Episode 1 School Swap: Korea Style

What does it take to have the best schools in the world?

To find out, three Welsh teenagers will swap their classroom,

teachers and even their parents to experience life on the opposite side

of the globe.

In Gangnam in South Korea...

# Gangnam style... #

..here, pupils work long hours.

Teachers can become millionaires...

HE SPEAKS KOREAN

..and parents plough a small fortune into private tuition for their kids.

This is extreme education.

But South Korean schools are ranked as some of the best in the world.

I'm Sian Griffiths, education editor at the Sunday Times and next month,

the big news story will be the results from the international

ranking system for schools, known as Pisa.

According to international rankings,

our registration system is so far behind that of countries like South Korea.

I want to know - what would it take for Welsh schools to compete

and be at the top of those rankings?

And to do that, I need some help.

So for three days,

three Welsh teenagers will live and breathe Korean education to find out

the secret to their success.

I honestly couldn't keep my eyes open.

This is School Swap, Korean style.

St Davids in Pembrokeshire is the smallest city in Britain.

This is where I grew up and went to school.

Here, I got the grades to go to Oxford to studying English.

And back then, the quality of Wales's education system was renowned.

But something has changed.

So I want three students from my old school to help me find out what.

I'm sending them to one of the best and toughest education systems

in the world today - South Korea.

I'm looking forward to experiencing it

but I honestly don't know how they cope.

Some days, I'll only have two lessons in the morning

or sometimes I have triple lessons at the end of the day,

so I can have a lie-in in the morning.

I do like the social part of school

but I don't really enjoy the educational side of it.

Some might say that I like my PlayStation a bit more,

or playing sports with my friends a bit more than studying.

School for me is about, yeah,

it's where you come along and you see your friends every day

but it's also about knuckling down - and actually getting some work done.

I want to get the best, I want to be the best.

And I think that all starts with education.

I want to go to Korea, because I want to know why they are doing

so much better in education than we are

and what they have that we don't.

Three very different kids

but how will they take to the super-tough system of South Korea?

# Everybody is kung-fu fighting... #

Our three Welsh teenagers are travelling 6,000 miles

from Pembrokeshire to the capital of South Korea, Seoul.

# A little bit frightening

# It's the book of your life that you're writing... #

For three days, I've arranged for them to be totally immersed in Korean school and teenage life.

And they need to look the part, too.

Looks like you're going to play cricket.

So first stop is the local school-uniform shop.

HE LAUGHS

-I feel like an air hostess!

-You look like one!

Oh, my goodness!

Most schools in this area are single-sex schools

so the three will have to split up.

Tommy and Ewan will attend Dankook,

an all-boys high school in the most affluent neighbourhood in Gangnam.

The school is surrounded by expensive high-rise flats

with Korean parents spending a fortune to move into the school's catchment.

Mine is a very posh school and I have a feeling they're going to be really strict.

Sarah will attend the nearby all-girls school, Suhmoon.

Over 1,500 girls attend this high school,

and it's one of the best in Gangnam

with strict rules on uniform and appearance.

'Our three Welsh students will also be staying with a Korean family but

'before they head off,

'I want to know if they're ready for the challenge.'

Do you already know any Korean?

Have you learnt any in the few hours you've been here?

I've picked up a little bit, I mean, like...

HE SPEAKS KOREAN

..is, like, "thank you".

And Tommy knows the way to, like, introduce yourself.

Yeah, when you greet someone, you say...

HE SPEAKS KOREAN

-Sarah?

-I'm useless! I've been relying on these two.

OK, well, good luck, all three of you.

-Off you go.

-Can't wait!

-Cheers.

Sarah, Tommy and Ewan now split up and head off to meet their Korean

classmates for the first time.

They know nothing about their host families and the nerves are

definitely starting to show.

Yeah, a bit nervous, but should be good to meet them.

I think nervous doesn't quite cut it!

Do I press here?

What do I do? This one?

Ah, here we go.

