The increasing diversity of South Korea’s student population presents profound challenges for its education system, necessitating a shift from governance-oriented reforms to a broader focus on structural equity. While educational policy debates often emphasize decentralization as a mechanism for improving policy responsiveness, such structural adjustments fail to fully address the entrenched inequities experienced by immigrant-background students. Existing discourse on multicultural education governance in Korea overlooks critical dimensions, including the socio-economic precarity of immigrant communities, the widening educational disparities between Korean and immigrant-background students—even among those born in Korea—and a broader societal indifference toward their long-term integration and prospects. This paper moves beyond governance-centric analyses to investigate how systemic educational structures continue to disadvantage multicultural students, despite reforms aimed at increasing local autonomy. Drawing from interviews with janghaksas (educational supervisors), who operate at the intersection of centralized policy and localized implementation, this study identifies fundamental gaps in Korea’s approach to multicultural education. While decentralization, network governance, and distributed leadership provide useful analytical lenses, they fail to address the root causes of educational inequality. In response, this paper advances the concept of "structural equity governance," which integrates systemic policy mandates, targeted resource allocation, institutional accountability, and immigrant community participation. By reframing governance as a component of broader structural reform, this research proposes a model that can enhance Korea’s capacity to equitably integrate multicultural students while also offering valuable lessons for other nations experiencing similar demographic shifts.

Authors:
Joon K. Kim, Seoul National University, South Korea

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Joon K. Kim is professor of Social Studies Education at Seoul National University, Republic of Korea. His current project examines the evolving changes in Korea's immigration, social integration, and multicultural education.

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