Exploring Research Trends in Korea's after-School Academy Policy for Youth Using Keyword Network Analysis

Background: Child and youth care should be recognized as a universal agenda, rather than an issue limited to specific target populations; furthermore, the government should promote policies in a responsible manner to avoid any blind spots in care. This study sought to identify current and future research trends in Korea's After-School Academy using descriptive statistical and keyword network analyses. Addressing the gap in child and youth care is directly linked to the crisis faced by youth in marginalized communities, making it crucial to establish new tasks for after-school academies that provide comprehensive services, including caring for these youth. However, existing studies have largely focused on specific issues, targets, or regions, without covering the broader research trends and policy implications. Therefore, it is necessary to empirically examine the research interests of the relevant in the policy project, the research topics that existing researchers emphasize, and how these topics have evolved over time.

Methods: We conducted a descriptive statistical analysis and a keyword network analysis. Descriptive statistics, including the number of studies, types of studies, and publishing organization, were analyzed using Exel software. For the network analysis, we utilized NetMiner 4.0 to examine keyword frequency of occurrence, centrality, structural hole, and sub-network. We searched for articles that included "youth after-school academy" in the title, abstract, or keywords, and selected peer-reviewed articles and theses published in Korean between 2005 and 2023. Our initial search yielded 231 articles, of which 222 were included in the final review.

Results: The study identified an average of 11 studies published annually, with master's theses and academic journal articles being the most common forms of publication. The keywords “program” and “low-income youth” ranked high in terms of centrality and frequency of appearance in the analysis results, while the keyword “care service” keyword emerged as a structural hole keyword, suggesting a potential research gap in the association between “care services” and “youth after-school academy” keyword. The sub-community analysis revealed that research primarily focused on after-school care services, low-income youth, programs, community childcare centers, and after-school activities.

Conclusions/Implications: The study found that over half of the research studies on after-school academies were conducted by sole authors, and social science and social welfare studies were prominent among the academic research fields. The current research interest was focused on the “low-income youth” keyword among policy groups, indicating that researchers approached the topic from the perspective of selective. The study suggests several future research tasks to enhance the effectiveness of after-school academy research, including conducting interdisciplinary convergence research, exploring the perspective of "universal welfare" to strengthen the rights of youth, and diversifying research topics on effectiveness using various research methods. By addressing these limitations, future research can contribute to the practical policy changes that align with the ultimate goals of after-school academy programs.