Korean Educational Development Institute(KEDI)

Korean accountability policies in education were derived from the 5.31 Reform oriented to the increase of autonomy and responsibility for school effectiveness and the quality instruction. The policies encompass school evaluation, national assessment of educational achievement, teacher evaluation, and educational institution information disclosure. The policies are related to the influences of formal institutions and social contexts on the interactions of policy players. The accountability policies have been heated issues, educational equality versus excellence and professionalism versus managerialism. As a result, the roles, powers, functions, structures, and relations between administrators and professionals have gradually changed to a system of supervising leadership and a complying (or resisting) group of professional teachers. In this respect, we argue that accountability policy needs to be analyzed from a multifocal approach coupled with a historical institutional, political, and structural analysis.