OK.

Ooh!

-Hello!

-Nice to meet you.

Sarah will be staying with 16-year-old Seon.

When she was young, Seon went to a school for gifted children and her favourite subject is maths.

That's the living room.

-OK.

-And the dining room.

-Yeah.

-And that's the kitchen.

Oh, my gosh! Actually here!

Meanwhile, on the other side of town,

Tommy is going up in the world.

-Hello. Hi.

-Tommy! Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

Tommy's Korean classmate is Min Young.

He has a bird's eye view of Seoul from his 36th-floor apartment.

And there's an 86-inch television to amuse him.

Ooh, you've got a home cinema.

That's really cool! That's a lovely view as well.

Ewan is the last to meet his Korean counterpart, Young Chan.

-Hello.

-Hello, hello.

-HE SPEAKS KOREAN

There's no television here.

Young Chan's parents believe it's a barrier to good education.

This is a really nice house.

-You've made the most of the space as well. It's really good.

-Yeah.

Both are top students in their class

and it's not long before they check out each other's maths homework

and musical skills.

HE PLAYS A JAUNTY TUNE

THEY LAUGH

HE PLAYS A JAUNTY TUNE

APPLAUSE

First impressions, I don't stand a chance.

He's amazing! He can play the piano backwards, for Christ's sake!

I don't stand a chance.

Finally here, I'm finally here and it's crazy. It's really good.

I look like an idiot now!

You just tap your head.

Tomorrow, our three Welsh students are going to discover why Korean education

is the toughest in the world.

What time does school start tomorrow?

We need to be there by eight.

Eight? All right, OK. Yeah. Eight o'clock, so quite an early start.

But it's all right.

I think it's math, English and history.

-OK.

-And then we're going to have dinner at school and then

we're going to have, like, extracurricular stuff.

We stay there until, like, ten.

Ten o'clock at night?

-Ten, yes.

-OK.

I'm normally fast asleep at ten o'clock.

But I think I can change for a couple of days.

I don't think I'm prepared for this.

6.45 in the morning and in Young Chan's house, there's no sign of Ewan.

Hello? Ewan?

It's already, like, a quarter before seven.

Sorry. I fell back to sleep.

-That's normal.

-Yeah.

Over at Seon's house,

it's a different kind of wake-up call for Sarah over breakfast.

We have this bag in each class for us to put our phones in.

-What, we have to give our phones in?

-Yes.

You're not even just allowed to turn them off and put them in...?

No. I guess you can, but if the teacher finds out, they'll take it

for a week and a half...to a month. It depends on the teacher.

-They can take your phone off you for that long?

-Yeah.

Oh, my God!

I did wake up and I just fell back asleep.

Ready for school now. Apparently, I might be out until 11.30 at night, so...

Could be quite interesting!

While Sarah and Ewan make their way to their respective schools,

over at Min Young's house, Tommy's only just getting up.

I don't usually function at this time.

God, you get better weather here than we do.

Much better. This is, like,...

This is, like, actually quite a nice day!

It gets a bit tiring after lunch.

I think I'll be tired before lunch!

Because Tommy got up so late, his Korean classmate is worried.

Are we going to be there on time? I think...

He's never been late to school before.

I'll catch up. Don't worry.

In Dankook high school,

punishment for missing the bell is coming in even earlier

to clean the corridors and classrooms.

With seconds to spare,

both have avoided mopping-up duties - for today, at least.

Sarah is creating a bit of a stir over at Suhmoon girls' school.

Being the only blonde in school can make you quite a celebrity!

I'm not normally awake until about quarter to eight.

It's too strange. Too early!

It's ten to eight, and first up, it's English...

..and a gentle easing-in for Tommy, Ewan and Sarah.

-RECORDING:

-'Well, I'm not very familiar with that genre of music.

'I cut myself when I shaved this morning.

'Maybe you can shave in the shower.

'Hmm. Sounds like a good idea.'

