This country policy profile on education in Korea is part of the Education Policy Outlook series. Building on the first policy profile for Korea (2016), it offers a concise analysis of where the education system stands today and how this compares to other OECD systems. The profile analyses the evolution of ongoing and emerging related policy efforts in Korea. It also offers relevant international policy examples that may serve as possible inspiration as policy makers work to address Korea’s key challenges and priorities, particularly in the context of digitalisation, demographic change and the green transition. The report brings together over a decade's worth of policy analysis by the Education Policy Outlook, as well as recent OECD data, relevant thematic and country-specific work, and other international and national evidence. It also benefits from the Education Policy Outlook's ongoing comparative analysis of resilience and responsiveness in education policy.

The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is the world’s largest survey of teachers and principals. In 2024, educators from 55 education systems provided information about what they do and how they are doing. They explain if and how they use artificial intelligence, why they became teachers and if they wish to continue teaching. Governments use data from TALIS to make policies that improve teaching and learning conditions in their schools.

Education at a Glance is the authoritative source of information on the state of education worldwide. It offers comprehensive data on the structure, financing, and performance of education systems across OECD countries and partner economies. This publication features more than 100 charts and tables that present key insights into the output of educational institutions, the impact of learning across countries, access and participation in education, financial investment in education, and the roles of teachers and school organisation. The 2025 edition places a special focus on tertiary education, examining attainment rates, variations in labour market outcomes by field of study, completion rates, and the skills of adults with tertiary qualifications.

The early years set the foundations for children’s development and learning trajectories in life. Early inequalities can put children on divergent paths, but Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) policies can level opportunities from the start, with lasting economic and social benefits. Addressing gaps in participation in ECEC and strengthening its quality and inclusivity represent essential steps to support young children and families and reduce inequalities. Leveraging insights from recent research, the comparative report Reducing Inequalities by Investing in Early Childhood Education and Care discusses the drivers of inequalities in early childhood and the place of ECEC within the landscape of mitigating policies. It develops a policy roadmap for ECEC to better support equity and inclusion. This country note provides a country-specific overview of Korea.

The Survey of Adult Skills offers unique insights on adults’ proficiency in literacy, numeracy, and problem solving. These skills are crucial for both personal and societal success, and form the foundation for continuous learning and innovation. In 2022-23, the survey assessed adults aged 16-65 in 31 countries and economies. By comparing results over time and with those of other participating countries and economies, participants can track the skill levels of its adult population, pinpoint barriers to skill development and use, and craft effective policies to address these challenges.

This report, linked with the Digital Education Outlook 2023, provides an overview of 29 countries' (or jurisdictions') digital education ecosystem and governance. Each chapter covers the devolution of responsibilities within countries; how it affects digital education; what digital tools for management and teaching and learning are made publicly available to schools, teachers and students; how they are provided or procured; how countries ensure the security, privacy, equity and effectiveness of this digital ecosystem while keeping incentives for private education technology (EdTech) companies. The information and analysis are based on a survey on digital education infrastructure and governance, interviews with national and regional government officials as well as desk-based research. Providing for the first time a holistic view of 29 countries' and jurisdictions' digital education ecosystem and governance, this report will be of interest to policy makers, academics and education stakeholders interested in the digital transformation of education at home and internationally.

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examines what students know in reading, mathematics and science, and what they can do with what they know. It provides the most comprehensive and rigorous international assessment of student learning outcomes to date. Results from PISA indicate the quality and equity of learning outcomes attained around the world, and allow educators and policy makers to learn from the policies and practices applied in other countries. This country note provides a country-specific overview of Korea.

The Early Childhood Education and Care in a Digital World project was initiated to support countries and jurisdictions in investigating ways in which ECEC can respond to digitalisation, harnessing opportunities to promote high-quality and equitable early childhood education and care (ECEC) while minimising associated risks. The evidence base for the project includes responses to a policy survey, a collection of case studies across participating countries and jurisdictions, literature reviews from academic experts, and desk-based research carried out by the OECD Secretariat. The project’s final report, Empowering Young Children in the Digital Age (2023), was published as part of the OECD Starting Strong series. Six countries (Canada, Finland, Japan, Korea, Norway and Sweden) engaged more actively in the project and its data collection. This country note provides an overview of key findings from the project as they relate specifically to digitalisation challenges and ECEC policy responses in Korea.

