National Curriculum Change and the Proliferation of Neoliberal Ideology: The South Korean Case

• In Event: Talkin' Bout a Revolution: "Experts" Discourse in Curricular Reform

Abstract

This study critically explores the meanings of national curriculum change initiated by the South Korean state by examining the 2015 reform case. Relying on interviews with the policy actors who participated in the curriculum-making process, the study aimed to understand how certain reform ideas within an institutionalized, state-led curriculum change made – or failed to make – their way into official documents. Based on the data analysis, the presenter argues that the cyclical South Korean national curriculum revisions, which are dominated by Korean elites, function as a social apparatus to disseminate and underpin neoliberal ideology. She also argues that parent-citizens’ collective political activism – ironically empowered by three decades of education consumerism policies – succeeded in challenging Korean elitism and demonstrated anti-neoliberalism potential.

Author

• Soo Bin Jang, St. Mary's College of Maryland