More than 99% of Korean students choose to stay in school after they turn 16,

compared to only 50% back home in Wales.

For the next three years,

they prepare for a make-or-break exam to get into a good university.

While I wait to see if they kids survive their first day,

I've been looking around the local area

and come across this Buddhist temple.

This sign is pretty interesting.

It's inviting people to come and do 3,000 bows or prayers

overnight this Saturday, for...

guess what? Good exam results!

These mothers are praying for good results in the end-of-term exams.

Each prayer book has a picture of their child.

And on the roof of the temple,

the light stays on in the family's lantern

until the child reaches university.

In the temple courtyard,

the mothers burn old textbooks to destroy any possible bad luck

in the looming exams.

It is this religious devotion to education that has helped transform

South Korea's fortunes.

60 years ago, nearly 80% of the population here was illiterate.

Today, South Korea is an economic giant.

They did all that through education.

CHANTING

So how good are they?

I've arranged a test for the boys in Dankook school.

-Good morning. ALL:

-Good morning!

Today, you're going to be sitting a Welsh GCSE maths exam.

THEY LAUGH

You have 60 minutes and your time starts...now!

It's usually a two-hour-long paper but we've randomly selected

half the questions to fit this exam into 60 minutes.

In my maths exam, I got an A*.

A*, yeah.

I was told to aim for full marks.

So...

After only 15 minutes,

some of the Korean students have already finished the paper.

But even on his second attempt, GCSE maths is still a headache for Tommy.

For my GCSEs, I got two A*s, four As, four Bs, and a C.

I thought I did quite well, considering the amount of work I did.

The only grade that I would've liked to have got higher was a C in maths.

I would've liked to get that up to a B, but it is what it is.

OK, so can I just ask you all -

can you put your hands up if you found that paper difficult?

Oh! LAUGHTER

OK, so can I ask you now,

can you put your hands up if you found that paper really easy?

OK!

Everybody found it really easy.

That was really interesting.

None of those South Korean teenagers found that paper difficult.

Most of them finished it in about 15 minutes.

It was supposed to take an hour.

I'm not really surprised,

because the teacher said that paper was primary school level maths for

those children. It just shows how far we've got to go to catch up in Wales.

Thousands of children in Wales - not just in Wales, across the UK -

would have failed that paper this summer.

That says a lot about where we are and how much we've got to do.

I asked them and they thought the exam was very easy.

And I said, "Well, some people in our class had failed that,"

and they said, "Well, that's astounding."

So I just think they work harder, they go over it and then,

an exam they'd had never studied for before, they just did it straight through,

so, yeah, amazing.

Korean teenagers are exam-busting machines

and are among the top performing students in the world.

We know this because of the Pisa tests.

Every three years,

15-year-olds in 68 different countries sit the same exams in maths, science and reading.

In maths, Asian countries like South Korea consistently come out on top.

But in the last results in 2012,

Wales was in the bottom third of the league -

43rd out of 68 countries.

One obvious difference here is the long hours they put in.

Sarah is struggling to stay awake.

Others have just given up but still, the teacher carries on.

I feel really bad, because I've gone really sleepy now

and I was just like... Ooh!

At least there's one similarity between Wales and South Korea -

they do have school dinners!

In Seoul, all kids up to 16 years old have three school meals.

But you won't find any chips being dished out there.

Korean school dinners are hailed as some of the healthiest in the world.

Plenty of rice, soup and gut-friendly fermented cabbage called kimchi.

Oh, yeah. Rice.

It's really nice. It's sort of like a stew, sort of thing.

But there's less stew to it, and more meat and veg, and stuff.

It's really tasty. Really tasty.

With their bellies full,

it's back to the classroom and our Welsh students are actually

getting a taste for Korean-style lessons.

The method of teaching out here is,

they give it to you in black and white and you memorise it and you learn it

but that does not necessarily mean that you understand it.

What stuck out to me a lot is in class, they don't even talk to each other.