The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is the first international large-scale survey that provides a voice to teachers and school principals, who complete questionnaires about issues such as the professional development they have received; their teaching beliefs and practices; the assessment of their work and the feedback and recognition they receive; and various other school leadership, management and workplace issues. This note presents findings based on the reports of lower secondary teachers and their school leaders in mainstream public and private schools in Korea.

The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is the first international large-scale survey that provides a voice to teachers and school principals, who complete questionnaires about issues such as the professional development they have received; their teaching beliefs and practices; the assessment of their work and the feedback and recognition they receive; and various other school leadership, management and workplace issues. This note presents findings based on the reports of lower secondary teachers and their school leaders in mainstream public and private schools in Korea.

Skills are central to Korea's future prosperity and the well-being of its people. The OECD Skills Strategy Diagnostic Report: Korea identifies 12 skills challenges that need to be addressed to build a more effective skills system in Korea. These challenges were identified through: 1) the OECD's recent data and research; 2) the national data and research; 3) a diagnostic workshop 4) fact-finding interviews with key stakeholders in Korea. The report has also benefited from ongoing dialogue and consultation with a wide range of Korean stakeholders. The first nine challenges refer to specific outcomes across the three pillars of developing, activating and using skills. The next three challenges refer to the "enabling" conditions that strengthen the overall skills system. Success in tackling these skills challenges will boost performance across the whole skills system. All of the challenges identified are strongly interlinked, and their connections with each other are identified throughout the report. Failure to look beyond policy silos will have implications for specific groups in Korea, such as youth, as well as for the economy and society's ability to recover following the economic crisis and build a solid foundation for future prosperity.

This policy profile on education in Korea is part of the Education Policy Outlook series, which presents comparative analysis of education policies and reforms across OECD countries. Building on the OECD's substantial comparative and sectorial policy knowledge base, the series offers a comparative outlook on education policy by providing analysis of individual countries' educational context, challenges and policies (education policy profiles), analysis of international trends and insight into policies and reforms on selected topics.

The Korea Child Care Promotion Institute (???????), under the responsibility of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, is responsible for the monitoring of childcare centres for children aged 0-5 years, while kindergartens are monitored by regional and local education offices, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. Service and staff quality are monitored in all ECEC settings in Korea, while child development is not commonly assessed although the official record of the child is legislated in kindergartens, which is similar to official school records of students. ECEC services may be required to take measures to address shortcomings, such as participation in training to improve their level of quality. Based on monitoring results, additional funding or follow-up consulting may also be provided to ECEC settings. The challenges Korea faces in monitoring ECEC include the monitoring of children's views, which is currently not undertaken and may help provide policy makers and ECEC management and staff with new insights into further improving ECEC quality; the lack of an integrated monitoring system which may result in different quality standards for different providers, less even levels of quality, and less unification in ECEC; and ensuring that monitoring informs policies and strategies to improve quality in early learning.

This short country note recaps some Background on the 2014 OECD Measuring Innovation in Education report, the main Key report findings on innovation in education, the Report approach to measuring educational system innovation, along with Korea's top five organisational education innovations for the 2003-2011 period and Korea's top five pedagogic education innovations for the same interval.

The story of Korean education over the past 50 years is one of remarkable growth and achievement. Korea is one of the top performing countries in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey and among those with the highest proportion of young people who have completed upper secondary and tertiary education. Korea is continuously exploring ways to improve its education system and has dramatically increased government investment in education over the last decade. Nevertheless, further reforms are needed to spur and sustain improvements. Rapid globalisation and modernisation are also posing new and demanding challenges to equip young people of today and tomorrow with skills relevant to the 21st century.
The report Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education: Lessons from PISA for Korea aims at helping Korea to identify and address education policy challenges in an international perspective. To this end, it examines the Korean education system through the prism of PISA, considers recent policy developments and suggests specific policy options to foster improvements. The report also provides an in-depth analysis of the experience of other high-performing countries.

