A Study on Shifts of Open Secondary Schools Policy in Korea through Historical New Institutionalism

The purpose of this study is to analyze policy shift process of the Open Secondary Schools in Korea based on the historical new institutional theory and to make policy proposals about it. Specifically, I will study the limitation factors and the facilitating factors of the policy shift by analyzing from ?the structural-institutional-actor level integrated view? and ?view of gradual shift? through the historical new institutionalism theory. The Open Secondary Schools provide new educational opportunities for anyone who needs secondary education and it implement U-learning based lifelong education and realize blended education through offline classes twice a month. Therefore, it is required to improve education policy suitable for the future environment by analyzing the policy shift process in the age of the fourth industrial revolution. As a theoretical background, I have examined the background, the purpose, the function, the organization of project operation, the development process of the Open Secondary Schools, and the historical new institutionalism theory. As the content of the analysis, five research questions were set up. It includes the structural contextual factors, institutional contextual factors, actor contextual factors, interaction between factors, and the path of policy shift. As a research method, literature review was carried out using research reports, project reports, historical records, media related to the Open Secondary Schools since 1974. The results of the analysis are as follows. First, 'structural change of industry' and 'development of cutting edge technology', which are structural factors influencing policy change, were factors that facilitated policy shift and 'implementation of local autonomy' was a constraint factor. Second, 'community culture focusing on social justice' and 'change in education paradigm' which were institutional context factors served as facilitators for policy shift. Third, the change in the 'official actor', which is the context factor of actor, acted as a constraint on policy shift. Fourth, interaction between 'the structural-institutional-actor context' constrained or facilitated policy shift. Finally, the policy of Open Secondary Schools was shifted to the process of 'path start' - 'path dependence' - 'path evolution'. Based on these findings, suggestions for future policies are as follows. First, it is necessary to prepare human resources and infrastructure that can respond sensitively to cutting-edge technology changes. Second, customized educational content development and educational environment should be improved for the education disadvantaged group and multicultural students.