Science Education Organizations: "CSAT Reform Plan Will Weaken STEM and Science Competitiveness"

Academic societies related to science education strongly opposed the Ministry of Education's announcement that from the 2028 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), students only need to take Integrated Science instead of General Science. They argued that this would ultimately lead to a weakening of scientific and technological competitiveness.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho is attending the announcement of the 2028 university entrance exam system reform draft on the afternoon of the 10th at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and is presenting on the abolition of the elective CSAT and subject integration.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The coalition of seven science education academic societies, including the Korean Association for Science Education, issued a statement on the 10th regarding the Ministry of Education's '2028 College Admission System Reform Plan,' stating that it "does not align with the normalization of high school education and fairness in college admissions." They demanded that Integrated Science be designated as a basic subject for the CSAT and that General Science also be administered additionally.

They expressed concern that students might perceive Integrated Science, which covers scientific basic knowledge above the middle school level, as sufficient for science. They pointed out that after completing Integrated Science, students are more likely to choose subjects that are easier to earn grades in rather than those related to their career paths, which would ultimately lower students' level of scientific knowledge.

They also argued that the reduction in opportunities to choose from various scientific fields would decrease students' chances to explore careers in science, leading to fewer students selecting science and technology career paths, and that the academic ability of students entering science and engineering fields would decline.

They viewed the plan to change high school internal grades from 9 levels to 5 levels while also including relative ranking grades as exacerbating advantages and disadvantages depending on subject choice, thereby undermining fairness.

While they agreed with the educational goals of balancing student future preparation and university talent selection, ensuring fairness in the CSAT, and innovating internal evaluation methods to improve educational reform and classroom instruction, they diagnosed that this would directly lead to a decline in students' college academic ability, weakening national scientific and technological competitiveness, and ultimately causing a collapse of the foundation of university education.

The statement was supported by the Korean Association for Science Education, the Korean Society for Field Science Education, the Korean Society for Biology Education, the Korean Earth Science Education Society, the Energy and Climate Change Education Society, the International Society for Science Gifted Education, and the Korean Elementary Science Education Society.

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