Looking into University Courses in Korea: Global Citizenship Education for Pre-Service Secondary Teachers

• In Event: Transforming Education: Korea's Vocational and Global Citizenship Education, and Gender-Specific International Policy Reforms

Proposal

In 2023, UNESCO member states adopted the Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development as a revision of the 1974 Recommendation. Emerging aspects of societal challenges, including climate change, the pandemic, and digital transformation, have prompted member states to discuss the document to align with current social needs, thereby advancing progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education (UNESCO, 2024). Notably, UNESCO has focused on incorporating components such as global citizenship education (GCED) and digital literacy into its Recommendation, while recently developing teacher guidelines related to these topics.
This research aims to analyze the potential impact of UNESCO’s Recommendation on improving pre-service teacher training in South Korea. Teachers are key resources for the effective implementation of the Recommendation, and developing teachers’ competencies significantly impacts student learning (Wolf & Peele, 2019; Conn, 2017; McEwan, 2015). Given that South Korea is recently introducing AI digital textbooks to enhance practical digital competencies and is working to incorporate contextualized GCED content into its revised curricula, it is essential to enhance teacher professional development to ensure educators can effectively translate the key principles of the Recommendation into practical educational content.
The college of education is a systematic institution capable of providing effective intervention in secondary teacher education in South Korea. For the effects of teacher education to persist as an educational resource over several years, ongoing coaching and teacher training should last for at least two years (Wolf & Peele, 2019). Given that mandatory hours for in-service teacher training in South Korea amount to only approximately 60 hours per year, the college of education has significant potential to enhance the understanding and teaching competency of future educators, thereby promoting the successful implementation of UNESCO’s Recommendation.
However, South Korea lacks pre-service teacher courses that address international education agendas and develop related teaching capacity. Although the College of Education at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies has recently introduced a one-semester course on GCED for pre-service teachers, it is not compulsory. Furthermore, while some affiliated national colleges of education offer programs to enhance pre-service educators’ global competencies, these programs are limited to short-term elective courses that do not affect teacher certification or graduation requirements, resulting in low participation. Following the revision of the 1974 Recommendation, it is imperative to review the alignment between national policies and institutional programs with respect to global educational agendas.
This paper will conduct a comparative analysis of UNESCO’s Recommendation and Korean pre-service secondary teacher training policies, with a particular emphasis on GCED and digital literacy. As a practical intervention, the paper will examine the current status of curricula in colleges of education nationwide, focusing on how well UNESCO’s agendas are integrated. Additionally, using the Likert scale, this paper will assess pre-service teachers’ satisfaction with GCED and digital literacy courses, and evaluate teaching efficacy to identify areas for improvement. This analysis aims to support policy and curriculum development to better align with UNESCO’s Recommendation and enhance pre-service teachers’ competencies for the future of education in South Korea.

Author

• Yura Oh, Stanford University