"English Level Tests for Young Children" Persist...Only the Form Has Changed

A World Without Worries About Private Education Releases On-Site Inspection Results
Operated in Ways That Mislead Parents Into Seeing Them as "Kindergarten Substitutes"
Level Tests Persist Despite Ban, Disguised as "Speaking Video" Submissions

Although a revision to the Private Institute Act banning entrance exams for English institutes targeting young children passed the National Assembly in December last year, critics point out that so-called "level tests" are still being conducted in the field through loopholes.

On the 12th, A World Without Worries About Private Education (Sagyoyuk Geokjeong) reported that, after the Korea Association of Private Institutes announced a ban on level tests, it attended new-student orientation sessions at three English institutes for young children located in Gangnam-gu and Jung-gu in Seoul between October and December last year to conduct on-site inspections, and released the results.

The results showed that all three English institutes, despite being legally classified as "private institutes," advertised programs and facilities similar to those of kindergartens, such as Nuri Curriculum programs, full-day care, meal service, and field trips. A World Without Worries About Private Education pointed out, "There is a problem in that they promote themselves in a way that leads people to mistake them for 'kindergartens' rather than private institutes."

Sagyoyuk Geokjeong Eomneun Sesang

In particular, it explained that when field trips are operated as regular programs, they can fall outside the legally permitted scope of instruction under the Private Institute Act and end up in a legal blind spot, including potential violations of safety management standards. It also noted that this can cause confusion among parents by leading them to mistake English institutes for young children for kindergartens.

These institutes claimed on the surface that they do not conduct "level tests," but in practice they were administering exams that divide students into different levels in indirect ways. A World Without Worries About Private Education stated, "Circumventing evaluations such as SR tests at the end of age five, regular level tests, homeroom teacher reports, and speaking video submissions are being conducted, and class placement is being made by dividing levels according to young children's English proficiency," adding, "Such circumvention practices avoid the legal ban by using terms like 'document submission' or 'observation and check' instead of calling them exams, yet in substance they perform a similar function of selection and ranking."

It further pointed out that "internal ranking is being maintained through measures such as separating tables by level and providing differentiated worksheets, thereby strengthening competition and ranking from early childhood and functioning as de facto level tests."

Cases of early pre-academic instruction that ignore stages of early childhood development. No Private Education Worries

Early learning that ignores developmental stages was also identified as a problem. According to A World Without Worries About Private Education, these institutes set early goals for children aged 5 to 7 to complete phonics at a level expected after entering elementary school, achieve independent reading, and write essays, and they were operating a competitive system with upper, middle, and lower tracks.

A World Without Worries About Private Education criticized, "They explain that 'children are fully capable' and that 'it proceeds naturally like play,' but this early competitive structure places excessive emphasis on cognition and academic achievement over play, emotional development, and social development, which are core aspects of early childhood development, and is highly likely to have a negative impact on children's emotional stability and learning attitudes." It added, "Such early competition and ranking may lead to lower self-esteem, increased stress, and decreased interest in learning for young children, and it also conflicts with the fundamental goals of early childhood education."

Cases were also found in which marketing tactics such as "If you don't start now, your child will fall behind" exploited parents' "anxiety" and led to excessive spending on private education. By highlighting examples of graduates advancing to international schools and specialized high schools, they instilled the perception that "you lose out if you miss this opportunity." In addition, high tuition and care fees ranging from 1 million won to 1.79 million won per month were framed as an "investment," creating psychological pressure that "you have to do at least as much as others."

A World Without Worries About Private Education stressed, "There is a growing need for stronger legal regulations and institutional reforms to address the regulatory blind spots in the oversight and supervision of English institutes for young children," and urged, "The education authorities and the National Assembly must move forward with institutional reforms to curb the excessive spread of private education for young children."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.