Conflicts over the Education Ministry’s plan for a new curriculum for use in elementary, middle and high schools are escalating.
Eighteen researchers at the Korea Institute of Curriculum & Evaluation sent a letter to Education Minister Kim Shil-il on Saturday, arguing that the ministry has neglected the institute’s plan for the music curriculum.

Conflicts over the Education Ministry’s plan for a new curriculum for use in elementary, middle and high schools are escalating.
Eighteen researchers at the Korea Institute of Curriculum & Evaluation sent a letter to Education Minister Kim Shil-il on Saturday, arguing that the ministry has neglected the institute’s plan for the music curriculum.
The researchers said they submitted their proposal on Jan. 15 based on expert opinions collected since 2005. But the ministry’s proposed plan is significantly different from their proposal, the group says.
“Several researchers at the ministry made a hasty revision and submitted it to the ministry’s committee to review the curriculum,” said Seong Gyeong-hee, a senior researcher. “The revision overturned our proposal.”
On Friday, 13 members of the ministry’s review committee on social studies including its chairman Seo Tae-yeol, a professor of Korea University, resigned, citing the ministry’s disregard of the institute’s proposal and the committee’s recommendations on the curriculum.
The ministry also changed the institute’s proposal on social studies. Under the institute’s proposal, social studies at middle school were divided into geography, history and general social studies. But the ministry’s plan merged geography and general social studies. The new curriculum is to be finalized by the end of this month.


By Kang Hong-jun JoongAng Ilbo [ This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ]