Pre-Service Science Teacher Education System in South Korea: Prospects and Challenges

While much is known about the high academic but low affective achievement of Korean students on international comparative studies, little is known about science teacher education in Korea. As the quality of science teachers is an important factor determining the quality of science education, gaining an understanding of science education in Korea necessitates understanding the science teacher education system and the ways of leveraging quality science teacher preparation. Korea has a unique science teacher education system in many aspects due to its unique socio-cultural background. This study critically reviews the current state of the science teacher education system in South Korea in terms of the outcomes and institutional backgrounds, such as associated law and policy, teacher education curriculum, recruiting system and examinations. A careful review is conducted of the previous literature, official documents and statistics from the Korean government, and curricular documents from some teacher education institutions. The paper concludes with a discussion on the uprising issues in science teacher education within the socio-cultural context of Korea and offers implications to the international science education community.