Mass Education Systems Research Articles

한국어 교수-학습을 위한 상호작용 연구 동향 분석과 과제

This study analyzed the trends of interaction research in the field of Korean language education and suggested implications and future research tasks. The papers analyzed for research trends were theses published in the Korea Research Foundation's nomination lists by October 2023. Since the aspects and methods of interaction are quite different depending on whether the teaching-learning space is offline or online, I first categorized papers according to these two criteria, and then subdivided them into sub-areas in terms of research topics and methods.
 Research on interaction in the field of Korean language education began to appear in the 2000s. The major turning points in the transformation of offline and online teaching and learning environments were around 2010. Until the early 2010s, almost all classes were held face-to-face, so research on interaction was centered on classroom instruction. The commercialization of high-speed internet in the 2010s greatly improved the environment for online education and diversified educational media. In the field of Korean language education, attempts have also been made to utilize online educational media and contents. Serious research on interaction in online educational environments has also been conducted since the mid-2010s. However, at this time, online classes were mostly based on stored contents. Then, in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all classes were shifted to a non-face-to-face online format. As a result, online education mediums have diversified to include learning management systems (LMS), YouTube, mobile apps, online video lecture platforms, metaverses, and social media. As a result, interaction in online educational environments has emerged as an important issue, spurring research.
 Interaction research in offline teaching and learning environments has been focused on observing and analyzing the interaction patterns between teachers and learners and between learners and teachers. However, most of the research is limited to analyzing the interaction patterns. Therefore, it is necessary to find specific ways to apply them to future classes and teacher training. Next, in the case of interaction research in online-based teaching and learning environments, online learning is becoming more popular. However, the lack of interaction between instructor and learner, learner and learner, and learner and learning contents is still a problem that needs to be solved. And a new aspect of interaction in language education is worth paying attention to. This is the interaction with ChatGPT. The emergence of generative AI such as ChatGPT is revolutionizing the paradigm of mass education systems based on achievement standards and achievement levels. Therefore, research on interaction based on this is also an important future research task.

Technology deficit or technologies of schooling – seeing curricular planning and teachers’ knowledge within a systems-theoretical understanding of technology

ABSTRACT This essay starts with the classical assertion of Niklas Luhmann that there exist no pedagogic technologies, but takes up parts of his conceptual understanding of technology to describe and understand mass schooling in the nineteenth century. It is argued that using his terminology and focusing on technologies of schooling brings into focus sources and actors that Luhmann and his colleagues oversaw and that can be integrated in a sociological understanding of the emerging modern mass educational systems. The paper introduces this understanding and contrasts it with other given approaches. It is argued that the theoretical frame of technology allows for a better understanding of causality, bringing back into the discussion actors and their pursued ends that are often left out in concepts and theories of technology and also in sociological interpretations of the history of schooling. The essay shows the possibilities of applying this perspectivisation by using two examples of a technology, “curricular planning” and “teacher’s education,” highlighting curriculum and teachers’ manuals as key sources and core elements of a technology of schooling that systematically aims at achieving given pedagogic ends.

Foundations of Mathematical Education in the Digital Age

This article formulates the foundations of modern mathematical education that meet the new goals and objectives of mathematical education dictated by changes in mathematics itself over the last century, by changes in its role in the modern digital world, and by changes in the world. The basic system of concepts is described, starting from which the whole modern mathematics of the finite, as well as primary mathematical education, is built. For all levels of mathematical education and for all learners, the ability to solve problems whose solutions are not known (to the student) and to do it independently with the help and support of a motivating teacher is a fundamental skill. A significant role is played by a computer mathematical experiment and the transfer of tasks with solutions having been found by the student to the computer. This article also describes the actual state of affairs in the Russian mass education system and proposes the necessary actions to implement the formulated principles of modern mathematical education in Russia. Most of the articles presented in this issue demonstrate and detail the implementation of the formulated principles.

