ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

This study analyzes the evolution of Korea’s government-supported remote vocational training system from a historical institutionalist perspective, focusing on the interaction among structure, institutions, and actors. Patterns of institutional change are identified as path creation and path evolution (layering, conversion, drift, and displacement). Drawing on documentary analysis of legislation, white papers, and institutional reports from 1999 to 2025, this study traces the long-term trajectory and identifies mechanisms of path creation and evolution. Based on this analysis, the trajectory is divided into five stages: the introduction and establishment period; the first, second, and third reform and consolidation periods, and the diffusion of flexible training systems and responses to digital transformation. During the introduction period, path creation emerged as institutional incorporation, and the foundations of quality management were established in response to the financial crisis and the transition to a knowledge-based society. In the first and second reform periods, procedural standardization advanced through ex-ante review, unification of review authorities, and alignment between NCS-based course review and institutional accreditation, reflecting layering, conversion, and reinforcing path dependence. The third reform period saw continued layering and conversion through the expansion of new digital and non-face-to-face initiatives such as K-Digital Training and STEP. At the same time, displacement occurred as publicly funded support for legally mandated training was withdrawn. Since 2021, statutory amendments and the introduction of flexible institutional mechanisms have reinitiated path creation. Across all periods, the core pathway of “public funding-external review-private provision” has been refined and maintained in response to external shocks. Policy implications point to the need for gradual improvement based on layering and conversion strategies, enhanced data linkage across review and accreditation systems, and a transition toward demand- and outcome-oriented governance. By redefining the temporal stages of change around critical junctures, employing an integrated structure-institution-actor analytical framework, and empirically classifying path evolution types, this study offers a unified interpretation of 25 years of institutional transformation and provides design principles and policy priorities for remote vocational training in the digital transformation era.

키워드