Methods to Improve the Basic Learning Ability of Vocational High School Students

Abstract

본 연구에서는 전문계 고등학생의 기초학습능력 개념과 수준 및 학업성취 모형을 고찰하여, 전문계 고등학생의 기초학습능력 장애 요인을 분석함과 동시에 기초학습능력을 향상시킬 수 있는 종합적인 방안을 모색하고자 하였다.1. The Research Outline As the industrial structure and the labour market have highly developed, vocational high schools have difficulties in identifying their educational purpose. Especially, based on the social phenomenons such as the people's negative thinking on the job-specialized education and the decreasing number of students have impeded the schools from selecting well-qualified applicants, there is a serious doubt about the basic learning capability of vocational high school students. Under these conditions, it is indispensible to invent an comprehensive method and practice to improve the basic learning ability of vocational high school students which is accumulatively developed from the elementary school level as well as to set up the notion of the basic learning ability of vocational high school students and review the previous studies on the proper level of the basic academic ability of vocational high school students differentiated from general high schools. 2. The Actual Condition of the Basic Learing Ability of Vocational High School Students and General High School Students The actual condition of the basic learning capability of vocational high school students which is analysed through the literature review and survey can be summarized as follows. First, the degree of academic performance by vocational high school students is noticeably lower than general high school students. Although the students' performance at some specialized vocational high schools has improved, the average level of academic achievement of vocational high school students is very low. In the national-scale assessment on the degree of academic performance, most vocational high school students belong to the category of 'below basic level'. Second, vocational high schools are not equipped with a diagnosis system to guide students who lag behind in their academic achievement. As we can know through the academic achievement model of vocational high school students, while the cause of the students' academic failure ranges from the academic factors like ineffective learning practices to non-academic factors like family matters, emotional breakdown and behaviour disturbance, vocational high schools do not have the programme to check these problems. In particular, the level of the basic learning ability of vocational high school students cannot be accurately evaluated because there is no assessment method which is suitable for the characters of vocational high schools and differentiated with general high schools. In other words, the current national-scale assessment method on academic capability is less functional and not suitable for the students who have not had any opportunity of supplementary educations and enter vocational high schools according to their academic record. Third, the current educational system lacks a differentiated management programme to care continuously about the vocational high school students lagged behind in the basic academic ability. Most of all, because the management practice to deal with the academic progress and record of the students left behind are not systematically arranged, the vicious circle of relief for failed students keeps repeating. Related to this issue, one of the most crucial problems is the shortage of teachers exclusively responsible for the management on the academic progress and record of the students left behind. To solve this probeem, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has supported high schools to hire assistant teachers via the project of 'School Focusing Academic Ability Improvement'. However, because this takes a form of short-term project, the first year students who complete an supplementary course cannot continue to take another supplementary course in the second and third year. Not only that, the fact that such supplementary courses are opened as the type of after-school tutoring class has resulted in the lasting marginalisation of the students left behind from regular classes. That is to say, the educational programme differentiated according to the level of individual students' academic ability have not been operated in an effective way within the regular curriculum. Although most vocational high schools run the flexible placement system by which students can attend an English or mathematic class fitting into their own academic ability, the students lagged