▲ Students taking an exam (The photo above is not related to the content of the article.)
Controversy has erupted following an announcement by the transition committee for the Gwangju-Jeonnam Integrated City Superintendent of Education, which stated that all subjects for 5th and 6th-grade elementary students and 1st-grade middle school students will be evaluated 100% through descriptive and essay-type questions starting next year.
Parents have pushed back, arguing that local students could become test subjects for the policy, while teachers have also expressed negative views regarding the implementation without adequate preparation.
According to the K-Education Special City Preparatory Committee on July 17, Committee Chair Kim Kyung-bum announced during a briefing yesterday that "a 100% descriptive and essay-type evaluation does not mean changing all exams to long-form writing, but rather the elimination of multiple-choice questions."
Kim stated, "We are well aware of the concerns from parents and students regarding potential grade drops and increased burdens from private education costs due to the introduction of this new evaluation method," and suggested that "the Office of Education must prepare measures to establish student-centered, process-oriented learning and evaluation to replace rote memorization."
He further explained that the current process-oriented evaluations, such as discussions, presentations, and reports, should be maintained, and an Institute for Curriculum Development and Evaluation should be established to oversee question development, grading criteria, and teacher training.
However, parents immediately protested, arguing that students should not be used as subjects for educational experiments.
Parents expressed concerns over the lack of a nationwide evaluation reform, potential side effects, and the increased burden of private education resulting from the sudden implementation.
A parent in their 40s with a 6th-grade child said, "It is like suddenly raising the bar for exams without preparation, which will likely lead to a surge in students in the lower and middle tiers giving up on their studies."
Another parent in their 50s with a 5th-grade child argued, "With the college entrance system reform not yet finalized, it is inevitable to feel anxious if our children study in a different way than students in other regions," adding, "Establishing evaluation criteria must come first."
An international school graduate who experienced 100% descriptive and essay-type evaluations said, "There were several times when I felt the evaluation criteria were unclear and explanations were insufficient when raising objections," adding, "Evaluations in the compulsory education curriculum must also have standards established by experts."
Among teachers, there was criticism regarding the incompleteness of AI evaluation tools and a lack of feedback collection from the field.
Baek Seong-dong, Policy Director of the Gwangju branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU), stated, "All teachers want to focus on teaching and evaluation, but administrative tasks and resolving malicious complaints come first," adding, "School stabilization must be the priority."
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