Cram schools in South Korea are overhauling how they recruit preschool students after a ban took effect on so-called "age-4 and age-7 exams," the level tests that had functioned as entrance screenings for young children. Rather than deciding admission or class placement through a test, schools now enroll children first and assess their abilities over a set period of instruction before assigning them to classes. Education authorities are watching closely as some schools appear to be using trial classes or orientation sessions as de facto admission gateways.
Major cram school districts in Seoul and in new towns including Bundang, Pyeongchon and Suwon are rolling out alternatives to the former level tests ahead of next year's enrollment, according to education officials on the 2nd. One well-known creative-math school, identified as A, now runs about a month of separate classes in place of a test. Children enroll first, and teachers gauge their learning levels during instruction before placing them in an appropriate regular class. Advanced tracks also require students to pass through a separate preparatory class before moving into regular classes.
An English school for preschoolers, identified as B, said it will assess children's levels through activities such as reading English books rather than a formal test. For students in what the school calls "experienced" classes — children who have had roughly 18 months to two years of English instruction, unlike beginners — the school said it will have them read books or hold conversations to determine their proficiency. A gifted-education school, identified as C, said it will no longer require cognitive or intelligence test results as a condition of enrollment. Instead, parents who wish to may have their child tested for the purpose of checking developmental status.
The changes stem from the revised Private Teaching Institutes Act, which took effect on the 1st of this month. The law bars institutes from administering written, oral, practical or interview-based tests or evaluations to recruit preschool children or to assign them to classes by level. Observing or interviewing children who have already enrolled and then placing them in a class suited to their level remains permitted. An Education Ministry official said it is possible to assign a child to a suitable class based on observations made during instruction without administering a test, adding that the ban on level tests is intended to restrict tests and evaluations of preschool children, not level-based teaching itself.
The problem arises when classes themselves become a selection process substituting for an entrance exam. The ministry is also tracking cases in which short trial classes or orientation sessions held before the regular curriculum serve in practice as a screening stage. Another ministry official said some institutes had set up separate trial programs even before the law took effect, intending to use the results to decide whether to admit children to the regular curriculum, and that the ministry had told the schools they must not operate that way. Observing enrolled students to divide them into level-based classes is allowed, the official said, but using trial classes as a de facto entrance exam to screen applicants is not.
Among parents, some say finding a cram school has become harder, not easier, since the level tests disappeared. Unlike the days of preparing for tests scheduled on published dates, parents now must check school by school which institutes are accepting new students and how they assess ability and sort classes after enrollment. Yang, 38, who is raising a 5-year-old in Pyeongchon, said that previously it was enough to prepare for the level test, but now each school looks at children differently, so there is more to worry about, down to reading levels and study habits. Some schools are not accepting new 6-year-olds, Yang added, so parents are sharing information among themselves about which institutes take students and by what method.
The Education Ministry plans to brief cram schools on the revised rules through October and November, then launch intensive inspections with local education offices from the end of the year to check whether level tests are still being administered. It will look in particular at whether institutes are conducting covert screening that effectively determines admission under labels such as trial classes or orientation sessions.
