Violence in South Korean Schools and the Relevance of Peace Education
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VIOLENCE IN SOUTH KOREAN SCHOOLS AND THE RELEVANCE OF PEACE EDUCATION by SOONJUNG KWON A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Education University of Birmingham March 2015 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis aims to explore and analyse the culture of violence which is, arguably, deeply embedded in South Korean schooling and to suggest how this can be re- directed towards a culture of peace through peace education. In order to achieve this goal, fieldwork was conducted for a year, employing critical ethnography and case studies. Data gained from this fieldwork were analysed and discussed within the conceptual frameworks of Bourdieu’s symbolic violence and peace education theories – Hick’s defining peace in particular. This finding of this thesis fall into four parts: some selected cultural elements of everyday school life; symbolized and institutionalized violence; authoritative school management and increasingly atypical employment; and how to change this culture of violence to peace: possibilities of peace education? These findings are discussed in relation to theories to show the ways in which socio-historical backgrounds and ideologies (e.g. colonized false ideologies) are infused in South Korean schools fostering a culture of violence, and the extent to which peace education may be relevant for changing the status quo by changing individuals’ value bases, which, it is hoped, can bring changes to the wider society. Four themes are discussed: school habitus, experienced as necessary in the field; symbolic violence in classrooms: misrecognizing the procedures of education; and defining peace in classrooms; pedagogical change, the possible educative remedy of transforming individuals to contribute to a culture of peace. Throughout the thesis, educational implications are elicited and subjected to scrutiny. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My PhD journey at the University of Birmingham has been enriching and exciting and I believe that I have been able to grow both academically and practically. Above all, I very much appreciate my lead supervisor Professor Kristján Kristjánsson, for leading me to the completion of this project. Without his academic and practical support, I would not have been able to carry it through properly. I thank him because he enriched the process of writing and made it valuable for my own learning. It has been a privilege to meet him in this role of academic advisor. I also thank my second supervisor, Dr David Ian Walker, for helping me to think more systematically and rebuild my thoughts. His comments always helped me to build my ideas up more academically. I would like to say thank you to Dr Chris Williams who first showed interest in my research and let me start the project here at the University of Birmingham. I thank him for helping me design the fieldwork and for being a friend after he left. I was lucky to be introduced to Dr Eve Richards for my English writing. Her corrections and comments were very helpful in writing the thesis. This research project was inspired by my experience back when I was taking a master’s degree at the University of Peace, Costa Rica where I began to learn about peace education. I am grateful for this experience with the many friends from all over the world that I met there, and for the inspiration that it has given me ever since. I also thank the students and colleagues that I met during my teaching in South Korea. All these experiences are embodied in this project. I was grateful to have met Bongsu Jo in S high school. His interest, concern and help made my fieldwork possible. I also thank Minsuk Choi, Isoo Seo and the other teachers who were willing to participate in my research. And how could I forget the many students I met during the fieldwork? I thank them for opening their minds and sharing their thoughts, experiences and feelings. I feel honoured to have met all my research participants. I would also like to say how happy I was to meet post-graduate researchers, especially in G 47 in the School of Education building. Since I was doing a split- location programme, it was hard to meet colleagues on campus, but those I met there in particular all welcomed me when I was in Birmingham. I want to say a special thank you to the PhD candidate Soyoung Yun, who befriended and supported me so well when I was in Birmingham. I also want to express my grateful thanks to Mrs. Kerstine Eadie and her husband, Rev. Donald Eadie, who always showed love to my family. Their love and tenderness made Birmingham like a second home and made me feel comfortable about coming to Birmingham to study. How could I forget the love and support that my family gave me? I am privileged to be the daughter of parents who consistently showed trust, love, respect and support all through this journey. I would not have been able to start or finish this journey without my parents. Their advice and encouragement were always reliable. I appreciate my beloved husband for being my friend and giving me his courage and attentive concern. I was able carry on my journey with a lot of changes in my life – pregnancy and giving birth to our two sweet kids thanks to his full support. I thank him for his love and respect him for being a wonderful husband and dad. Finally, I was happy to become the mother of Yewoon, my son, among all the other events of the journey. I thank him for being there and helping me to build rapport with the students during the fieldwork. I also feel gratitude for the second baby Yeseo, who was born right after my viva and who has been writing a doctoral thesis with me before even being born. TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the research ······································································ 1 1.2 Geo-historical backdrops ·········································································· 3 1.3 Research aims, questions and methods ·················································· 7 1.4 Overview of the chapters ·········································································· 13 CHAPTER 2. CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION AND CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction ····································································································· 15 2.2 The idea of symbolic violence and its relevance to school culture ····· 18 2.2.1 Understanding symbolic violence ··················································· 19 2.2.2 Culture of violence in accordance with symbolic violence ···· 25 2.2.3 Symbolic violence in relation to school culture ························· 29 2.3 The history of violence in South Korean society ··································· 38 2.4 Violence in schools in South Korea ·························································· 46 2.4.1 Private education and tutoring ························································ 51 2.4.2 Human rights issues ·········································································· 54 2.4.3 Overt school violence ······································································· 58 2.4.4 Multicultural society and multicultural education ····················· 60 2.5 Peace education as a means to transform the culture of violence in school and society ···················································································· 62 2.5.1 The idea and history of peace education ······································· 63 2.5.2 Peace education in the broader context of values education ···· 68 2.5.3 The elusiveness of peace education ·················································· 76 2.5.4 Local and global characteristics of peace education ····················· 78 2.5.5 Educational aims and pedagogical aspects of peace education ·· 85 2.6 Summary and conclusion ··············································································· 87 CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction ······································································································· 89 3.2 The two selected methods ·············································································· 93 3.3 Design of the study 3.3.1 Setting and participants ······································································· 99 3.3.2 Gaining entry ························································································ 111 3.3.3 Data collection, analysis and validity/trustworthiness ················ 116 3.3.4 Reflections on the research ································································ 126 3.3.5 Ethical issues ························································································ 127 3.4 Summary ··········································································································· 130 CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS: ETHNOGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS 4.1 Introduction ······································································································