Historicizing Equity and Excellence in High School Curriculum Policy Discourse in South Korea

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 11:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Curriculum Across Contexts: Philosophies, Policies, and Indigenous Futures

Abstract

This study historicizes the meaning and relationship between equity and excellence in high school curriculum policy discourse in South Korea, from the early 1990s to the present. Using Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, it examines government reform plans and policy documents. Findings reveal that equity and excellence have been discursively intertwined, with high school education positioned as a tool for both opportunity expansion and national development. Rather than opposing values, equity and excellence have been reconstructed through complementary policy logics. By critically and historically examining the politicization of these discourses in high school curriculum, the study provides insight into how current rationalities of equity and excellence inform ways to imagine societal futures.

Author

• Ji-Hye Kim, Korean Educational Development Institute