• The Journal of Sustainable Design and Educational Environment Research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.37-50
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• 2017

The Ministry of Education selected and implemented 'science core school' since 2009 as a policy to strengthen science education to produce talented science students. This study judged that it is necessary to examine the current management practice and diagnose problems to propose improvement measures for more successful management of science core school in the future. To this end, we interviewed and observed teachers and students at a high school specialized in science based in Gyeonggi province which was selected as a science core school, as qualitative study methods such as interview and observation to survey and analyze the current management practice of the school. The management outcome was that the school contributed to fostering talented students in natural sciences and engineering because more varied activities were implemented at the school to develop scientific knowledge of students including experiment, excursion, and circle activity. Identified problems were increased amount of private education due to intense competition over school achievement, negligence of extracurricular activities, burdensome workload for teachers of specific subjects, and lack of expertise of math and science teachers. In conclusion, the following improvement measures are suggested for sustainable management of science core schools: greater liberty should be granted to science core schools; more training opportunities should be given to teachers; college admission program should be improved for science core school students; and it is necessary to introduce courses taught by external teachers, and provide systematic support such as increasing administration staff.