Escape from education fever?: Impact of migration on child education practice

An extraordinary interest in education has a historical and cultural foundation in Korea, but its harmful nature has created education emigration of Korean parents. This study sought to track if and how the culturally embedded education fever changed over migration generations. To this end, this study compared three different parent groups: staying‐put parents in the origin country (Korean parents in Korea), first‐generation migrant parents (Korean–Australian parents with no school‐age education in Australia) and next‐generation migrant parents (Korean–Australian parents who were born or fully educated in Australia). Continuity and discontinuity in child education practice in the context of migration were explored and the education fever was seen to be persistent as part of a strategy for social inclusion. Despite a high level of aspiration for academic success of children, migrant parents were seen to take an acculturated or modified form of parenting with a recognition of diversified paths of success.