Structural equity governance in South Korea’s multicultural education: bridging policy, practice and inclusion

This paper introduces the concept of Structural Equity Governance (SEG) in addressing systemic inequalities affecting immigrant-background students in South Korea. Dominant theoretical frameworks such as decentralisation, network governance and distributed leadership offer valuable insights on ways to enhance educational efficiency, local responsiveness and tailored solutions. However, each falls short of meeting the educational and societal needs of immigrant background students in ethnically segregated schools. Based on in-depth interviews of Seoul capital region educational supervisors who serve as an intermediary between the central government’s education ministry and local schools, this study identifies salient issues and challenges that confront students, teachers and communities. These interviews and field observations reveal that the traditional governance reforms must be accompanied by efforts to disentangle systemic inequality. SEG offers a new framework that prioritises reframing governance as a component of broader structural reform to enhance social inclusion of immigrant-background students.