Korean Educational Development Institute(KEDI)

This paper reports the results of a Delphi study investigating the meaning of education fever in Korea. Twenty Korean experts in education participated in a four-stage Delphi consensus-seeking process. Through the Delphi process, 20 items were selected and ranked in terms of importance. The results of Delphi study indicate that beliefs related to parents’ desire to help their children have academic credentials or higher degrees were considered the most important components of education fever. Other highly ranked items were related to parents’ needs or motivation toward their children’s social and financial success. However, items measuring parents’ instincts or psychological satisfaction were ranked low. The results suggest that education fever is still an evolving concept in Korean society. Discussion based upon the results and suggestions for the future studies were also addressed.