Decentralization in educational governance and its challenges in Korea: Focused on policy conflicts between central and local government in education

Abstract

Decentralization of educational governance is characterized by the recent education reform in Korea. With the election of progressive superintendents and local council members, educational policy conflicts have often occurred and deepened in the process of decision-making and implementation of policies such as School Violence Prevention, National Assessment of Education Achievement, Autonomous Private High School, and Teacher Appraisal for Professional Development. This paper examined what were key issues related to these conflicts, what caused these conflicts, and how they progressed by analyzing recent legal cases during the last 5 years (2010–2014) between central and local governments. Findings showed that three factors might be associated with policy conflicts in educational governance: Ambiguous authority and responsibility of educational administration, tensions of political and educational ideas and ideologies, and inadequacy of conflict prevention and coordination. Final findings of the study will provide valuable information to enhance cooperation between central and local educational governance.