ABSTRACT

Early years education has taken different forms in different countries. This paper argues that in two countries, England and South Korea, early childhood education (ECE) is diverging. For example, England’s early years sector is fast moving towards a fixation of assessment, in line with the primary, secondary, and upper­ secondary sectors in the country. South Korea has, much like other East Asian countries, a tradition of high-stakes testing in education. The importance of education in Korea, for historical and socio-cultural reasons, has resulted in a widely-documented 'education fever’ (Kwon, Lee & Shin, 2015). A Korean “testocracy” (Kwon, Lee & Shin, 2015, p. 61) has had detrimental effects on society; thus, there have been recent policies to reverse the high-stakes testing culture in Korea. In the 2019 Revised Nuri Curriculum, the ECEC curriculum in Korea, evaluation is viewed as an improvement plan to break away from education that is overly centred on teachers* prescribed activities. The framework and method of observation and documentation are not predetermined; rather, the autonomy of teachers and institutions is emphasised (Ministry of Education & Ministry of Health and Welfare [MOE & MOHW], 2020). In contrast, England is moving in the opposite direction in terms of measurement and assessment of ECE. High-stakes testing at the primary, secondary, and upper secondary sectors has forced this accountability culture into the early years. The addition of reception baseline assessment at the age of four is one such example. This paper argues that England and Korea are moving in opposite directions, with England increasing testing in the ECE sector while Korea attempts to move away from testing culture and towards play-based ECE. Even international achievement studies now reach the ECE age level. For example, the International Early Learning and Child Well-Being Study (IELS), or ‘baby PISA' (Auld & Morris, 2019; Roberts-Holmes, 2019) illustrate how educational assessment culture has reached the early childhood sector. While English ECE is fast succumbing to evaluation and assessment culture, South Korean ECE is resisting this, providing a valuable policy lesson to view ECE policies with an internationally comparative lens.

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