It's just bizarre.

The school here is better in terms of the results,

but are they really living a life that a young person should be?

I'm not so sure.

In response to such criticisms,

the principal of the boys' school has introduced a school sports day

to tackle the problems of stressed-out and tired students.

This is one of the best schools in Seoul

and South Korea is at the top

of the international rankings for education.

But do you feel that this kind of sports day is necessary to give them

some kind of release from that pressure?

Yeah. That's a part of the reason I do this with these kids because,

you know, like, this time never comes back.

You know, like, this is a beautiful time of our life.

-Mmm.

-But, you know,

they are kind of, like, squeezed under a big load of pressure.

-Mmm.

-Their day is probably, like, six till 12 or something.

6am in the morning to midnight?

-Yeah.

-To midnight! Whoa!

So they're getting about six hours' sleep?

Six hours' sleep. That's a very, like, insufficient.

So we've been seeing some children asleep, actually,

nodding off in lessons.

What do you do when you see children doing that?

Actually, I tap the glass, I mean, the window of the classroom,

and I try to wake them up, by, like, sending my finger signal to them.

-Does it work?

-Yeah, it is working.

-Yeah.

-Eventually, probably that's going to damage their, like,

efficiency of their studies.

-Right.

-Cos if they need a sleep, they kind of lack sleep.

So that's part of the reason we're doing this.

It's kind of, like, some activities to release their stress.

The final event of the day is rope skipping and Tommy's been given the

responsibility for swinging the rope for his team.

I actually quite nervous. I don't want to get it wrong.

Look how many people are watching.

I'm petrified!

CHEERING

Look how wrong it can go!

Next up, it's Tommy's team.

Yay! Yay!

Yay!

Come on!

HE SHOUTS ENCOURAGEMENT

CHEERING

Most of the Korean students don't know anything about Wales.

That's until they see the flag.

There's one famous Welsh footballer and everyone knows his name.

ALL: Gareth Bale! Gareth Bale! Gareth Bale!

CHEERING

20 minutes past four and the bell rings for the boys.

Over at the girls' school, the lessons may have ended but now

it's time for after-school study.

Ten hours in and Sarah's sitting in the same classroom in the same chair.

I feel really bad but I honestly couldn't keep my eyes open during that lesson.

It's all getting too much for Sarah.

So her Korean classmate Seon comes to the rescue.

We're going to get you to go to the nurse's office.

There are a lot of beds there, so you can take a rest!

I feel so bad!

And after that, we can go to my extracurricular class and then we go home.

Oh, I feel bad going into the nurse's room.

I should just... I should be awake but I'm just so genuinely tired.

As night falls on Seoul,

Ewan and Young Chan make their way to a five-hour self-studying session in the local public library.

At the moment, we're waiting to get into the library.

I was amazed that there could be so many people all in there at once

and the fact that they're all exquisitely silent.

There was even kids in there studying, about ten years old.

It's surprising, but it shows the work ethic Korean people have and it's just impressive.

It's amazing.

Studying for 14 to 16 hours a day is normal for Young Chan.

This is his way of staying at the very top of the class.

I found that if you review your school works,

what you've learned on that day, then it really helps you a lot,

so the library where I study, near my house,

it only opens until ten,

so if I want to study more, and, like, finishing my work,

then I just come back to school and, yeah, stay here until 12.

My parents' influence is the biggest part,

cos my dad grew up in the countryside.

He had a really poor background and he, like,

studied really hard and he made it into Seoul.

If he can do that, then maybe I can study more.

But, like, second purpose is that it's really kind of happy

when you get good results from, like, studying.

It's really not comparable with any other achievement.

Yeah, that's what drives me to study.

When they're not self-studying in libraries,

most Korean students go to private night schools called hagwons.

This area of Gangnam has over 1,000 of these hagwons.

Min Young is taking Tommy to his English hagwon -

a two-hour top-up lesson in English grammar.