State Policy in the Sphere of Education: Actual Problems of Theoretical Discussion

In modern science, despite the existing consensus regarding the role of the state in educational processes, a number of questions constantly arise related to methodological approaches to the analysis of the content of the concept of “public education”. The article presents the main aspects of the theoretical analysis of the role of the state in the development of education policy in a globalizing world. The processes associated with the formation of a system of mass education in various regions of the world are studied. The authors argue that public education systems with historically developed regional characteristics should be compared only by abstracting their distinctive features in order to identify criteria that can serve as measurement variables. The various assessments of neoliberal reforms in the field of education, which were initially focused on a deep restructuring of cultural, social, political and economic relations between the state, the market and society are also analyzed. The main aspects of critical analytics presented in the works of scientists who seek to reveal the true background and consequences of neoliberal educational policy are explored. Overcoming the neoliberal syndrome in theory and practice, ultimately, opens up new opportunities for theoretical analysis of the evolution of state education policy in the following promising areas: conceptual framework and methodological approaches to research on the ideological resources and practices of state reforms in the field of education; strategic analysis of the dynamics of educational policy in the modern world; the influence of education policy on the evolution of democratic institutions and many others.

Knowledge for the people: Understanding the complex heritage of colonial education in South Africa

The decolonisation of education seems to require a clear understanding of the colonial education heritage in South Africa and an understanding of the emergent global trends that shaped policy and practice from the 19th century. This paper explores the origins of educational discourses and practices that emerged in England and formed the basis of colonial practices. It focuses on emergent policies aimed at educating the working classes in the industrial heartland, which came to influence the literate or scientific culture in the Cape during that time. It explores the hitherto neglected issue of the ideas and resources deployed in both contexts, with particular reference to printed materials that shaped that culture in the process of framing a secular and scientific culture in schools and popular culture of literacy amongst working-class people in the metropolis and African subject/ citizens in the colonial context. It also traces gradual attempts to introduce a culture of literacy which embraced the African language and culture. These educational developments related to children's schooling and the popular education of adults helped shape the state-controlled mass education system that emerged during the 20th century. This paper aims to begin an exploration of the complex dynamics of that process and open the way for further research on these neglected issues.

The impact of education reform in Romania between 1989-2020 on the regulation and decentralization of early childhood education

Romania inherited a tightly controlled and strictly regulated mass education system from socialism, which inevitably has gone through a systematic reform. However, transformation or change of any education system does not take place for its own sake, but it is intended to meet certain social and political challenges and requirements. Therefore, the present study investigates the significant changes that have taken place in early childhood education (ECE) in Romania since the collapse of the Ceausescu regime in 1989. Specifically, the impact of the reform measures on ECE provision is examined in relation to curriculum content and structure. Explanation of how to investigate education have been central to the present research. The analysis of documentary data corpus identified three main themes reflecting the changes that took place: (i) the introduction of education reforms, (ii) the emergence of educational pluralism, (iii) the various iterations of the early childhood curriculum. Findings suggest that decentralisation processes led to the spread of alternative pedagogies in ECE add the findings about curriculum content change our investigation offers a detailed picture of the educational processes of decentralization and the changes it has brought in the early childhood curriculum.

Education or Indoctrination? The Violent Origins of Public School Systems in an Era of State-Building

Why do modern states regulate and provide mass education? This article proposes a theory of education as a state-building tool that is deployed when mass violence threatens the state’s viability. Experiencing mass violence can heighten national elites’ anxiety about the masses’ moral character and raise concerns about the efficacy of repression or concessions alone to maintain social order. In this context, a mass education system designed to teach obedience can become an attractive policy tool to prevent future rebellion and promote long-term order. Consistent with the theory, I detect a cross-national pattern of primary education expansion following civil wars in Europe and Latin America. In a complementary study of the 1859 Chilean civil war, I show that the central government responded by expanding primary schooling in rebel provinces not as a concession but to teach obedience and respect for authority. The theory helps explain why nondemocracies often expanded mass education.

