Global Shadow Education Phenomena and Transboundary Learning Culture: Definition, Practices, and New Ideas for School Success

This study introduces the concept of “transboundary learning culture” as one of the important concepts to better understand students’ contemporary learning both in the East and West. Not solely relying on public schooling, schooling students employ shadow education for their academic success, which is an emerging global educational phenomenon. Based on fieldwork and qualitative data analysis through Korean shadow education practices, the authors propose the concept of “transboundary learning culture” to characterize such a new emerging trend in students’ learning practices and explain four forms of such new learning, namely (1) complex learning spaces; (2) consilience of learning materials; (3) fusion of the concepts of a good learner and (4) coexistence of the two paths for academic success. It is expected that reading the concept and considering students’ learning practices from the concept will enable scholars in curriculum studies, learning sciences, and the anthropology of learning.