I've arranged to meet Tommy at his hagwon

and on my way over in the taxi,

the driver has plenty to say about the role hagwons play in society here.

This is mathematics hagwon and this is English hagwon

and this is mathematics hagwon.

This is a street of hagwons, really.

-Yeah.

-This is hagwon street.

-Yes, yes, that's right.

And the children come here what time after school?

-Five o'clock?

-About five o'clock to 12 o'clock.

So at midnight, this street will be full of children?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

It's crazy.

'Byung Hoon has sent all of his three children to hagwons.'

So, when you have three children in the hagwons,

how much is that costing you?

Almost 2,000 per month.

2,000!

Per month. For the...mathematics.

How many hours do you have to work to pay for the hagwon?

About 14 hours.

-14 hours a day?

-15 hours in a day.

-How many days a week?

-Er, six days a week.

Six days a week, you're working 14 hours a day?

-Yes.

-So you never see your children. When do you see your children?

Very hard to see children.

-Oh!

-Yes.

-Oh, it's a high price to pay for hagwons.

Yes. Yes, that's right. That's true.

Korean parents spend more on private education for their kids

than any other country in the world.

It's almost an addiction here.

The government has even placed a ten o'clock curfew on the hagwons,

to try and control their influence.

To keep the kids out of private education,

the girls' school offers its own version of a hagwon.

But it's all too much for Sarah.

We were supposed to stay until ten but I've actually been really tired

so, luckily, we've been let out a bit earlier but, yeah,

it's been a really intense day and definitely not used to staying in school this late.

At his private hagwon,

Tommy and his Korean classmate Min Young now face another test.

And Tommy, what's the difference between present perfect and past?

-Present perfect?

-Yeah.

I have lived in Wales for 20 years.

That's present past.

-Present perfect.

-Present perfect.

-Had...yeah, have lived...

-Yeah.

-What's the difference between "have lived" and "lived"?

Er, I live...

-I don't know.

-Yeah, OK.

Can I ask you, cos you've been teaching tonight a grammar lesson to one of our students from Wales,

Tommy, but in the English grammar test,

Min Young did better than Tommy.

-Oh, shoot!

-Yeah!

THEY LAUGH

Min Young is excellent. He's the best student and also he's diligent.

I noticed that Tommy was writing down everything and he wanted to

memorise it. So Tommy is really diligent and he has passion

so if there's a system that helped Tommy,

then Tommy can, you know, get a better score.

It's ten o'clock at night.

The hagwons are closing because of the government curfew but many students,

like Young Chan, are carrying on.

So where are we going now?

We're actually heading back to school.

-Back to school?

-Yeah. So the study room is open until 11.30.

-11.30!

-Luckily, we have our bikes there,

so shall we take them back home?

Yeah, that makes things easier.

God, and then a long day tomorrow.

-Yeah.

-And then, one after that!

THEY LAUGH

Dankook boys' school is open until 11.30pm at night,

so they're carrying on with their studying there.

This is a relentless education system.

It's ten o'clock at night and the street's just full of children,

a lot of them still in their school uniforms.

And I've been speaking to a few groups of children.

Some of them are tired, some of them are hungry.

One said he would love to be playing basketball and one girl I spoke to,

she was 14, she said, "I just want to sleep.

"I'm so tired, I just want to go to sleep."

Like other countries around the world,

the Welsh Government has sent civil servants out to South Korea

to see if changes need to be made to our education system back home.

But is this what it takes to get to the top of the international rankings

and if it is, is it actually worth it?

Next time, on School Swap: Korean Style,

there's a surprise in store for our Welsh students...

-Bore da, pawb.

-..as their headmaster flies over to see them.

Oh, no!

Oh, no! Oh, no!

We find out how teachers are treated in South Korea and meet the maths

teacher who's made millions from online classes...

HE SPEAKS KOREAN

..and I'll be confronting the Welsh education minister with my findings.

We're not where we should be.

We're not where I want to be but we are moving forward.