Philosophy in mass education system: Teaching as a mimetic practice

Introduction. The article tackles the problem of changing the role and place of philosophy in the mass education system. Today, mass education is closely connected with pragmatisation and technologisation; and these two processes spawn a concern whether it is useful to study philosophy, and, as a consequence, an aspiration to transform the understanding of teaching itself.Aim. The aim of the present paper was to reconceptualise the bespoke teaching experience within the framework of personalised academic tracks launched in the University of Tyumen in an attempt to address the problem.Methodology and research methods. The theoretical part of the research lays out the foundation of philosophy teaching as a mimetic practice based on a methodology, which is developed through the following concepts: the dichotomy of E. Giddens’ practical and discursive consciousness, M. Polanyi’s tacit knowledge, E. Mach’s economy of thought, and C. Wulf’s mimesis. This was a starting point of a philosophy teaching practice that was tested on a batch of students, approximately a quarter of which agreed to take an anonymous survey about the process and the results of the joined work.Results and scientific novelty. A draft of a conceptual foundation of mass philosophy teaching in the current context is laid out. At the core of the process, there is a mimetic transfer of tacit knowledge, ensuring a skill to philosophise. This process presupposes an interaction of four actors: a teacher, a student, a text and a group of students. The lecture is a demonstration of a personal philosophic style, and the Socratic seminar is a joint practice with an unpredictable finale. In this practice, there is a system, where the teacher is an inquiring moderator launching the student’s personal search, the text provides a connection with a philosophic tradition, and the group – with the everyday life. The survey showed that this approach is effective: students like the process, they understand the connection of the philosophical ideas with the real life, and they track the level of their own understanding of philosophical texts.Practical significance. The research results may be useful for other philosophy teachers who on the basis of this study may adjust their teaching practices to a mass philosophy course delivered in the current conditions; and for further development of the theory, first and foremost, in terms of formulating the philosophical content being used.

PRECONDITIONS OF DEVELOPMENT OF LEISURE ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL EDUCATION NEEDS IN OUT-OF-SCHOOL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (END OF XX – EARLY XXI CENTURIES)

The article considers the preconditions that contributed to the development of leisure activities for children with special educational needs in out-of-school educational institutions. The preconditions include: the formation in the public consciousness of the view on the importance of leisure as a sphere of self-realization of the individual; availability of a global international educational policy on positive and constructive approaches to the education of children with special educational needs; availability of historical experience in the development of models for providing education to such children in out-of-school education institutions; the presence of a community of democracies formed in the public consciousness regarding the humanistic paradigm of inclusive education; the influence of the national pedagogical heritage and the existence of an extensive network of out-of-school educational institutions at the time of Ukraine's independence.
 The inclusive model is defined as bringing together all participants in the educational process, including the gifted, the disabled, the socially maladapted, children from vulnerable places, children from poverty and destitution, children from national minorities and children from immigrants. It is proved that the inclusive paradigm is not aimed at adapting the individual to social, social, economic relations, but on the contrary to the restructuring of the entire system of mass education to meet the educational needs of children with special educational needs. This innovative approach promotes the development of leisure activities for children with special educational needs in out-of-school education institutions. The author's definition of the term "inclusive extracurricular education" is considered as an innovative paradigm of educational relations, which focuses on humane treatment of children with special educational needs, excludes any discrimination aimed at social inclusion of children in extracurricular educational space and their social communication.

Features and innovations in teaching the discipline «Information Technology» in the framework of inclusive education

Based on the conclusions of the medical and social examination, people with confirmed disabilities should not have obstacles to receiving education in full.
 Currently, a single educational space has developed in Russia, and integration has become the leading direction in the education and upbringing of children with disabilities, which is expressed by the convergence of mass and special educational systems. Today, the Institute of Inclusive Education is the only internationally recognized instrument for the realization of the rights of people with disabilities to education and a happy future. It has long been customary in the world to pay special attention to people with disabilities, their ability to receive a decent education and their needs for attention, understanding and care of adults.
 Inclusive education is the organization of the learning process in which all children, regardless of their physical, mental, intellectual and other characteristics, are included in the general education system and study at their place of residence together with their peers without disabilities, in the same general education institutions ― schools of a general type that take into account their special educational needs and provide their students with the necessary special support.
 Today we are talking about giving a new, socio-pedagogical meaning to the process of integrating children with disabilities in educational practice in the field of arts. Of particular importance is the organization of not only and not so much a joint leading activity for a certain age (gaming, educational), as a joint world of peoples lives.
 The relevance of e-learning technologies is currently one of the innovative methods of modern education and has its pros and cons. Inclusion takes into account the needs, as well as the special conditions and support needed by the student and teachers to achieve success. Thus, for the success of integration in the educational space of the country, a well-organized and well-functioning infrastructure of specialized pedagogical and psychological assistance to special children studying in general education institutions should be formed and function.

