The Education Democratization Movement and the Ideology of Educational Media in the 1980s

This study aims to examine the nature and characteristics of the education democratization movement that actively emerged in the 1980s, and to examine the internal logic and discourses of the education movement by analyzing various educational media published as a means of the movement. Beginning in the 1970s, the popular education discourse led by Paulo Freire was actively accepted in Korean society. The concept of popular education, which meant raising the consciousness of oppressed people such as workers and farmers, was concretized in the mid-1980s as the concept of democratization of education centered on students, parents, and teachers in schools. At the time, there was active demand in the field of education to understand the reality of Korean education from our own theories and perspectives. The publications Educational Scene and People’s Education emerged in line with this demand. However, the “People’s Education incident” occurred immediately; and the teachers involved were severely suppressed. Subsequently, Democratic Education Practice Council was formed; and its journal Education and Practice was launched and published six times, playing the role of an educational medium. With the achievements of the June Struggle in 1987, enthusiasm for democratization swept society as a whole. The education movement camp also published various magazines in search of new directions for the movement, such as The Nation and Education, People’s Education 2, and Educational Scene 2. These media played a role in establishing the theoretical foundation and direction of the education movement until the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union was formed in 1989 and its journal, Our Education, was launched. Thus, magazines became the core media foundation of the education movement throughout the 1980s.