Elementary and Secondary Education 

The school system follows a 6+3+3 model. It consists of six years of primary education (elementary school, age 6–12), three years of lower secondary education (middle school, age 12–15), and three years of upper secondary education (high school, age 15–18). The first nine years of schooling (elementary and lower secondary school) is compulsory. A school should meet the establishment standards prescribed by Presidential Decree, such as facilities and equipment and obtain authorization from the Superintendent of an Office of Education which belongs to a City, a Do, or a Province.

Schools are classified into national schools, public schools, or private schools according to the founding entities. The Minister of Education determines basic matters on standards and details of the curricula, and the Superintendent of an Office of Education may determine the standards and details thereof according to actual circumstances of a region within the scope of the curricula determined by the Minister of Education.

Korea has four types of high schools: general high schools, special-purpose high schools, specialized high schools, and autonomous high schools. Despite the different school types, all high school graduates receive the same level qualification. In addition, a person who has not graduated high school but has passed a high school equivalency examination is deemed to have an academic background equivalent to that of a high school graduate in entering a school of higher grade.

KSCED-ISCED

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), the official statistical agency of UNESCO, developed the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) in the 1970s to collect and analyze internationally comparable educational statistics and revised it in 1997 and in 2011.

As UNESCO has recommended the use of ISCED to each country, the Statistics Korea enacted the Korean Standard Classification of Education (KSCED) in 2009. After revision in 2014, it was publicly notified.