The Multicultural Education in Korea: A Comparative Study of Korea & Canada's Multicultural Education

Using the observation technique and in-depth interview, the current study compared various aspects of multicultural education between Korea and Canada and suggested the direction Korea's multicultural education needs to take. As a part of class curriculum, the researcher interviewed the representative of Ansan Foreign Center (AFC) and the president of the Kosian's House, a NGO for multicultural educations. The observations and experiences of the researcher were also used in this study. The results of the current study are as follows. First, multicultural education is provided for the minority group in Korea, whereas multiculturalism is included and taught for every student in Canada. In addition, the current multicultural education of Korea focuses on language and culture acquisition to help the students to adjust. Canada, on the other hand, focuses on accepting other cultures and ethnic equality, creating both identities as their ethnic origin and as Canadians. Second, in language educations, both countries had students enrolled in lower school years than their age. However, the differences occurred in terms of emotional support and availability of expert teachers. Third, comparing teacher's attitude towards multicultural education, Korean teachers were not free from perceiving the multicultural student as 'different', whereas Canadian teachers have been taught since little to consider multicultural students as Canadians, but accept their ethnic backgrounds. Based on the results, the current study suggested multicultural education program for the majority group, increase in number of expert language teachers and teaching assistants, and an education program to teach multiculturalism as part of an identity of humankind. The limitations and suggestions for future studies were provided afterwards.