This study analyzed the teacher's teaching experiences with immigrant background students and proposed strategies for moral education based on these findings. In particular, this research proceeded under the premise that a teacher’s perception of fa...
This study analyzed the teacher's teaching experiences with immigrant background students and proposed strategies for moral education based on these findings. In particular, this research proceeded under the premise that a teacher’s perception of fairness and reverse discrimination significantly influences their guidance of immigrant background students. Based on this, key implications for moral education were derived.
Teachers who guide immigrant background students form their perceptions based on subjective experiences, and these individual experiences often lead to variations in perception. Thus, a teacher's view is inherently subjective and heavily influenced by their prior experiences and existing beliefs. Notably, perceptions of educational fairness were found to correlate with the level of active engagement in educational practices for immigrant background students. However, certain factors led to a perception that general students face reverse discrimination compared to their immigrant counterparts. These factors include a policy structure where support is determined solely by immigrant status—even in environments where overall academic achievement is low—and challenging relationships with uncooperative immigrant parents. Based on these experiences, teachers recognized the need for a communal consensus to practice educational fairness and identified the necessity of addressing lingering stereotypes regarding immigrant background students.
Based on these discussions, the implications of teachers' experiences for moral education are as follows. First, it is necessary to develop and share culturally responsive teaching methods that help overcome the limitations of subjective perception and expand understanding. Culturally responsive teaching responds sensitively to discrimination and aims for social change to improve these conditions. Given the tendency for negative attitudes toward student support to increase when the perception of discrimination is low, the development and sharing of such teaching methods will contribute to changing social structures of discrimination and stereotypes. Second, it is essential to establish networks that facilitate the sharing of "practical wisdom" among teachers through professional learning communities and discuss the balance of curriculum operation. Such networks can contribute to the rational operation of educational policies based on the expertise and experiences teachers have accumulated in the field.
To improve teaching and learning in moral education, two specific instructional models were proposed. First, discussions on controversial issues, where diverse perspectives are debated to reach rational conclusions, are effective for handling complex social discourses. In South Korean society, where multiculturalism and national division intersect, it is necessary to address various perspectives on social issues. Therefore, these lessons will help students resolve conflicts and engage in cooperation by debating diverse viewpoints. Second, the narrative instruction model can be utilized, allowing students to choose values and imbue them with meaning using their own voices in morally conflicting situations. Moving beyond abstract encounters with diverse situations, the process of making choices through one's own narrative allows students to effectively reflect on discrimination, stereotypes, and their own lives.
This study is significant in that it proposes alternatives for moral education based on practical evidence from the educational field and contributes to improving the integrated educational environment by including North Korean background students, who have often been marginalized in existing discussions on immigrant background students. It is hoped that the discussions in this paper will contribute to the improvement of moral education through multicultural and unification education approaches in an educational environment where diverse immigrants coexist.