Report on Fostering the Provision of Korean Language Education in Victoria (2024)

Australia is one of the few countries in the world (together with New Zealand, Vietnam, and Thailand) to have locally developed a school curriculum for the Korean language. Nevertheless, the opportunities to receive Korean instruction are not evenly distributed between states and territories. In Victoria, Korean is offered through a limited number of schools, indicating a lack of pathways available for continuous learning from primary school to university. This situation does not reflect the reality that at the tertiary level, Korean Studies is one of the fastest-growing language programs, with only a small portion of background learners.

The current provision of Korean in Victoria is not enough to support the development of a critical mass of Korea-literate Australians, which is necessary to support the future development of the cooperation between Korea and Australia, two key partners in the Indo-Pacific region.

To address this situation, the first Victoria Korean Teachers' Forum (제 1회 빅토리아주 한국어 교사 포럼) was held at the University of Melbourne on 20th March, 2024, supported by the Korean Consulate-General of the Republic of Korea in Melbourne, and co-hosted by the University of Melbourne and Monash University Korean Studies programs. The forum was designed to gather insights from Korean teachers based in Victoria and foster an ongoing dialogue on the promotion and development of Korean language education in Victoria.

This report collects and contextualises the main issues that emerged at the forum and provides recommendations for addressing them.