defamiliarize what we take for granted today, by redirecting what seems ahistorical as part of the historical, calling for responsible actions to change the injustice foundations of the present.

Authors

• Kyunghee So, Seoul National University

• Sun Young Lee, Wichita State University