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Korea: School support for parental involvement

Korea has a comprehensive system in place to include parents in their children’s education. Parents are invited to visit schools to see how education policies are implemented and to comment on implementation. In 2011, the country’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) selected 500 offline monitors and 3 200 online monitors – around 30 people for each of the 16 provincial and municipal offices of education – through a public recruitment process. They are to monitor the implementation of the government’s education policies and report their findings to MEST. The monitors will be notified if MEST proposed any follow-up action as a result of their reports.

Municipal and provincial education offices and schools also run programmes for parents on education policies. The minister and vice minister of MEST have participated in these “Education Policies Presentation for Parents”, which have been held in more than 20 locations since November 2011. In addition, parent-support centre and educational institutions in each region offer various programmes to help parents improve their parenting skills in such areas as communication and career guidance.

The National Parent Support Center (NPSC), under the auspices of the National Institute for Lifelong Education, was established in October 2010 to provide information on education, disseminate best practices of parent involvement in schools, establish a network of municipal and provincial parent-support centres, and support counseling services for parents.

www.parents.go.kr