[연합뉴스 자료사진]While the government is pushing to lower the elementary school entry age by one year from 6 to 5, most of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries show that children enter elementary school at 6 years of age.
The age at which the final grade of high school begins is 17 in half of the OECD member countries, including Korea, and the enrollment rate for children aged 3 to 5 in Korea is 93%, which is higher than the OECD average of 83%.
◇ Age 6 in 26 OECD countries, 5 in 4 countries… Half of them are 17, their last year of high school
According to the OECD Educational Indicators 2021 on the 31st, as of 2019, 26 (68.4%) of 38 member countries (68.4%), including Korea, had an elementary school enrollment age of 6 years.
In eight countries, including Finland and Estonia, they enter elementary school at the age of 7, in three countries, including Australia and Ireland, at the age of 5, and in one country (the UK), they enter elementary school at the age of 4-5.
In most countries, the age at which compulsory education starts is 6 years old, but there are countries such as France, Israel, Hungary and Mexico (3 years old or older) that designate kindergarten as compulsory education and start it at an earlier age.
This means that Korea’s elementary school entry age or compulsory education starting age is not particularly late compared to other countries.
It is difficult to say that the age of entry into employment is delayed due to the period of elementary and secondary education, as the end of upper secondary education, when entering a university or finding a job, is also at a similar level.
In Korea, the age at the beginning of the last year of high school is 17, the same as in 18 other OECD member countries. The last year of upper secondary education begins at age 18 in 15 countries, at age 19 in 2 countries, and at age 16 in 2 countries.
The Ministry of Education, in a business report to President Yoon Seok-yeol on the 29th, came up with a plan to reform the school system to lower the elementary school enrollment age by one year from 2025 at the earliest.
However, it is pointed out that public opinion and realistic conditions should be taken into consideration as it may not fit the child development process and may cause confusion in the school field, despite the advantages of being able to transfer all children into public education equally early and entering a university and entering a university one year earlier. comes out
The Korea Educational Development Institute published last year’s issue paper ‘Study Reform focusing on the lives of learners’, saying, “Even though lowering the school age is allowed as a method of early admission according to individual choice, most people do not like it, so it is necessary to investigate the public’s perception. There is,” he pointed out.
According to the education statistics service of the Korea Educational Development Institute. The number of children entering elementary school early on recorded a peak of 9,707 in 2009 and has continued to decline, dropping to 651 in 2019 and 521 in 2020.
The number of deferred students also reached tens of thousands, but since 2010, the number has decreased to 660 in 2019 and 812 in 2020, with most children entering the appropriate age.
(CG)▶ Click here for a larger view
◇ The enrollment rate at early childhood institutions is 93%, which is higher than the average… “It might be an alternative to the interdisciplinary system of early childhood education”
Although kindergarten courses are not compulsory education, the enrollment rate for children aged 3-5 years in Korea is 93%, which is higher than the OECD average of 83%.
In the case of children aged 3 to 5, more than half of the countries showed ‘completely attending school’, which refers to the participation of more than 90% of the population.
In Korea, the enrollment rate for children under the age of 3 at educational and childcare institutions is 65%, which is significantly higher than the OECD average (25%). This ratio has increased by 13 percentage points in the four years since 2015, the largest increase among OECD countries during this period.
As of 2018, the average teacher in OECD member countries is in charge of 15 infants (3-5 years old), and Korea has 12, which is slightly lower.
The average annual public education cost per child for early childhood education institutions (including public and private) is $9,260 (regarding 12 million won), and in Korea, it is $8,75, which is lower.
As a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), the expenditure on early childhood education and childcare services is on average 0.6%, compared to 0.5% in Korea. Australia, Colombia, Greece, Japan and the United Kingdom spend less than 0.3% of GDP on early childhood education, while Chile, Iceland, Israel, Norway and Sweden spend more than 1% of GDP.
In Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, and New Zealand, more than 75% of children in early childhood education were enrolled in private educational institutions.
As the enrollment rate at early childhood education and childcare institutions is high, it is likely that other alternatives such as adding a kindergarten (K) course to schools or making early childhood education compulsory and interdisciplinary rather than sending elementary school one year earlier and graduating high school one year earlier are likely to be considered. There is also an opinion that
Along with the reorganization of the school system, the government is also promoting reservation integration (integration of early childhood education and childcare).
