Korean Educational Development Institute(KEDI)

A study on comparison and integration between educational institutions of South and North Korea

The purpose of this study is to compare educational institutions of South and North Korea in terms of forms, contents, formal and informal aspect in order to derive major issues when seeking for integration measures between the different institutions in the future. The definition of major concepts, research direction, contents, method and results used in this study to achieve the purpose are as follows.

In this study, the concept of an educational institution is defined as ‘a vertical and horizontal linking structure of schools in a society’ and the structure was examined into two aspects which are forms and contents. The forms of an educational institution indicate the external frame of school education such as educational stage, period of education, selection and graduation, school types, etc. The contents of an educational institution indicates school curriculum which is the contents of educational programs.
Also, in order to understand an educational institution as a institution rather than as a system, this study focused on characteristics and changes of legal and customary frames related to school education rather focusing on organic connection among the components.

Based on these concepts, the research scope was limited to basic educational institutions by excluding special or collateral educational institutions such as civil education centers, distant colleges, etc in order to ensure direct comparison between educational institutions of South and North Korea. In addition, the research scope includes not only formal aspect of educational institutions regulated in the legislation and rules but also informal aspect such as norms and customs.