주5일 수업제 시행에 대비한 초등학교 수업일수 및 수업시수 국제 비교

Abstract

The Korean government has been seeking ways to reduce instruction time in public school systems so that students can spend more time for their extra curricular activities. Since 2006, Korean public schools provide classes on Saturdays bi-weekly. Recently, however, the government is considering stopping classes on Saturdays altogether. However, educators and parents have expressed big concerns about lowering the quality of education and decreasing the amount of study time when the school days are reduced. The purpose of this paper was to explore the ways to adjust the school curriculum without affecting students' learning when the public schools do not provide classes on Saturday. In particular, this study focuses on the elementary school curriculum. In order to suggest ways to adjust the school curriculum, the public school curriculum of 5 foreign countries such as the United States, France, Japan, China, and Australia were analyzed and compared with the case of Korea. Along with the curriculum, extra-curricular activities, after-school activities, and week-end programs were also analyzed. The study found that the Korean public schools have longer instruction time and more compulsory subjects than comparative countries. In addition, it was found that Korean public schools consider the extra-curricular hours as regular instruction time while other countries do not. The suggestions were made accordingly based on the research findings.