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Students from Taerang Elementary School in Seoul sit on their school’s steps during their commencement ceremony on March 2. (Yonhap)

In South Korea, there are no physical education (PE) classes for students in the first years of elementary school (first and second grades). There are only classes that lump together PE, music, and art under the name of “integrated subjects,” but there is no allocated time for kids to acquire basic exercise skills in a more focused or direct manner.

The situation has been this way for more than 40 years. Experts say that South Korea is almost the only country in the world without a standalone PE curriculum for early elementary students.

According to the “International Comparative Study of Subject Curriculum on Elementary and Secondary School” published by the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) in 2018, PE classes start in the third year of elementary school in South Korea.

On the other hand, countries like Japan, Finland, France, Australia and Canada start offering a specific subject dedicated to PE in the first year of elementary school.

“None of the [schools] where the state has established and operated curricula integrates physical education for early elementary school grades. In some cases, health [classes] are included, but music, art and physical education are not tied together,” says Jeong Hyeon-woo, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of Sport Science.

“The knowledge composition of physical education is completely different from that of music and art,” Jeong says, adding that the whole starting point for the subject of PE was wrong ever since the outline of the curriculum was designed back in the ‘80s.

All of this leads to a disconnect between students and the subject of PE as well as lowering the abilities of students in this field.

In Japan, for example, students learn the basics of various sports such as track and field, swimming, ball games and martial arts from the early years of elementary school. Students then go on to choose a specific sport to focus on from their third year. Basketball, handball, soccer, badminton, table tennis and more are all introduced in an equal and balanced way prior to students picking their focus.

Meanwhile, Finland has a PE system in which swimming and aquatic sports are taught in the earlier elementary school grades while water rescue training is given to students in the higher grades of elementary school.

Current teachers in South Korea are also expressing their regret about the situation.

“There are differences in how each [integrated subjects] teacher conducts the physical education [section], so the [level of] expertise of the class is low,” one elementary school teacher surnamed Lim (32) from North Jeolla Province said.

“Professional teachers conduct [classes] with various teaching aids, but since the homeroom teacher has to prepare several subjects, it is difficult to keep up with that kind of quality," Lim said.

Similarly, a second grade homeroom teacher surnamed Choi (27) who works at an elementary school in North Chungcheong Province, says that “there is no teacher specifically in charge of physical education, so the burden on the homeroom teacher is large.”

KICE also pointed out this issue, stating that PE is so absent in these schools that first and second grade elementary school students are said to be in a “period of discontinuity” regarding PE.

“South Korea should systematically start physical education classes from the early [elementary school] grade levels and show that the public education system is taking responsibility for physical education,” the institute suggested.

By Park Kang-su, staff reporter

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