Towards a Learning Society: An Analysis of Adult Education Policies and Systems in South Korea

Abstract

South Korea has developed an integrated, coordinated learning society that has restructured the educational system and placed lifelong learning at the centre of the country’s educational and economic development. In response to rapid globalization and the knowledge-based era, Korea developed the Educational Reform Project in 1995 in order to realize the vision of ‘developing an open and lifelong learning society’. However, soon after establishing and implementing the project, the country faced a financial crisis. Within a two-month period in 1997–1998, the number of unemployed people in Korea increased from about 0.5 million (3 per cent) to 1.3 million people (7 per cent), and consumer prices jumped by 20 per cent (Samsung Economic Research Institute, 1998). Fortunately, the country quickly responded to the rescue programme mounted by the IMF due, in part, to its efforts to transform the country into a lifelong learning society (Lee et al., 2002).