The challenges of feedback in higher education. A brief discussion paper based on a review of selected literature

Feedback is integral to the process of education but is not a simple process and in mass education and global systems presents numerous additional challenges. This paper, which is intended as an informative awareness-raising paper, provides a review of recent literature on the challenges that educators and students face when feedback is given and received. It conceptualizes feedback as a process that requires multiple inputs and should support the partnership between educators and students through dialogue and engagement. Feedback literacy that incorporates the role of emotion is seen as a key aspect of professional and student development to motivate and engage students.

Psychosocial Aspects of Female Breast Cancer in the Middle East and North Africa.

Breast cancer, the most common cancer among women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, is associated with social and psychological implications deriving from women’s socio-cultural contexts. Examining 74 articles published between 2007 and 2019, this literature/narrative review explores the psychosocial aspects of female breast cancer in the MENA region. It highlights socio-cultural barriers to seeking help and socio-political factors influencing women’s experience with the disease. In 17 of 22 Arab countries, common findings emerge which derive from shared cultural values. Findings indicate that women lack knowledge of breast cancer screening (BCS) and breast cancer self-examination (BSE) benefits/techniques due to a lack of physicians’ recommendations, fear, embarrassment, cultural beliefs, and a lack of formal and informal support systems. Women in rural areas or with low socioeconomic status further lack access to health services. Women with breast cancer, report low self-esteem due to gender dynamics and a tendency towards fatalism. Collaboration between mass media, health and education systems, and leading social-religious figures plays a major role in overcoming psychological and cultural barriers, including beliefs surrounding pain, fear, embarrassment, and modesty, particularly for women of lower socioeconomic status and women living in crises and conflict zones.

The Failure and Triumph of Economic Complexity: Economic History of Argentina and South Korea in the Second Half of the 20th Century

Argentina and South Korea are often used to exemplify, respectively, an exceptional episode of economic failure and a rare developmental success story of the second half of the 20th century. As it is argued in the literature, the main reasons for the economic downfall of Argentina were excessive state intervention and regulation. The authors of this article, however, presume that these were rather unsuccessful policies than fundamental problems of the Argentine economy. The level of economic complexity of Argentina was traditionally low, which was a result of an underdeveloped system of mass education and relatively sparse technology adoption. Without serious efforts to diversify its exports and increase its level of economic complexity, this country had little chance to stay among the world’s richest economies. That these efforts did not succeed in bringing about a higher level of economic complexity in Argentina did not, at the same time, imply that they were the main reason of its long-term economic stagnation. In this paper, the authors use the economic complexity theory framework to describe the development story of the Argentine economy in the second half of the 20th century in terms of economic complexity and export diversification. The authors show that this country’s efforts to develop its industry have resulted only in a minor increase in its level of economic complexity, especially if East Asian economic miracle stories—the one of South Korea in particular—are used as a reference point. The main reasons of this result include a slow pace of human capital accumulation in Argentina. This makes an immense contrast with the vast expansion of secondary and tertiary education in South Korea. Challenges of the Korean government’s new industrial policy in the mid-60s and gradual economic diversification stimulated a large-scale education reform, which made South Korea one of the most prominent high-tech economies of the modern world

The 1923 Egyptian Constitution – vision and ambivalence in the future of education in Egypt

ABSTRACTThe 1923 Constitution prepared the legal framework for Egypt’s semi-independence from British imperial control under a newly established liberal monarchy. This Constitution carried a promise for a significant change in setting the ground for a nascent national system of mass elementary education for boys and girls that would also be free of charge and compulsory. As I discuss in this article, this vision hardly matched Egyptian socio-economic and cultural realities of the time. I explore this gap through a study of the deliberations of the Constitutional Commission that first drafted and later debated the various articles of the Constitution. I argue that the Constitutional Commission followed a consensus, in both Egypt and abroad, over the necessity of establishing a national system of mass education as a means for a broader social reform. Setting high expectations, this consensus would simultaneously enhance national education and the future setbacks that would beset its implementation.

