Multicultural education for pre-service teachers in Korea using educational television docudramas

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the level of multicultural education awareness among Korean pre-service teachers (PSTs) and suggests a teaching and learning approach to enhance their multicultural competencies. This research utilized a South Korean educational television and radio network, Educational Broadcasting System (EBS), particularly, its programme called Multicultural biographies of a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law [다문화고부열전] as a diagnostic tool to assess PSTs’ recognition of multicultural education. The programme focuses on the challenges faced by married migrant women in Korea. The study used survey materials based on the EBS docudrama to investigate PSTs’ perceptions of multicultural education. The results showed that most PSTs understood the significance of teaching and learning about cultural diversity but had limited understanding beyond the dichotomies of the mainstream and minorities or Korean and immigrant students. The study recommends the use of docudramas as an effective tool for promoting multicultural education among PSTs in Korea

KEYWORDS:

• Docudrama
• multiculturalism
• immigrant women
• racialism
• pre-service teacher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Geolocation information

South Korea

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-2022S1A5C2A04092614].

Notes on contributors

Hyunshik Ju

Hyunshik Ju is graduated with Doctor of Korean Literature from Sogang University in South Korea in 2010. He majored in Korean drama and performance. His doctoral dissertation thesis was “A Study on Reflexivity of the Traditional Korean Masked Dance Drama”. His research area is performance and performativity studies. Ju is currently an assistant professor at College of Liberal Arts, Hansung University.

Seoung-Hey Paik

Seoung-Hey Paik is a professor of the Department of Chemistry Education and a director of Convergence Education Research Institute in the Korea National University of Education. Her research focuses on the improvement of the science education curriculum and the education of preservice teachers. Her latest book is a co-edited volume entitled The Understanding of Convergence Education. She is the founding president of the International Conference on the Advancement of STEAM (ICAS), engaging in exchanges with convergence education scholars around the world. She is also a professor of convergence education at graduate school and is interested in fostering creative talent through convergence education among incumbent teachers and graduate students.

Yoonsun Oh

Yoonsun Oh received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Korean Literature from Korea University, Seoul. She is currently a professor of Korean literature at the Korea National University of Education. Before joining KNUE, she worked as a visiting scholar at the Centre for Korean Studies, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, a teaching professor at Seoul National University, and a research fellow of Strategic Initiative for Korean Studies at the Academy of Korean Studies. She is the president of the Korean Society of Literary Education. She has been researching and teaching Korean language education and she is the author of dozens of books including An Introduction to Korean Classical Novels in English.