After South Korea banned level tests for young children at private institutes — exams so competitive they were nicknamed the "4-year-old" and "7-year-old" civil service exams — private institutes are moving to use trial classes and orientation sessions as de facto entrance exams. Education authorities view screening out applicants through trial classes as a possible form of workaround selection and plan to launch intensive inspections from the end of the year.
Major private institute districts in Seoul and in Bundang, Pyeongchon and Suwon in Gyeonggi Province are rolling out alternatives to the old level tests ahead of next year's enrollment, according to education officials on the 2nd. Institute A, known for its thinking-skills math program, enrolls children first, then teaches them for about a month to gauge their learning level before assigning them to regular classes. Entry into advanced courses also requires going through a separate preparatory class.
Institute B, which specializes in English education for young children, plans to assess levels without a separate test, instead using English book reading and conversation. For children in so-called "experienced" classes who have studied English for roughly 18 months to two years, the institute will measure proficiency by having them read books or hold conversations.
The revised Private Institute Act, which took effect on the 1st of this month, prohibits written, oral, practical or interview-style tests and assessments used to recruit young children or assign them to classes by level. Enrolling children first and then observing them in actual classes to place them in a suitable level is still permitted. That is why institutes are shifting toward gauging children's levels through classes rather than through level tests. An Education Ministry official said the ban on level tests is intended to restrict tests and assessments targeting young children, not level-based instruction.
The problem is that some institutes are moving to use trial classes as a means of indirect selection in place of level tests. Under this approach, an institute holds a short trial class or orientation session ahead of the regular program, observes the child and then decides whether to accept the enrollment. Although it is called a trial class, it effectively becomes a new entrance gate. An Education Ministry official said some institutes had intended to decide on regular-program enrollment based on the results of trial classes, adding that the ministry had advised them not to operate that way.
Among parents, some say it has become harder to evaluate institutes since level tests disappeared. Yang, a 38-year-old raising a 5-year-old child in Pyeongchon, said that in the past it was enough to prepare for the level test, but now each institute looks at children differently, leaving more to worry about, including reading level and study habits.
The Education Ministry plans to brief institutes on the revised rules in October and November, then begin intensive inspections with regional education offices from the end of the year. It will pay particular attention to whether workaround screening that effectively determines admission is being carried out under the name of trial classes or orientation sessions.