A Reexamination of Luther’s Reformation and the Origin of Mass Education

오늘날 모든 사람에게 균등한 교육의 기회를 제공하기 위해 실시되는 대중교육은 민주주의적 가치와 부합되는 장점을 지니면서도 질적 저하의 한계를 지닌다는 문제의식을 가지고 그 기원을 비판적으로 고찰하였다. 이를 위해 종교개혁과 함께 교육개혁을 시도한 루터의 교육 사상 및 활동, 그의 교육 사상의 신학적 배경 및 인문주의적 배경에 대하여 살펴보았다. 개성의 해방과 현세적 삶의 향유를 강조하였던 이탈리아 르네상스 등의 배경 위에 진행된 루터의 종교개혁은 도덕적·종교적·신중심적인 운동이었음에도 불구하고 중세의 聖과 俗의 이층 구조를 무너뜨리면서 점점 세속화의 길로 나아가게 하였고, 교육을 신성한 것으로 여겼던 사상에서도 멀어지게 하였다. 이 과정에서 도입된 대중교육은 시간이 흐르면서 군주에 의해 빈민을 대상으로 국가의 이익을 추구하기 위한 수단이 되기도 하면서 오우크쇼트의 주장대로 본래의 교육을 침해하는 방향으로 진행되어 나갔다. 이러한 대중교육은 옛 동양의 선현들처럼 높은 경지를 믿고 추구한다든가 고대 그리스 철학자들처럼 이데아의 세계를 인식하려 한다든가 하는 교육적 의도에서 멀어지게 하였음을 비판하였다. 이에 대한 대안으로 교육의 神聖性을 회복하여 세속화의 과정에서 잊혀져왔던 성의 세계, 즉 초월 세계의 존재를 믿고 높은 경지를 추구하며 살아가게 할 것을 제안하였다.Many scholars in education have expressed some concerns with the quality of today’s education, believing that it was in many part brought about by the mass education system. The mass education system was used by the rulers of Western nations as menas of instructing the poor subjects to increase the well-being and human capital of nations in the 17th century. This system has invaded the original idea of education as an initiation into an inheritance of human understandings as Oakeshott lamented. Searching for the origin of the mass education system, the author reached the religious reformer Martin Luther. In order to understand the religious and social context in which the mass education system was called for, the author critically examined Luther’s educational thoughts and activities, theological thoughts, and the renaissance humanism and the biblical humanism. As a result, the author ascertained, first, that Luther’s Reformation was influenced by Italian renaissance that emphasized the emancipation of the individuality and enjoying the present-day life. Second, the author found out that Luther’s Reformation, although it was moral, religious, and God-centered movement, disintegrated the divine-secular double structure and moved people away not only from the divine world of middle ages, but also from the thought that education is divine. The author argued that the mass education system has made people gradually move away from such educational models as ancient oriental sages who believed in and pursued the absolute knowledge and self-realization that are too high to reach during one’s life time and as ancient Greek philosophers who tried to recognize The Idea of the Good. The author suggests that educators revive the awareness of an absolute that looks upward to the eternal and divine and have students believe in and pursue the divine, transcendental world that has been forgotten in the course of secularization during the past half of a millenium.

Access to Higher Education: An Instrument for Fair Societies?

Access to higher education (HE) has a long history. To offer a view on the current debates and worldwide issues regarding access to HE, this editorial depicts how the control of educational access has historically been used as an instrument of governance at the interface of two processes: social stratification and the territorialisation of politics. Access to HE has remained embedded in these large structural processes even though HE has expanded from a highly elitist institution into mass education systems with equity of educational opportunities having become a desirable goal across societies. Analysing these processes helps understand the complex mechanisms producing inequalities in HE today, which are brought together by the ten articles composing this special issue. Tacking stock of how inequalities in access are produced in different continents, countries, HE Institutions, applying to different social groups though evolving mechanisms, these articles document the importance of contrasting methodological and theoretical approaches to produce comprehensive knowledge on this sensitive issue for democratic societies.

