Korean Educational Development Institute(KEDI)

A study on improvement measures for the Free semester program:

Based on the linkage between free semester and regular semester

The purpose of this research is to establish measures for further improving Free-semester program operation by focusing on the linkage between free semester and general semester. This research has its meaning of importance since existing studies on the free semester program limitedly focused on investigating free semester period only, and did not pay enough attention on the integration with other general semester. In order for free semester to settle down successfully and to bring positive changes in school site, it is crucial for the free semester to have effective linkage with other general semester. The main perspective of this research is based on the importance of developing various policy measures to prevent free semester from getting isolated among other general semesters.

There are four major research questions in this study as following. First, what is the general linkage trend between free semester and general semester in Korea? Second, what are the characteristics of schools that have successful linkage of free semester and general semester? Third, what are the promoting and hindrance factors of linking free semester and general semester effectively? Fourth, what are the specific measures that can help establishing successful linkage between free semester and general semester? In order to answer to these research questions, this study investigated on various domestic and international literatures related to free semester program and conducted survey to teachers who are working in schools that operate free semester program. Also, schools that had successful linkage between free semester and general semester were used as a case study. Followings are the brief summary of the research objective and outcome of each chapter.