Korean Educational Development Institute(KEDI)

The Diagnosis of Students’ School Maladaptation and Response Thereto

This study examined the current state of school maladaptation among elementary and middle school students. The trends in domestic studies on school maladaptation since the 1990s were analyzed as part of efforts to review the notion of school maladaptation and to set up study perspectives. After summarizing factors related to school maladaptation, the current study introduced a research model based on the results of existing domestic and international studies. This study defined school maladaptation as a "phenomenon where the educational activities conducted by schools and the mainstream culture conflict or disaccord with the student actors." Such a definition was designed to highlight the fact that school maladaptation represents a problem that emerges during the process of interaction between schools and students. The research model intended to analyze the causes of school maladaptation focusing on environmental factors, and in particular those related to the school and social environments rather than the psychological characteristics of individual students.