Higher level vocational education and training (VET) programmes are facing rapid change and intensifying challenges. What type of training is needed to meet the needs of a changing economies? How should the programmes be funded? How should they be linked to academic and university programmes? How can employers and unions be engaged? This country report on Korea looks at these and other questions, and is part of the Skills beyond School series, OECD policy reviews of postsecondary vocational education and training.

The Country Background Reports provide in-depth analysis of context, key factors and policy responses in individual countries. They provide an invaluable source of information on evaluation and assessment frameworks and greatly facilitate the analysis developed within the OECD Review on Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for Improving School Outcomes. The Review is using a comparative framework to help countries assess: (i) how to develop a coherent evaluation and assessment framework; (ii) how to strengthen the use of evaluation and assessment results to enhance school practices so student outcomes are improved; and (iii) how to facilitate the implementation of evaluation and assessment policies.

As part of the OECD review on migrant education, countries were invited to provide information on their national migrant education policies. Note that this information is in addition to the full country background reports provided by the six countries participating in the policy review: Austria, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The attached information was provided by Korea using a standard international questionnaire on migrant education policies in response to longstanding diversity.

This review of vocational education and training (VET) in Korea is part of "Learning for Jobs", the OECD policy study of VET, a programme of analytical work and individual country reviews designed to help countries make their VET systems more responsive to labour market needs. The review of Korea assesses the main challenges faced by the VET system and presents an interconnected package of four policy recommendations. Each recommendation is described in terms of the challenge, the recommendation itself, supporting arguments, and issues of implementation.
The Korean VET system is part of a system of education which has achieved huge advances in a very short time; school results and educational attainment levels are now among the highest in OECD countries. At the same time, the rapidity of change has presented the Korean VET system with some very significant challenges.

This Country Note on Korea forms part of the OECD Thematic Review of Tertiary Education. This is a collaborative project to assist the design and implementation of tertiary education policies which contribute to the realisation of social and economic objectives of countries. The principal objective of the review is to assist countries to understand how the organisation, management and delivery of tertiary education can help them to achieve their economic and social objectives. The focus of the review is upon tertiary education policies and systems, rather than upon the detailed management and operation of institutions, although clearly the effectiveness of the latter is influenced by the former.

The report provides an overview of school leadership developments and issues in Korea, as a contribution to the OECD's Improving School Leadership Activity. It discusses the national context of schooling, the features of the school system, school governance and leardership, the attractiveness of school leaders' roles, and professional learning of school leaders in the country.

The main purpose of the thematic review on adult learning is to understand adults' access and participation in education and training and to enhance policies and approaches to increase incentives for adults to undertake learning activities in OECD countries. It is a joint activity undertaken by the OECD Education Committee (EDC) and the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee (ELSAC) in response to the need to make lifelong learning a reality for all, to improve learning opportunities of low skilled and disadvantaged adults and to sustain and increase employability.

The report sets out "the national context," which involves an overview of political and economic context as well as an interpretation of the educational policy context in its Section 2. Sections 3 to 9 focus on a range of central issues affecting the teaching career : Organisation and governance of the school system, Initial teacher education, Continuing professional development of teachers, Labour market for teachers, Teachers at the workplace, Teacher's career structure and incentives, School management, evaluation and accountability. Section 10 uses the analyses of these themes to set out some suggestions for future policy, which focus mainly on the developmental aspect of ensuring an effective teaching force. Section 11 of the country note contains some concluding remarks.

In the last 40 years, educational provision in Korea has grown at a rate unprecedented among OECD countries. Modern systems of education and training have been created, and rates of expansion have kept pace with demand for elementary, secondary, university and other forms of tertiary education. Despite these impressive gains, the Korean education system needs improvements to respond positively and creatively to the challenges of globalisation, the electronic revolution and the advent of society based on knowledge and information. This review covers the entire education and training system, including vocational and tertiary education. It assesses the main directions of the reform proposals put forward by the Presidential Commission on Educational Reform in May 1995. It makes recommendations for improvements in such key areas as: access to education and training opportunities within the context of lifelong learning; quality of learning to foster creativity at all levels; improving the inner dynamics of the education and training system to provide a reformed, decentralised system; and the knowledge and information base for the effective performance of the education and training system.