This research represents the first instance of close collaboration between the vocational education and training research institutes of Korea and France, and examines the differences between the qualification systems of the two countries.
At the surface, the qualification systems of the two countries have definite commonalities and differences. Beneath the surface, however, the differences between the two systems are superficial, and can be explained in relation to social and cultural institutions.
It can be said that the simplest of the social and cultural differences between Korea and France lie in the opposition of the social security system and the family security system. This opposition, therefore, lies at the basic level of the qualification system. The middle level consists of the performance of mediating roles, such as the conflict between education-centralism and industry- centralism, conflict and the agreement between labor and management, confliction between the guarantee of individual rights and the improvement of the productivity, opposition between learning and job experience, and opposition between upward decisions and downward control. The question as to how the three levels relate to each other in the complex structure, provides a basis for analysis and explanation..
