Historical Contributions and Future Prospects of Korean Educational Politics

This study aims to analyse the development path of Korean educational politics over the past 30 years and suggest future prospects. To do so, we examined the academic achievements and challenges in the formation and development of Korean educational politics, changes in the future educational environment, and trends in American educational politics. The results of the study showed that Korean educational politics has achieved quantitative growth, diversification of topics, and methodological advancement, but challenges remain, such as the concentration of certain topics, formalisation of research methods, and lack of academic diffusion and popularisation. The study also identified flexible and diverse research trends, such as international, multidisciplinary, ecological, political economy, and critical approaches, as well as future environmental changes, such as the decline in the school-age population due to low birthrate and aging, the entry of multicultural societies, increased global competition, and digital transformation of education. Based on this, the future development direction of Korean educational politics is expected to be: 1) expanding field-centred research in response to changes in the educational field; 2) increasing macro-level research topics in line with global trends; 3) attempting new approaches that reflect diversity and complexity; 4) diversifying and expanding methodologies; and 5) revitalising and qualitatively growing the academic community. Ultimately, it was recommended that an academic field be established in which talents from various fields participate to promote the formation and development of an academic community.