In a policy commentary on the 29th, the Justice Party said, “The reorganization of the school system should be in a different direction.” “There is a system of early childhood education in connection with the integration of reservations, and there is also an integrated operation of a 9-year elementary and middle school system that takes into account the situation of students. In this case, one or three years of free compulsory education for infants is more appropriate.”
[표] OECD Compulsory Education, Start and End Ages by Education Stage
┌─────┬───────┬───────┬───────┬───────┐
│ │ Compulsory education │ Elementary education │ Early secondary education │ Late secondary education │
├─────┼───┬───┼───┬───┼───┬───┼───┬───┤
│ │ Start │ End │ Start │ End │ Start │ End │ Start │ End │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Korea │ 6 │ 14 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 14 │ 15 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Australia │ 6 │ 17 │ 5 │ 11 │ 12 │ 15 │ 16 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│Austria│ 6 │ 15 │ 6 │ 9 │ 10 │ 13 │ 14 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Belgium │ 6 │ 18 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 13 │ 14 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Canada │ 6 │16-18 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 14 │ 15 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Chile │ 6 │ 18 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 13 │ 14 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Colombia │ 5 │ 16 │ 6 │ 10 │ 11 │ 14 │ 15 │ 16 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│Costa Rica│ 4 │ 16 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 14 │ 15 │ 16 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Czech Republic │ 6 │ 15 │ 6 │ 10 │ 11 │ 14 │ 15 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Denmark │ 6 │ 16 │ 6 │ 12 │ 13 │ 15 │ 16 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│Estonia│ 7 │ 16 │ 7 │ 12 │ 13 │ 15 │ 16 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Finland │ 7 │ 16 │ 7 │ 12 │ 13 │ 15 │ 16 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│France1,2 │ 3 │ 16 │ 6 │ 10 │ 11 │ 14 │ 15 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Germany │ 6 │ 18 │ 6 │ 9 │ 10 │ 15 │ 16 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Greece │ 5 │14-15 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 14 │ 15 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Hungary │ 3 │ 16 │ 7 │ 10 │ 11 │ 14 │ 15 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│Iceland│ 6 │ 16 │ 6 │ 12 │ 13 │ 15 │ 16 │ 19 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Ireland │ 6 │ 16 │ 5 │ 12 │ 13 │ 15 │ 16 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Israel │ 3 │ 17 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 14 │ 15 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Italy │ 6 │ 16 │ 6 │ 10 │ 11 │ 13 │ 14 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Japan │ 6 │ 15 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 14 │ 15 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Latvia │ 5 │ 16 │ 7 │ 12 │ 13 │ 15 │ 16 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│Lithuania│ 7 │ 16 │ 7 │ 10 │ 11 │ 16 │ 17 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│Luxembourg│ 4 │ 16 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 14 │ 15 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Mexico │ 3 │ 17 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 14 │ 15 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Netherlands │ 5 │ 18 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 14 │ 15 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ New Zealand │ 5 │ 16 │ 5 │ 10 │ 11 │ 14 │ 15 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Norway │ 6 │ 16 │ 6 │ 12 │ 13 │ 15 │ 16 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Poland │ 6 │ 16 │ 7 │ 12 │ 13 │ 15 │ 16 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Portugal │ 6 │ 18 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 14 │ 15 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│Slovakia│ 6 │ 16 │ 6 │ 9 │ 10 │ 14 │ 15 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│Slovenia│ 6 │ 14 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 14 │ 15 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Spain │ 6 │ 16 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 14 │ 15 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Sweden │ 6 │ 15 │ 7 │ 12 │ 13 │ 15 │ 16 │ 18 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Switzerland │ 4-5 │ 15 │ 7 │ 12 │ 13 │ 15 │ 16 │ 19 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ Turkey │ 5-6 │ 17 │ 6 │ 9 │ 10 │ 13 │ 14 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ UK │ 4-5 │ 16 │ 4-5 │ 10 │ 11 │ 13 │ 14 │ 17 │
├─────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ USA │ 4-6 │ 17 │ 6 │ 11 │ 12 │ 14 │ 15 │ 17 │
└─────┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┘
※ As of 2019. Age (years) means the age at the beginning of the school year.
(Source = OECD 2021 Educational Index, Ministry of Education, Korea Educational Development Institute)
[연합뉴스]
s ⓒ Yonhap News. Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited
