South Korean middle and high school learner voices: a narrative and autoethnographical study into learning experiences in Korean public schools and transitions into alternative streams
Subject
Abstract
South Korean middle and high school learners and their families sometimes choose to transition from Korean public school to less mainstream alternative educational options. The defining public school experiences factoring into choosing alternative forms of education are explored in this study. Previous studies provide significant amounts of quantitative data pointing to alarming rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideations among Korean middle and high school learners associated with academic and social pressures. This study’s goal is to supplement this data by providing a more humanistic approach to understanding what these academic and social pressures looked and felt like from individual learner perspectives. Data was collected through open-ended interview questions with recently graduated Korean high school learners, who graduated outside a traditional Korean public school. Interview responses became shaped into co-constructed narratives, with an autoethnographical reflection from my own experiences teaching Korean transitional learners. Contrary to assumption, the public school experiences expressed by participants in motivating them to transition reveal common threads related to being relegated as “outsiders” among their peers, not academic excesses. Participants’ strong emotional memories primarily focused on negative social interactions with peers, rather than the pressure to do well academically. The role of traditional Confucian educational philosophy in promoting exceptionality in not only academic, but social spheres, also revealed itself through interview responses. In better understanding what Korean learners particularly bring with them to their alternative learning environments (culturally, socially, emotionally, and academically), educational stakeholders can be better prepared in providing healthy transitional experiences.