Yoonjeong Lee
University of Warwick
Yoonjeong Lee had 10 years of work experience in a university in Korea. She had a main role to establish Centre for Teaching and Learning and worked for Department of Strategy and Evaluation, Department of International Culture and Exchange. She did her MA in the UCL Institute of Education and PhD in the University of Warwick. Her PhD thesis was 'Motivation, Preparation, and Practice of New Headteachers in Seoul, the Republic of Korea: A Qualitative Study of Secondary School Leadership'. She is a member of two Research Interest Groups of BELMAS. One is educational leadership and management and the other is gender and education.
Lack of sustainability in education policy was one of the most famous challenges for headteachers in England. Korean new headteachers showed different views from English headteachers regarding the frequently changing education policy. From the Korean headteachers’ perspective, we can refresh our understanding of education policy and sustainability and find new ways forward.
My research was an interpretive study of new headteachers’ perspectives in secondary education in Seoul, South Korea where headteachers were in a highly sought-after and popular position which yields competitive selection processes that are intensive and time-consuming in preparation in the long-term. In this environment, aspiring headteachers were able to get various experiences and take plenty of CPD opportunities.
The research questions concerned the motivation to become a headteacher; preparation for the headteacher’s role; and the practice of being a new headteacher. To address these questions, semi-structured interviews and shadowing were used.
New headteachers were asked about the ever-changing education policy and their ways of interacting with these. Although in many systems the continuing changes in education policy are a key concern for many headteachers, it was not raised as an overwhelming constraint amongst Korean new headteachers. There was an acceptance that education policies needed to keep pace and adapt in order to reflect the fast changing world. In the process of leadership preparation, aspiring headteachers joined the policy making process, assisting in implementing, policy operating and evaluating procedures, so they understood the purposes and patterns of new education policies, and they were ready to deal with them. Furthermore, they were able to mitigate new education policies to their school contexts. When they were not satisfied with a new education policy, they knew how to approach the problem and improve it. Headteachers’ high status in the education system, headteachers' contributions and collaborative relationship with officers of the Office of Education, and the service-oriented mindset of the Office of Education enabled this kind of communication.
Rather than worrying about continuing the policy change, they were more concerned over the quality of decision making and over-politicisation of the education system.
This study showed the relationship between leadership preparation and headteachers' perspectives and the headteachers’ capability to deal with frequent education policy changes. It also highlighted that the importance of flexibility and communication between school leaders and policy makers. Even though Korea has a strongly centralised education system, when democratic ways of communication were available, the gaps were filled.
