Starting in the 2025 school year for 3rd-4th graders, and in 2026 for 5th-6th graders, an unfamiliar period with no standard textbook has appeared on elementary classroom schedules. Its name is School Autonomous Time. Instead of following a nationally set textbook syllabus, the school itself designs the subject or activity that fills this time, so the name on the timetable can differ from school to school even within the same grade. Here is what this newly introduced period under the 2022 Revised National Curriculum is, and when it starts to apply to your child's grade.

What 'School Autonomous Time' Means — A Period the School Sets, Not a Textbook

Unlike Korean or math, where the syllabus set in the textbook is simply followed, the content of this period is decided by the individual school, not by the national curriculum. Schools already had some discretionary time before, but the 2022 Revised Curriculum formally wrote this in as a distinct item called 'School Autonomous Time' in its general guidelines and introduced it uniformly to elementary and middle schools nationwide. What fills the time is decided through in-school discussion, so it is entirely normal for the timetable to look completely different from a neighboring school.

Why Elementary Schools Got This Period — the 2022 Revised Curriculum

The 2022 Revised Curriculum is not applied to every grade at once; it is rolled out sequentially by grade band. It started with grades 1-2 in the 2024 school year, expanded to grades 3-4 in 2025, and will expand to grades 5-6 in 2026. Because School Autonomous Time is part of this new curriculum, if your child's grade has not yet come under the new curriculum, the period may not be formally running yet either. Conversely, if the grade is already covered, this year could be the first time the family encounters this new timetable item.

Grades 1-2 Are Not Included — Timing Differs by Grade Band for Grades 3-6

The first thing to check is which grades are covered. School Autonomous Time does not apply to grades 1-2 of elementary school. This period targets grades 3 through 6, and each school decides for itself how to place it among those grades in line with the grade-band rollout schedule. The 3rd-4th grade band began in the 2025 school year and the 5th-6th grade band begins in 2026, alongside the new curriculum, so as of this year the period is already settling into 3rd-4th grade classrooms while it is just getting started for 5th-6th graders.

Where the Hours Come From — About One Week Per Semester, Format Left to the Principal

Creating School Autonomous Time does not mean the total number of school days increases. Based on the standard 34 instructional weeks per year, schools are guided to set aside about one week's worth of class time per semester drawn from subject-area and creative experiential activity hours, and depending on the school's circumstances this can add up to roughly a maximum of 64 hours at the elementary level. However, the exact hours and the operating format — spread out weekly, concentrated in a specific period, or a mix of both — are left to the principal's discretion, including which grade, which semester, and how many times (up to two per semester), so this can vary from school to school.

Examples of Subjects Offered by Grade

Example course titles by grade have been introduced in materials distributed by education offices for reference. For 3rd grade, examples include community-linked ecology and digital literacy basics; for 4th grade, a sustainable future and learning about our town; for 5th grade, community and citizenship and exploring local culture; and for 6th grade, artificial intelligence and robots, among others. These are only reference examples, however, and are not designated subjects that schools must follow. What the period is actually named is decided differently at each school, so it is not unusual for a completely different subject name — one not on this list — to show up on your child's timetable.

What It Means That Every School Differs

The core point of School Autonomous Time is that it is not a nationally uniform subject. Even in the same region and the same grade, the subject name on the timetable and what is actually taught can differ between schools, and the timing can differ too — some schools spread it out a little each week, while others concentrate it into a specific week as a project. Comparing timetables with a child at a nearby school might raise the question, "why doesn't our school have this," but nothing has been left out — the difference exists because the period was designed from the start to be arranged differently at each school.

Where Parents Can Check — the School's Curriculum Plan

What name your child's school has given this period, and when it runs, can be found in the annual curriculum plan posted on the school website. It is often posted together at the start of a new semester, so it is worth watching for it in a home-school newsletter or a website notice. If you cannot find it in the plan, asking the homeroom teacher directly is the faster route. Because this is not a period you can track through a textbook the way you can with Korean or English, if parents do not check on it first, a child can go through an entire semester without anyone noticing what was actually learned.

Steps to Follow

① Check whether your child's grade falls under the 2022 Revised Curriculum — the 3rd-4th grade band from the 2025 school year, the 5th-6th grade band from 2026. ② Remember that grades 1-2 are not covered by School Autonomous Time. ③ Keep in mind that the hours are secured on the basis of about one week per semester, and the operating format is left to the principal's discretion. ④ Look up the actual subject name and schedule in the school's curriculum plan on its website. ⑤ Confirm anything unclear directly at a homeroom consultation or a parents' general meeting. For how to read elementary subject hours by grade, 1st grade Korean class hours and Hangeul literacy time and the structure behind English starting in 3rd grade are worth reading together, and for how the same system applies in middle school, you can continue with why 2nd-grade middle schoolers are getting School Autonomous Time.