South Korea Elementary School 4th Grade Curriculum - Moral Education

Moral education is a required subject in South Korean elementary schools, including the 4th grade. The curriculum emphasizes students' development of moral character, basic habits, and abilities needed for learning and daily living. It aims to cultivate democratic citizens with strong moral and civic convictions. The Ministry of Education creates and provides the textbooks, with pupils receiving two moral education textbooks (a main textbook and a story book) each semester.

Specific details regarding the 4th-grade curriculum are limited, but the available information suggests a focus on analyzing Korean proverbs and discussing their meanings, comparing them to Western counterparts, and creating new proverbs. One example of integrating moral education into other subjects is teaching the concepts of consideration and caring during a literature class when discussing the topic of "helping neighbors in need." The curriculum also aims to cultivate virtues such as courage, sincerity, self-reflection, and self-control.

More broadly, the South Korean elementary moral education curriculum draws upon Confucianism and Buddhism. It has undergone several revisions, with the 4th revision occurring on December 31, 1981, focusing on teaching-method improvement from a "Bag of virtues" approach to a Cognitive-developmental approach. The 2009 revised curriculum respects the goals, content areas, and achievement standards of prior moral education curricula. The curriculum also addresses human rights education, including topics like the right to vote and environmental protection.