Educational Statistics

 

The Future of Elementary and Secondary Education

in Korea: Insights from the KEDI Educational

Opinion Survey

 

 

 

Author: Park, Kyoung-ho (Senior Research Fellow, KEDI)

 

 

 

The recent acceleration of Korea’s declining birth rate has led to a decrease in the school-age population, while advances in digital technologies, including generative artificial intelligence, are breaking down the traditional boundaries of schools. Amid these profound changes, the results of the 20th KEDI Educational Opinion Survey (KEDI POLL 2025) convey a message that extends beyond public opinion to the future direction of Korean education. While recognizing the challenges facing the nation’s education system, respondents expressed their views on the competencies that students should develop to prepare for future society, as well as on the future elementary and secondary education system capable of fostering those competencies.

 

 

■ Competencies for the Future Society

 

The KEDI POLL 2025 asked respondents which competencies should be given the highest priority in elementary, middle and high schools to prepare students for the future society. ‘Self-management competency’ received the highest level of support at 41.0%. This represents a continued increase from 34.3% in 2023 and 38.7% in 2024, suggesting that the public’s expectations for strengthening students’ self-management competency have steadily grown over time.

 

Another competency that deserves particular attention in preparing students for the future society is knowledge and information processing competency. When respondents were asked which competency should be emphasized at each school level, elementary, middle, and high schools, knowledge and information processing competency ranked first for both elementary school students (22.0%) and high school students (20.9%). For middle school students, creative thinking competency (22.6%) ranked first, followed by knowledge and information processing competency (18.2%). These findings suggest that the public expects elementary, middle, and high school students, who are increasingly exposed to vast amounts of information driven by generative AI and other digital technologies, to develop the ability to critically evaluate and effectively process such information.

 

 

 

■ Demands for the Future Elementary and Secondary Education System

To foster the competencies needed for the future society, an education system capable of supporting their development must also be established. When respondents were asked to identify the highest priority for the future elementary and secondary education system, ‘advancing education through the use of artificial intelligence and digital technologies (36.9%)’ and ‘diversifying the teaching workforce, including subject teachers, learning consultants, and specialized instructors (36.4%)’ were selected at nearly identical rates. Among these priorities, advancing education through the use of AI and digital technologies had ranked second in both 2023 and 2024 but rose to the top priority in 2025, increasing by 3.3%p from the previous year. Notably, the increase was substantially larger among respondents with children (5.0%p) than among those without children (0.9%p). This finding suggests that past, present, and future education stakeholders have high expectations for personalized education supported by AI and digital technologies. The next most frequently selected priority was ‘integrating online and offline learning within schools (29.2%).’ This finding suggests that the public expects schools to move beyond the constraints of the traditional classroom as a physical space and to make active use of diverse online learning resources tailored to students’ individual learning needs.

 

 

 

 

Based on these findings, the following recommendations can be made for the future of elementary and secondary education in Korea. First, teaching and learning processes that foster ‘self-management competency’ should be established as a top priority (Ministry of Education, 2022:5). This means ensuring that self-management competency, one of the core competencies identified in the 2022 Revised National Curriculum, is naturally developed through teaching and learning activities. One possible approach is to incorporate into classroom instruction activities that enable students to plan, implement, and reflect on their learning in accordance with instructional objectives, while also incorporating students’ achievement in these processes into assessment.

 

Second, ‘future-oriented school education systems’ that combine personalized education supported by artificial intelligence and digital technologies with a more diversified teaching workforce should be expanded. This approach envisions using AI and digital technologies as tools for personalized learning while strengthening the expertise available within schools by diversifying the teaching workforce to include subject teachers, learning consultants, and specialized instructors, etc.

 

Finally, the findings of KEDI POLL 2025 indicate that the public expects Korean education to move beyond the standardized models of the past. The public is already preparing for the future and expects education policy to evolve boldly in step with the pace of change. The direction is clear: to support every learner in leading a fulfilling life according to his/her individual characteristics while participating as a member of society. That is the future toward which Korean education should aspire.

 

                                                                                                               

1) This article was prepared by excerpting and supplementing selected findings from KEDI Educational Opinion Survey (KEDI POLL 2025) by Kwon, Soon-hyoung et al. (2025).