❙Dong Sun Choi
Part Ⅱ. The Present of Secondary Vocational Education in Korea
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college/university based on a general education (Korean Education Development Institute, 2013). In elementary and middle school education, which amount to a compulsory education and the national common basic curriculum, students complete both education and then opt for either general high schools or vocational high schools.
Table 3-1 ❙ Number of schools and number of students by school level (2013)
(Unit: number, person)
Classification Number of schools Number of students
Elementary school 5,913 2,784,000
Middle school 3,173 1,804,189
High school 2,322 (100.0%) 1,893,303 (100.0%)
General school 1,525 (65.7%) 1,356,070 (71.6%)
Special-purpose high school* 168 (7.2%) 67,099 (3.5%)
Meister high school 34 (1.5%) 15,728 (0.8%)
Specialized high school 494 (21.3%) 320,374 (16.9%)
Specialized vocational high school 470 (20.2%) 317,445 (16.8%)
Autonomous high school 165 (7.1%) 149,760 (7.9%)
Size of vocational education in high school 504 (21.7%) 333,173 (17.6%) Source: of Education and Korea Educational Developmental Institute (2013)
At present, there are two types of high schools that focus on secondary vocational education: specialized vocational high schools and special-purpose high schools tailored to meet industrial demand (hereinafter referred to as Meister high schools). At a time when there was a discussion on measures for educational reform to diversify vocational education in high schools, the concept of specialized high schools1) emerged (the Commission on Education Reform, 1996). Specialized high schools were established with the aim of training students who wished to seek a career for their aptitude and of educating them to be experts in specific fields. The number of specialized high schools was 470 as of 2013, and by region, Seoul and Gyeonggi Province have the largest share of schools (71 schools and 66 schools, respectively)
1) Under the relevant laws and regulations, specialized high schools are divided into the vocational education sector and the alternative education sector, and this study was limited to the description of specialized vocational education high schools.
(see [Table 3-2]). The percentages of field of study in specialized high schools were 7.2%, 42.1%, 39.4%, 1.9%, and 9.4% in agriculture, industry, commerce, fishery &
marine, and vocational home economics, respectively. (Korean Education Development Institute, 2013). In addition, the proportion of female students was 44.8%, and in Seoul, it was 53.6%, the highest figure. This suggests that although the proportion of female students is 47.6% of the total high schools, it is low compared to 49.3% of female students in general high schools (Korean Education Development Institute, 2013).
Meanwhile, with the aim of establishing the leading model of vocational high schools, Meister high schools were introduced and were classified as special-purpose high schools under the current school system. The purpose of Meister high schools is to operate curricula that directly link with the demands of specific industry sectors under Article 91 (2) of the Enforcement Decree of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. With the concept of a job academy actively supported by the government from 2008, Meister high schools are aimed at operating curricula that link with the specialized industrial needs of promising fields and at nurturing young Meisters who meet the demands of the labor market through the linkage of the employment of students to industrial fields. As of 2013, an enrollment of 15,728 students attended a total of 34 schools, and the proportion of total female students was 14.4%. Meister high schools accounted for 1.5%, which recorded the lowest share of the total high schools (see [Table 3-3]).
