Creating entrepreneurs: National curriculum change in South Korea

Abstract

This article explores national curriculum change initiated by the South Korean state by examining the 2015 curriculum reform. Relying on interviews with policy actors who participated in the curriculum-making process, I aimed to understand how certain reform ideas within an institutionalized, state-led curriculum change made—or failed to make—their way into official documents. Three main themes emerged from interviews: (a) entrepreneurial vision supported by elite bureaucrats and politicians, (b) education professors importing performance standards from the United States, and (c) parent-citizens empowered by education consumerism opposing elitism. Based on the data analysis, I argue cyclical South Korean national curriculum revisions, dominated by Korean elites, function as a social apparatus to disseminate and underpin neoliberal ideology. I also argue parent-citizens’ political activism—empowered by three decades of education consumerism policies—succeeded in challenging Korean elitism and demonstrated anti-neoliberalism potential. As a theoretical framework, I chose critical works addressing neoliberal education reform discourses. I conclude by discussing the future of national curriculum making in the continued process of neoliberalisation.