Parallel Shadows: Shadow Education and Perceptions of Compulsory Education Effectiveness in a Korean Middle School

Abstract

Participation in shadow education institutes is a growing concern globally, with the number of countries having some form of out-of-school-learning businesses as yet uncalculated but significant. Korea is at the forefront of shadow education participation, and as such lessons can be learned from the experience students have with the interactions between their after-school academies and private lessons, and the compulsory education they attend in the daytime. Up to now, however, very little research has been done into how these interactions colour student perceptions of education, and where the students think most of their education comes from. This paper attempts to go some way to filling this gap by performing a case study on a Korean middle school, and hopes to add a description of the current educational landscape by asking two fundamental questions: Where do students think the majority of their education comes from? And does the answer to this affect how they perceive the effectiveness of their school classes? To answer this question, this paper utilizes two concepts of education in its analytical framework: Daniel Hallidays definitions of screening and development education

and a combined model of educational effectiveness from Scheerens, Creemers, and Stringfield & Slavin. In doing so, we describe what education is, who provides it, and how effective it is. The research itself takes a mixed method approach, with semi-structured interviews conducted with a number of students from the school, and a quantitative questionnaire given to third grade students analysed for patterns and relationships. The findings presented here show that students see the majority of their screening education now comes from shadow education institutes, with school-based screening education seen as being basic and inefficient. Shadow education institutes have grown to such importance in students education that this paper considers the term shadow to be insufficient in description, and rather prefers the term parallel education. Schools are still valued for their provision of development education however

a necessary provision considering how much time and focus is actually spent on screening education. Surprisingly, although students hold their shadow education institutes in high regards, they still rated their school classes as being highly effective, with the majority of students rating their classes positively in all indicators of effectiveness. The only indicators to not score highly were those for ability grouping, provision of feedback, and appropriate-level content. This paper goes on to provide suggestions for education authorities both within Korea and globally, as well as education effectiveness research as a whole, in order to attempt to provide equal access to high-quality education for all regardless of background. It is suggested that rather than trying to limit the amount of shadow education students participate in

it would be more effective to provide regulation through government participation in the education market. It is also highlighted that for educational effectiveness research to be considered relevant in the modern era, more focus must be given to the context surrounding education provision, of which shadow education plays a pivotal role.