Abolishing Illiteracy and Upgrading Culture: Adult Education and Revolutionary Hegemony in Socialist Laos

ABSTRACTThis article examines the monopolisation of political space by the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, before and after 1975. Together with coercive measures, the Marxist-Leninist regime consolidated rule by establishing and disseminating new concepts of state power, social responsibility and socialist subjectivity, which formed the basis of a radical form of revolutionary hegemony. The Party propagated a new rhetoric of rule through mandated activities including village meetings, co-operatives and a much expanded but poor-quality mass education system. This article examines the system of adult education, where the Party sought to eradicate illiteracy and “upgrade culture” among economically productive 15 to 45-year-olds. Motivated by both politics and pedagogy, the Party imported this system from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the 1960s before institutionalising it after 1975. The resulting organisational structure fanned the rhetoric of rule across the national territory in an extensive manner that reached the illiterate “masses” in large numbers. Even where the programme encountered material shortages and apathy, mandated participation in adult education propagated the vocabulary and grammatical structure of socialist Laos, providing a codebook for how to participate in socialist society.

Losing the future? Constructing educational need in Egypt, 1820s to 1920s

This article examines petitions submitted to the Egyptian state by students and parents over the span of a century. These sources reveal that Egyptians from across the economic spectrum were shifting their construction of schooling in response to changing political and educational policies and evolving conceptions of educational need. Over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, parents and students were increasingly appealing to discourses concerning education, girls’ schooling and nationalism as a way to frame their personal pursuits as an extension of national advancement. As a result, petitioners saw education not as a matter of charity or luxury, but rather as a fundamental way to prevent ‘losing’ a brighter future. Ultimately, this shift in the concept of educational need underwrote the development of mass educational systems of the twentieth century as a cornerstone of the relationship between even the poorest of citizens and the Egyptian state.

A note on knowledge in the schooled society: towards an end to the crisis in curriculum theory

Michael Young’s recent paper in this journal is correct; there is a profound crisis in curriculum theory, and to be intellectually viable into the future the field must strive to bring back in empirical study of curriculum. Also by ignoring the empirical content of knowledge and access to it in mass education systems throughout the world, the field’s influential neo-Marxist paradigm unproductively avoids troubling, even theoretically damning, counterfactual evidence. The historical moment to address the crisis is propitious as the ‘schooled society’ is flourishing in unprecedented participation in formal education accompanied by a robust culture of education influencing fundamental processes that construct society worldwide. A brief review of sociological studies of historical and global change in curricular form and content illustrates the challenge before the field to end its own crisis. The results also indicate a profound challenge to the field’s reigning paradigm.

Islanders’ educational choice: Determinants of the students’ performance in the Cambridge International Certificate Exams in the Republic of Maldives

This paper is based on the analysis of a questionnaire survey with teachers and 10th-grade students who took the Cambridge Ordinary Level (O-level) and national secondary school certificate (SSC) examinations in mathematics, English, and Divehi language in the Republic of Maldives. A total of 517 students and 60 subject teachers from eight schools took part in this survey, and the responses from students were matched up with their examination scores in three subjects. The primary objective of this paper is to identify the factors influencing the students’ performance in three subjects. Based on that, it considers the implications of employing an international examination system to certify students of the national education system in Maldives. Because of the limited capacity in running a mass education system, this small island state uses an externally-developed examination system for many years. However, the study reveals that the students’ performance in O-level exams largely depends on the households’ socio-economic conditions and learning environment at home. Factors related to teachers and teaching–learning processes in school do not have much impact. While the government is reforming the curriculum to be more learner-centered and relevant to the national context, the externally-developed exams conflict with such drive for nationalization and widen the gap of educational outcomes among students with and without extra support from the family.