EDUCATIONAL DECENTRALIZATION IN KOREA: MAJOR ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES
In Korea, educational decentralization is one of the subjects that has continually resurfaced whenever education reform is seriously discussed. Although previous regimes eagerly tackled the issue of educational decentralization in their formulation and im
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INTRODUCTION
In Korea, educational decentralization is one of the subjects that has continually resurfaced whenever education reform is seriously discussed. Although previous regimes eagerly tackled the issue of educational decentralization in their formulation and implementation of education reform policies, there is little evidence showing that educational decentralization has been accomplished to a satisfactory extent in Korea. Educational decentralization is not merely confined to the realm of education in Korea; it is entangled with interests of local governing bodies in a complex way, and possible alternatives to the current practice touch on sensitive political issues. Hence, it is indeed a complicated issue that cannot be examined exclusively from an educational point of view. Before discussing educational decentralization itself, it should be noted that the meaning, content, and scope of the term “educational decentralization” are subject to many different interpretations. The discussion is further complicated by the reality that educational decentralization does not just imply autonomous administration of local educational authorities; the process also requires the distribution of powers and responsibilities among local governing bodies of differing levels, and consequently encompasses the issue of autonomous administration at the level of individual schools. Literature on this subject describes a variety of phenomena that are all considered examples of decentralization. Decentralization might be perceived as a mere process of adding a number of deconcentrated bodies to the existing political and administrative structure. Sometimes, it is understood as “delegation,” which includes transferring some of the central government’s decision-making powers to bodies outside the government bureaucracy. “Devolution” refers to such cases in which specified powers are transferred to sub-national units through appropriate legal reform processes (Govinda, 1997). In Korea’s case, educational decentralization has proceeded beyond the level of either establishing local sub-organs or merely delegating the controlling authority to the local governing bodies. Current discussions primarily center on issues of how the existing system should be improved so that local educational administrations can meet demands that arise in each respective region. However, it is undeniable that a wide gap separates such discussions and reality. Up to the present, substantial authority has been officially transferred to local governing bodies. Yet in Korea, which has a long history of central authority, local governing bodies have experienced great difficulty in acting autonomously, particularly in such core areas as finance, personnel 115 Christopher Bjork (ed.), Educational Decentralization, 115–128. C 2006 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands.
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management, and organizational supervision. Weak systemic support has exacerbated these problems. Therefore, educational decentralization can be regarded as
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