A New Form of Educational Inequality in South Korea

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Objectives. This session discusses a new form of educational inequality in South Korea (hereafter, Korea) that emerges from its recent socioeconomic and demographic changes such as increasing (im)migration and income inequality. Audience will learn lessons from South Korea with respect to the issues and challenges that disadvantaged children face as well as concerted efforts by the government, researchers, and educators to help improve the wellbeing of disadvantaged children.
Overview. This session features four papers that examine recent demographic changes in South Korea (hereafter, Korea), resulting from increasing immigration and migration as well as increasing income inequality, and discuss challenges faced by disadvantaged children, such as those who grow up in multicultural families and low-income families. This session also examines how the government, scholars, and educators work together to address these challenges. Specifically, the first paper examines children from multicultural families, who were either born or brought up in Korea, and their acculturation to Korean society. By studying the psychological and sociocultural well-being of children from multicultural families, this study offers insights into crafting effective school interventions to support their psychological well-being. The second paper examines so-called cross-cultural children who have spent significant time of their development period interacting and experiencing two or more cultures. These children are known to experience culture shock in the process of transition from one culture to another as well as cultural stress and maladjustment in schools during adaptation. The second paper addresses Korean cross-cultural children’ resilience to acculturative stress in the United States. In fact, the proliferation of such students who moved to other countries, called international student movement, is a global phenomenon that reflects and reveals the characteristics of the global knowledge network in the most physical and visible form. In this regard, the third paper examines who seeks educational opportunities abroad globally by studying the characteristics of students who studied abroad across countries. The four and last paper examines socioeconomic disparities adolescents’ expected occupational status in Korea, in comparison with the United States, using the 2018 Programme for the International Student Assessment (PISA). Their analyses showed greater socioeconomic disparities in adolescents’ expected occupational status in Korea, compared to the United States, extending our knowledge regarding how the size of socioeconomic disparities in adolescents’ expected occupational status differs by country.
Relevance for CIES 2023. The four papers to be presented in the session are not only tightly linked to each other, but also highly relevant for the theme of the CIES 2023 Annual Meeting (i.e., “Improving Education for a More Equitable World”). In particular, our session is well aligned with the sub-theme I: Social Justice and Inclusion, as the four papers collectively address gaps and challenges in social justice, equity, and inclusion in changing socioeconomic and demographic contexts. Studying Korea’s emerging educational inequality in socioeconomic and demographic contexts is particularly appealing because Korea is one of the high-performing countries and thus has drawn the attention of many educational researchers and policymakers across globe, especially in the United States. More importantly, many countries around the world have also similarly experienced increasing (im)migration and income inequality in recent years. What are consequences of these socioeconomic and demographic changes for educational inequalities in society? Our proposed session will address this important question and discuss how the government, scholars, and educators can work together to address challenges by learning lessons from Korea.
Structure. Each presentation will take 15 minutes. We will devote 15 minutes to discussion by designated discussants and another 15 minutes to Q & A and discussion by the audience.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Soo-yong Byun, Penn State University

Individual Presentations

• Exploring the Acculturation of Adolescents in Multicultural Families in South Korea - IN SOO OH, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea; Seojung Kim, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea

• Strength-Based Approach to Increase Resilience Among Korean Cross-Cultural Kids Who Immigrated to the U.S - IN SOO OH, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea; HEARAN LEE, Dept. of Education, Ewha Womans University; SHINHYE RYU, Dept. of Education, Ewha Womans University; SooYeon Yang, Dept. of Education, Ewha Womans University; ARIN CHOI, Dept. of Education, Ewha Womans University; Seunghye Hong, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health

• The Structural Characteristics of Knowledge Networks Embedded in the Flow of International Student Mobility - Jayoung Ham, Dept. of Education, Ewha Womans University; Anna Kim, Dept. of Education, Ewha Womans University

• Socioeconomic Disparities in Adolescents’ Expected Occupational Status: A Comparative Study of South Korea and the United States - Soo-yong Byun, Penn State University; Suyoung Park, Pennsylvania State University; Jilli Jung, Pennsylvania State University

Discussants

• So Rin Kim, University of Missouri - St. Louis

• Stephanie K. Kim, Georgetown University