In South Korea, the direction of multicultural education has largely been determined by government policies. In particular, demonstration schools designated by the central education authority have played a major role in adapting and spreading multicultural curriculum in public schools. This study investigates a curricular revision in a new type of multicultural demonstration schools introduced in 2014. Making use of school documents and teacher interview data, it examines changes in multicultural curriculum in those schools in terms of targeted learners and areas of learning. It also reveals what teachers think of effects of the revised multicultural curriculum along with challenges that they face in practice.

Multicultural education is mainly rooted in western experiences of handling racially and culturally diverse groups of students (Banks, 2009; Bennett, 2001; Duarte & Smith, 2000). Since the early 2000s, however, South Koreans (hereafter Koreans) have also observed a growing number of minorities in their schools. In 2014, approximately 67,000 minority students were enrolled in public schools (Ministry of Education, 2015). The number represents roughly 1.0% of the total student body and has been increasing continually from approximately 15,000 children in 2007. Even though this number may look negligible, it is not a small challenge to Korean teachers who are used to handling a homogenous body of students.

As a response to this unprecedented change, there has been a growing attention to multicultural education among scholars and educators. It has been the government’ policy interventions, however, that greatly affect multicultural education in practice. This is because Korea has a bureaucratic education system, and the central education authority plays a leading role in implementing new policies in the schools (Hanson, 2008). In particular, demonstration schools which were first introduced in 2006 have worked as a main venue to spread multicultural curriculum in schools (Grant & Ham, 2013; Ryu, 2013). Selected and funded by the central education authority, they were supposed to implement multicultural curriculum based on the national guidelines. They were also expected to share their experiences with regard to multicultural education with teachers in other schools.

However, several scholars have alleged that the government-led multicultural education program is imbalanced and misguided (Grant & Ham, 2013; Jo, 2013; Hwang, 2011; Ryu, 2013). They insist that government-initiated multicultural programs tend to segregate minority students from mainstream students, focusing on helping the former adjust to Korean schools. They also contend that most multicultural programs have taken an assimilationist approach that focuses on minority students’ Korean language skills and cultural adjustment.

Considering the limits of the previous approaches, the central education authority introduced a new type multicultural demonstration schools in 2014. Among many changes, it recommended schools to extend the learners of program to include more mainstream students instead of focusing on minority students’ assimilation to Korean cultures. It also asks schools to touch more diverse aspects of multicultural education such as racial discriminations and cultural biases that exist in Korea beyond introducing diverse peoples and cultures in the world.

This is a significant change in Korea since it extends the targeted learners and the scope of multicultural curriculum. Addressing this change also has a global significance, since it provides an opportunity to understand multicultural education in a non-western, emerging multicultural society. In this vein, this study examines curricular changes in the new type of demonstration schools in terms of the targeted learners and the scope of multicultural education. It also explores how teachers perceive the effects of the new approach to multicultural education and what challenges they face in implementing multicultural curriculum. 

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