Establishing an Advanced Life-long Education System
Seon-Tae Kim, Dong-Yeol Park, Myung-Hee Jang, Tae-Hwa Jung
Systematical linkages amongst Korea's vocational education institutions at the secondary and higher levels, including individualized high schools, Meister schools, and vocational colleges, constitutes the foundation for the establishment of an open, life-long education system that enables smooth transfers from school to workplaces and from workplaces to schools. This study traces the current state of previous policy practices, the successful cases and problems identified during the implementation of such policies at the individualized high school, meister school, and vocational college level, and formulates the necessary policy adjustments. To this end, the present study suggests objectives and practical backgrounds for individual policies based on a careful examination of the current situation, focuses on the positive effects of policy promotion using successful case studies, and analyzes existing problems and complementary factors in terms of promotional procedures. Using research methods that include the analysis of press and research results on each policy, surveys with related officials, and the hosting of expert conferences, this study monitors the promotional status of each vocational education policy.
The promotion level, problems, and improvement methods for each policy may be summarized as follows. First, the promotion results of Meister schools included the implementation of reforms geared towards the development of specialized education programs so as to meet industrial demand, the selection of competent new students with the required potential and aptitudes, the expansion of the appointment of principals from the industrial sector and teachers from various backgrounds (both in terms of their studies and industrial experience), the securing of the number of teachers needed to conduct Young Meister high school education, the improvement of the industrial applicability of teachers and reinforcement of competence, and the inking of industrial-educational contracts with successful industries and improvement of corporational activities.
The major problem found in conjunction with the promotion of Meister schools was related to military service, and more specifically the fact that people who have not finished their military duty cannot be hired under the Meister Employment Agreement. This corporate tendency to avoid employing people who have not finished their military duties reduces the possibility of employment for male students. Further improvements include establishing a competitive training system through the multiplication of subjects implemented as part of Meister training, structuring a job application support system for graduates of Meister schools, securing the credibility of the competences possessed by Meister graduates by reforming the qualification system, providing incentives for successful corporations for industrial-educational cooperation, expanding budgets and promising stable support, providing competent teachers, establishing a program improvement system for each school based on frequent self-evaluation, establishing a support system for continuous education, solving problems regarding military service for graduates, and improving employment quality management.
Second, the following measures should be taken to improve the employment potential and enhance the employment rate of individualized high schools: reinforcing the employment function of related fields and reforming specialized education curriculum so that it meets industrial demand, expanding field practice participation through systematical improvements of the appropriate job opportunities, and promoting organizational linkages among informational system linking work-education-qualification related fields. In order to improve corporate performance, it is necessary to achieve the promotion and provision of appropriate signals for the goals of individualized high school through successful visioning as a skillful worker, reinforce the expertise of the workforce graduating from individualized high schools, induce improvement of the corporate personnel system, and search for and expand jobs that are appropriate for workforce graduating from individualized high schools.
Third, in terms of the policies designed to promote employment after education, the following methods were introduced as means to improve and vitalize a special admission system for residers: extending the scope of acceptance of industrial experience education, expanding tax reduction benefits and financial support for workforce-development-centered corporations, developing methods to reduce employment terms from the current 3 years to 2-2.5 years, expanding the establishment of related field courses in colleges, providing comprehensive operation methods for cooperation with existing divisions by implementing appropriate support, bringing about a maturing corporate culture and establishing program development plans regarding the expansion of education opportunities for residers of the HR division, establishing operation methods for the running of employment programs in cooperation with high schools, industrial fields, and colleges, implementing an individual consulting system for residers based on tracing surveys involving students employed during their 4th year, implementing and operating programs to alleviate the relative exclusiveness of current students and workers from individualized high schools, establishing operational methods for field-practices-centered education curriculum through the securing of professors with experience in the industrial sector, adjusting capacity by inducing structural adjustments in colleges and establishing policies to support the reform of
divisions geared towards special admission tasks for residers.
Fourth, the expected results of the WCC project designed to transform Korean vocational colleges into World Class Colleges(WCC) include securing the potential for successful international level vocational colleges through the improvement of the quality of education, selecting successful vocational colleges and providing an environment suitable for securing self-determined operation of colleges, inducing positive responses from vocational college officials, and securing the likelihood of establishing a systematical infrastructure for Korean vocational education. Further steps which should be taken in conjunction with the WCC project include vitalizing businesses and securing additional budgets for active performances, expanding assessments, making adjustments to particular assessment indexes, bringing about if industrial categorizing based on college specialties and the expansion of selection ranges, and setting up medium and long-term operation direction for businesses.