Table 3-2 ❙ The status of specialized high schools (2013)
(Unit: person, %)
Area
Number of schools
Number of students
(persons) Ratio by field of study (%)
Total Female (%) Agriculture Industry Commerce Fishery &
Marine
Vocational home economics
Seoul 71 50,768 27,133(53.4) 0 43.7 50.7 0 5.6
Busan 36 26,023 10,782(41.4) 2.8 50.0 41.7 0.0 5.6
Daegu 18 18,997 7,289(38.4) 5.6 55.6 27.8 0.0 11.1
Incheon 26 21,246 10,495(49.4) 0 57.7 34.6 3.8 3.8
Gwangju 10 10,952 4,787(43.7) 10.0 40.0 40.0 0.0 10.0
Daejeon 11 10,429 4,468(42.8) 9.1 54.5 36.4 0.0 0.0
Part Ⅱ. The Present of Secondary Vocational Education in Korea
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Area
Number of schools
Number of students
(persons) Ratio by field of study (%)
Total Female (%) Agriculture Industry Commerce Fishery &
Marine
Vocational home economics
Ulsan 9 8,494 3,679(43.3) 0 33.3 44.4 0.0 22.2
Sejong 1 756 155(20.5) 0 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Gyeonggi 66 62,332 28,596(45.9) 9.1 39.4 48.5 0.0 3.0
Gangwon 20 9,503 3,215(33.8) 5.0 30.0 15.0 0.0 50.0
Chungbuk 23 15,354 7,124(46.4) 8.7 39.1 52.2 0.0 0.0
Chungnam 24 13,100 5,639(43.0) 8.3 33.3 41.7 4.2 12.5
Jeonbuk 26 12,080 5,653(46.8) 26.9 38.5 26.9 0.0 7.7
Jeonnam 44 17,369 7,455(42.9) 11.4 43.2 29.5 6.8 9.1
Gyeongbuk 47 16,859 6,011(35.7) 6.4 38.3 36.2 6.4 12.8
Gyeongnam 31 17,682 7,133(40.3) 9.7 41.9 35.5 3.2 9.7
Jeju 7 4,773 2,454(51.4) 14.3 14.3 42.9 0.0 28.6
Total 470 317,445 142,068(44.8) 7.2 42.1 39.4 1.9 9.4
Source: of Education and Korea Educational Development Institute (2013)
Table 3-3 ❙ The status of Meister high schools (2013)
(Unit: %, person) Number of
schools
Number of students
Total Female First-year Second-year Third-year
Seoul 3 1,515 485 480 516 519
Busan 3 1,732 0 588 575 569
Daegu 1 884 0 305 296 283
Incheon 2 829 152 284 273 272
Gwangju 1 239 69 83 76 80
Daejeon 1 591 0 200 197 194
Ulsan 2 942 191 247 238 457
Gyeonggi 2 952 94 329 325 298
Gangwon 2 619 170 200 197 222
Chungbuk 3 958 380 302 311 345
Chungnam 3 883 54 284 269 330
Jeonbuk 2 1,427 69 485 479 463
Jeonnam 3 1,216 336 323 452 441
Gyeongbuk 4 2,176 267 749 713 714
Gyeongnam 2 765 0 261 254 250
Total 34 15,728 2,267 5,120 5,171 5,437
Source: of Education and Korea Educational Development Institute (2013)
In this context, specialized high schools that mainly operate a vocational education curriculum, as well as Meister high schools (high schools tailored to meet industrial demands), operate vocational education at the secondary level. As of 2013, 17.6% of the total high school students attend a secondary vocational education institute.
Secondary vocational education in Korea has the operating method of a differentiated education curriculum within the framework of the school ladder system (see [Figure 3-1]). At the high school level, however, it not only finds it limited to between general education pathways and vocational education ones, but also finds it inactive to move between the pathways. Currently, high school students who opt for general education pathways are, in part, provided with an opportunity to participate in the vocational education program for one year in the third year of high school. Such a program is expected to expand for the time being.
Figure 3-1 ❙ Korea’s school education system and vocational education institutes at the high school level
In Korea, the secondary vocational education system is geared toward a small-scale and elite-centered policy in a way that meets the demands of the labor market on a
Part Ⅱ. The Present of Secondary Vocational Education in Korea
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proper scale (Presidential Committee on Education Innovation, 2005; the National Employment Strategy Meeting, 2010). In the early 1990s, to mitigate the excessive demand for higher education attainment, the government tried to promote a policy for the expansion of secondary education. However, such policy resulted in a poor quality of education. Since the middle of the 2000s, the central government continued to reduce the size through the restructuring of secondary education institutes and to improve the quality of education at the same time. Therefore, the proportion of enrollment in vocational education institutes declined to 17.6% in 2013, compared with 42.4% in 1995 (see [Figure 3-2]). The participation of students in secondary vocational education was lower than other OECD countries (see [Figure 3-3]). In recent years, the government has promoted a policy to encourage students to enter the labor market rather than advance to higher education institutes after they complete secondary vocational education.
(Unit: 1,000 persons, %)
Data: Ministry of Education and Korea Education Development Institute (1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2013) Figure 3-2 ❙ The number and proportion of students in secondary vocational education institutes (1980-2013)
Note: 1) The graph shows the comparison of the data between 2003 and 2011. However, in Korea, it shows the data for 2011, and in Canada, it shows the data for 2010.
2) In the graph of the United Kingdom, the figure includes post-secondary, non-tertiary education.
Data: OECD (2013) p. 271.
Figure 3-3 ❙ A cross-national comparison of vocational education participation at the high school level