Chemical education in korea

Chemical Education in Asia-Pacific
CHEMICAL EDUCATION IN KOREA

Taehee Noh, Inok Han, Kyu Whan Woo, and Sukjin Kang

Department of Chemistry Education, Seoul National University
Shinlim-Dong, Kwanak-Gu, Seoul (151-742), Korea

• 
  1. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM-OVERVIEW
  
• 
  2. COURSE OF STUDY (GOVERNMENT'S GUIDELINE)
  
  • 
    2.1 Curricula and Textbook System
    
  • 
    2.2 Credit Allotments for Science Courses
    
  • 
    2.3 The Science Curriculum of Elementary School
    
  • 
    2.4. The Science Curriculum of Junior High School
    
  • 
    2.5. The Science Curriculum of High School
    
• 
  3. COMPARISON AMONG TEXTBOOKS
  
• 
  4. REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIMENTS AND STATUS OF LABORATORY ACTIVITIE
  
  • 
    4.1 Representative Experiments
    
  • 
    4.2 Status of Laboratory Activities
    
• 
  5. HOW STUDENTS ARE ADMITTED TO UNIVERSITIES AND JUNIOR COLLEGES
  
  • 
    5.1. High Schools
    
  • 
    5.2. Entrance for Universities and Junior Colleges
    
  • 
    5.3. The Scholastic Achievement Test
    
• 
  6. TRAINING, IN-SERVICE TRAINING, AND QUALIFICATION OF SCHOOL TEACHERS
  
  • 
    6.1. Training of Secondary School Chemistry Teachers
    
  • 
    6.2. In-service Training
    
• 
  7. CHEMICAL SOCIETY AND CHEMICAL EDUCATION
  
• 
  8. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
  

Back to Chemical Education in Ajia Pacific Home Page
1. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM-OVERVIEW
The educational system of Korea is a centralized school system coordinated through the Ministry of Education. The basic pattern of the school system is a 6-3-3-4 model; elementary school (ages 6 through 11), junior high school (ages 12 through 14), high school (ages 15 through 17), and four-year college and university. Education is compulsory for six years of elementary school. In rural areas, compulsory education has been extended to junior high school. In addition to the backbone of the educational system, the following schools are also available for higher education: 1) six-year medical and dental colleges; 2) four-year teacher's colleges; 3) two-year junior colleges, the air and correspondence university, and open universities; and 4) others like theological colleges and seminaries. The Ministry of Education controls many aspects by setting criteria and standards regarding curriculum and degree requirement, qualification of teaching staff, student quotas, and so forth.
The academic year, which consists of two semesters, begins in March and ends in February. The minimum number of school days for the completion of one academic year is established by the Education Law. For primary and secondary schools, more than 220 school days are required. For higher education institutes, 32 weeks of school attendance are required. School is in session from Monday through Saturday (half a school day on Saturday) in primary and secondary schools.
Korea is relatively homogeneous in terms of ethnicity of its people, and the language of instruction is invariably Korean.
Top of Page
2. COURSE OF STUDY (GOVERNMENT'S GUIDELINE)