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English being taught by a foreign teacher at a kindergarten

The Ministry of Education has decided to defer a ban on English classes at kindergartens and day care centers for one year. At the same time, it also announced plans to launch a focused crackdown next month on “excessive” private education in English through English kindergartens and other means.

The aim is to first stop the damages from early private English education, before resuming the intended ban on English classes at kindergartens and day care centers. Some observers argue the government is on the right track in the broader scheme of things, while others say the backtracking on the English class ban has only added to the confusion for student parents.

On Jan. 16, the Ministry of Education said it had “determined that before reaching a conclusion on how to regulate [English classes at kindergartens and day care centers], we first need to remedy the damages of early English education that does not take young children’s development stages into account.”

The ministry added that it would “focus our energies on remedying excessive English private education practices targeting young children.”

To achieve this, the ministry plans to join the National Tax Agency, Fair Trade Commission, and National Fire Agency in launching an investigation next month into children’s English academies illegally using the “English kindergarten” name and their adherence to safety regulations on facilities. The Early Childhood Education Act bars academies that are not kindergartens from using the word “kindergarten” in their name.

The Education Ministry additionally plans to respond to the lack of laws to suitably regulate study times, education costs, and education content at children’s English academies by pushing for a late 2018 amendment of laws setting standards for their management.

Oversight is also being instituted for English classes at afterschool academies that violate or skirt provisions in current Education Ministry guidelines. The ministry plans to work with provincial and metropolitan offices of education to establish an ongoing review team to conduct thorough oversight on kindergarten English classes violating guidelines in afterschool programs, with correction orders to be issued in cases of violations.

Examples of facilities targeted for focused oversight include those deemed to be charging excessive rates for afterschool programs or sidestepping laws on kindergarten operation by establishing kindergartens on the first floor of their building and English academies on the second floor.

But the ministry has yet to adopt a clear position on the ban on kindergarten English classes, which has become the subject of some societal debate. On the question of whether English classes at kindergartens and day care centers would be banned outright, Shin Ik-hyeon, head of the ministry’s education welfare policy bureau, said the ministry would “clearly uphold the principle and approach [that improvements to early English education are needed], but consider the possibility of multiple approaches rather than following a single plan.”

Education groups are arguing that the ministry should state a clear educational philosophy and vision rather than taking its cues from public opinion. While the government may have adopted the right approach in cracking down on early English private education ahead of a ban on English courses as part of the Nuri curriculum, the groups claim, the ministry also caused confusion for student parents with its backtracking prior to making the decision. In particular, observers criticized the ministry’s apparent attempt to put off making a decision with its “deferment” on a sharply contested issue, which comes in the wake of last year’s delay in the introduction of absolute scoring on the College Scholastic Ability Test.

“In the broader scheme of things, I think the Education Ministry has made the right decision,” said Gu Bon-chang, policy division chief for the group World Without Worries About Private Education,

“Now that [the decision on banning English classes] has been deferred for one year, we need to see private education regulation policies and public education improvement plans that people can accept,” Gu said.

Na Jung, a professor of early childhood education at Dongguk University, said the ministry “originally designed a good direction by improving early childhood education with a focus on play,” but added that it was “unfortunate that it attempted to rush the implementation without carefully considering parents’ hopes for education.”

“During the remaining year, they need to establish plans that can gain broader support and work on winning the public over,” Na suggested.

By Kim Mi-hyang, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]