The rapid economic growth and the overall improvement in livelihoods have caused immense fluctuations in values and basic consciousness citizens should be equipped with. In turn, one of the policies from the Ministry of Education was the support for t...
The rapid economic growth and the overall improvement in livelihoods have caused immense fluctuations in values and basic consciousness citizens should be equipped with. In turn, one of the policies from the Ministry of Education was the support for the establishment and operation of school cooperatives within secondary schools that enables the direct participation of students in the cooperatives, starting from 2017.
Therefore, being conducted on schools with active cooperatives, in order to identify the difference in the degree of community and economic awareness between general students and students participating in school cooperatives, this research has set participation in school cooperatives as the background variable.
This research challenges the question of, first, general characteristics of the schools with active cooperatives.
Second, what is the degree of difference in community awareness based on the background variable, and how do the subordinate elements differ according to the participation in cooperatives?
Third, what is the degree of difference in economic awareness based on the background variable, and how do the subordinate elements differ according to the participation in cooperatives?
Fourth, what is the degree of difference in the community and economic awareness of student cooperative members according to the background variable?
This research has conducted surveys on 4 schools with active school cooperatives which include student members through their supervising teachers. 98 Jeollabuk-do school cooperative student members and general students were selected in the same ratio. 83 cooperative member students corresponding to approximately 84% response rate and 70 general students corresponding to approximately 71% response rate were selected to conduct quantitative research. The survey consisted of 14 questions on community awareness, and 15 questions on economic awareness, which was then examined by t-test and ANOVA setting the background variables as classes, years, gender, participation in cooperatives, and period of activity.
The result indicated that community awareness did not show statistically significant results based on classes, years, gender, and period of activity. However, the results have shown that students who participated in cooperatives possessed a higher degree of community awareness compared to general students, which was statistically significant. Among the subordinate elements of community awareness: a sense of belonging, mutual awareness, emotional connection, the pursuit of public interest, and social participation awareness, students have shown a statistically significant difference in social participation awareness, depending on their participation in cooperatives.
The difference in economic awareness also was statistically insignificant according to classes, years, gender, and period of activity. Subordinate elements of economic elements have also shown no statistically significant difference, suggesting that the non-profit nature of school cooperatives may have led to various factors of a home environment with other social environments having a more significant impact, hence statistical insignificance.
Comparing the degree of difference in community and economic awareness of student cooperative members according to the background variables has not shown a statistically significant difference. However, generally high schools than middle schools, seniors than freshmen, males than females, and six-month activity periods than one month have shown higher awareness on average.
This study argues that in order to improve positive influence on the students who are budding as democratic citizens through the participation in school cooperatives, the cooperatives’ activity should be reinforced as an educational experience, encouraging the responsibility and sense of duty supervising teachers. This article aims to add depth to the discussion on the solution that enables student activities to establish educational impact.