Tensions between expanding opportunities and autonomy: institutionalization of environmental education in Korean schools and the national curriculum of Korea

The purpose of this study is to examine the process of institutionalizing environmental education (EE) around the national curriculum and its characteristics. It also aims to explore future changes in environmental education as well as implications for how the curriculum will contribute to environmental education in school settings. This study found that environmental education is institutionalized under Korea’s National Curriculum largely in four ways. First, the necessity or importance of environmental education is mentioned or emphasized in the General Guidelines of the National Curriculum Framework. Second, EE or education for sustainable development (ESD) is included as one of cross-curricular learning themes. EE has been included as one of cross-curricular themes since the Sixth National Curriculum, and then integrated into environmental education and education for sustainable development since the 2015 Revised Curriculum. The third approach is to establish ‘environment’ as an independent subject, which was first introduced by the Sixth National Curriculum. The fourth is to include and stress EE as one of the national and social requirements, that was adopted in the 2022 Revised Curriculum. This triggered discussions about issues that could be raised in the process and the results of institutionalizing environmental education in schools.