behind tend to quit studying or rely on private education for fear of being stigmatized as a 'stupid student' Forth, there are raising questions about the lack of school's responsibility on guiding students with low achievement and the confusion caused by policy overlapping. Even though the authorities of most vocational high schools perceive the problem of students' underachievement, school principals and teachers of Korean language and literature, English and mathematics have a weak sense of responsibility. As regular teachers are overburdened with teaching in regular classes and administration works, lecturers, university student assistants and intership teachers are responsible for the tutorial task for the students lagged behind in academic achievement. However, these temporary workers cannot be helpful enough to improve students' basic ability because the capability of university student assistants and internship teachers to support tutorial classes is insufficient. Finally, as a result of the comparison between general high school students and vocational high school students, while the independent variables to explain the degree of academic achievement by general high school students demonstrate consistency, the variables in terms of vocational high school students are much less consistent except few cases. Moreover, despite the huge gap in academic achievement between general high school students and vocational high school student, any variable configured to explain the level of schools among the independent variables is not meaningful. This means that the real factors affecting the academic achievement of vocational high school students are significantly different from the case of general high school students. 3. The Methods to Improve the Basic Learning Ability of Vocational High School Students To improve the basic learning ability of vocational high school students, it is essential to diagnose students with low achievement in an accurate way, to provide the students with intensive and continuous supplementary educational programmes, and apply the training methods which is not only connected with academic performance but also related to students' perspective on their lives. The main tasks to implement these methods can be suggested as follows&ltTask Ⅰ&gtFirstly, a standard on basic academic ability reflecting the purpose and features of vocational high school should be established. Secondly, an assessment method on basic academic ability based on the standard should be invented. Third, a system to figure out the types and causes of low achievement based on the assessment should be designed and applied. &ltTask Ⅱ&gtStudents lagged behind have to be categorized as the type of low achievement in course works and low achievement in basic learning ability in order to establish differentiated and sustainable management system. In addition, a variety of supplementary courses such as regular classes (flexible class attendance to fit into individual academic ability), after-school tutorials and the usage of local community resources should be supplied. &ltTask Ⅲ&gtTo strengthen schools' capability to improve the basic learning ability of students with low achievement, an incentive programme in accordance with outcomes related to the improvement of students' learning ability can be considered to encourage principals and teachers. For example, schools which show good performance in decreasing the number of students lagged behind in academic achievement can receive a citation. The case of schools which produce an outstanding result should be analyzed and promoted via case study presentations, school management consulting and visiting class programmes.요 약 제1장 서론 제1절 연구의 필요성 및 목적 1 제2절 연구의 방법 및 절차 3 1. 연구의 방법 3 2. 연구절차 5 제2장 전문계 고등학교 기초학습능력 운영 및 지원현황 제1절 전문계 고등학생의 기초학습능력 실태 7 1. 기초학습능력의 개념 7 2. 기초학습능력 수준 현황 11 제2절 기초학습능력 관련 교과목 운영실태 18 1. 전문계 고등학교의 기초교과목 운영 현황 18 2. 교육과정 개편에 따른 전문계 고등학생의 기초교과목 운영 전망 33 제3절 전문계 고교 학습부진학생 기초학습능력 향상 정책과 과제 37 1. 시ㆍ도 교육청 단위에서의 학습부진학생 기초학습능력 향상 정책 현황 37 2. 학습부진학생의 기초학습능력 향상을 위한 단위학교의 노력 43 제3장 전문계 고등학교 학업성취 모형 및 실태분석 제1절 전문계 고등학교 학업성취 모형 탐색 55 1. 학업성취도 관련 변인 55 2. 전문계 고등학교 학업성취모형(안) 83 제2절 전문계 고등학교 학업성취 실태 분석 88 1. 전문계 고등학교 기초학습능력 관련 변인 실태 분석 88 2. 기초학습능력에 대한 위계적 선형모형 분석 결과 106 제 4 장 전문계 고등학생 기초학습능력 향상 방안 제1절 기본방향 131 제2절 향상 방안 134 SUMMARY 149 <부록 1> 전문계 고등학생 기초학습능력 향상 방안 조사 (교사용) 157 <부록 2> 전문계 고등학생 기초학습능력 향상 방안 조사 (학생용) 165 <부록 3> 일반계 고등학생의 기초학습능력 실태 및 요인 조사(교사용) 171 <부록 4> 일반계 고등학생 기초학습능력 향상 방안 조사 (학생용) 183 <부록 5> 시ㆍ도 교육청 단위에서의 학습부진학생 기초학습능력 향상 정책 189 <부록 6> 단위학교에서의 학습부진학생 대처방안 251 참고문헌 25