The Student Human Rights Ordinance (SHRO) constitutes a major normative reform in South Korean education, aiming to institutionalize students’ dignity and autonomy, yet its practical effects remain contested. Exploiting staggered adoption across six metropolitan and provincial jurisdictions, this study estimates the causal impact of the SHRO using a difference-in-differences design that accounts for treatment heterogeneity. Analyzing administrative panel data and nationwide surveys, we find no evidence that the ordinance improved student outcomes. Instead, SHRO adoption is associated with deteriorations in student well-being, including increased physical and mental health problems, and suggestive declines in academic proficiency among lower-performing high school students. Moreover, reported violations of teachers’ rights increased significantly, indicating reduced institutional efficiency. These unintended effects appear driven by administrative overload, ambiguous implementation, and weakened teacher discretion, highlighting the need for complementary structural reforms to align student rights protection with effective educational practice.
AcemogluD.JacksonM. O. (2017). Social norms and the enforcement of laws. Journal of the European Economic Association, 15(2), 245–295.
2.
AstorR. A.BenbenishtyR.CappG. P.WatsonK. R.WuC.McMahonS. D.WorrellF. C.ReddyL. A.MartinezA.EspelageD. L.AndermanE. M. (2024). How school policies, strategies, and relational factors contribute to teacher victimization and school safety. Journal of Community Psychology, 52(1), 39–57.
3.
BabcockP. (2009). The rational adolescent: Discipline policies, lawsuits, and skill acquisition. Economics of Education Review, 28(5), 551–560.
4.
BaeH.ChinM. (2017). Changes in the use of evening time and compulsory evening study time among high-school students after the enactment of the students’ human-rights ordinance. Studies on Korean Youth, 28(2), 101–130.
5.
BalletK.KelchtermansG. (2009). Struggling with workload: Primary teachers’ experience of intensification. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(8), 1150–1157.
6.
BanduraA. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1–26.
7.
BeckerG. S. (1968). Crime and punishment: An economic approach. Journal of Political Economy, 76(2), 169–217.
8.
Ben-AriehA.Attar-SchwartzS. (2013). An ecological approach to children’s rights and participation: Interrelationships and correlates of rights in different ecological systems. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 83(1), 94–106.
9.
BenabouR.TiroleJ. (2026). Laws and norms. Journal of Political Economy, 134(2), 59.
10.
BernsteinB. (1975). Class and pedagogies: Visible and invisible. Educational Studies, 1(1), 23–41.
11.
BorusyakK.JaravelX.SpiessJ. (2024). Revisiting event-study designs: Robust and efficient estimation. Review of Economic Studies, 91(6), 3253–3285.
12.
CallawayB.Sant’AnnaP. H. (2021). Difference-in-differences with multiple time periods. Journal of Econometrics, 225(2), 200–230.
13.
CampbellJ. W. (2023). Public participation and trust in government: Results from a vignette experiment. Journal of Policy Studies, 38(2), 23–31.
14.
ChoiJ.FaucherE.NewnamM.HanS. (2024). Student-to-teacher victimization and its negative impact on teaching approaches: Applying propensity score matching. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 39(21–22), 4387–4414.
15.
CoppockV.Gillett-SwanJ. K. (2016). Children’s rights in a 21st-century digital world: Exploring opportunities and tensions. Global Studies of Childhood, 6(4), 369–375.
16.
CovellK.HoweR. B. (2001). Moral education through the 3 Rs: Rights, respect and responsibility. Journal of Moral Education, 30(1), 29–41.
17.
DatnowA. (2020). The role of teachers in educational reform: A 20-year perspective. Journal of Educational Change, 21(3), 431–441.
18.
DevineD. (2002). Children’s citizenship and the structuring of adult-child relations in the primary school. Childhood, 9(3), 303–320.
19.
DixonR.NussbaumM. C. (2012). Children’s rights and the capabilities approach: The question of special priority. Cornell Law Review, 97(3), 549–594.
20.
DurlakJ. A.WeissbergR. P.PachanM. (2010). A meta-analysis of after-school programs that seek to promote personal and social skills in children and adolescents. American Journal of Community Psychology, 45(3), 294–309.
21.
EriksonE. H. (1950). Childhood and Society. W. W. Norton & Company.
22.
FairhallN.WoodsK. (2021). Children’s views on children’s rights: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Children’s Rights, 29(4), 835–871.
23.
FaubertB. (2012). A literature review of school practices to overcome school failure. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 68, OECD Publishing, Paris.
24.
FelstinerW. L. F.AbelR. L.SaratA. (1980). The emergence and transformation of disputes: Naming, blaming, claiming. Law & Society Review, 15(3–4), 631–654.
25.
FieldingM. (2004). Transformative approaches to student voice: Theoretical underpinnings, recalcitrant realities. British Educational Research Journal, 30(2), 295–311.
26.
FoucaultM. (1979). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Random House.
27.
FriedmanL. M. (1994). Is there a modern legal culture?Ratio Juris, 7(2), 117–131.
28.
GallagherM. (2008). Power is not an evil: Rethinking power in participatory methods. Children’s Geographies, 6(2), 137–150.
29.
GershoffE. T.Grogan-KaylorA. (2016). Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses. Journal of Family Psychology, 30(4), 453–469.
30.
GiddensA. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. University of California Press.
31.
GiesingerJ. (2019). Children, rights, and powers. International Journal of Children’s Rights, 27(2), 251–265.
32.
GirouxH. (1983). Theories of reproduction and resistance in the new sociology of education: A critical analysis. Harvard Educational Review, 53(3), 257–293.
33.
Goodman-BaconA. (2021). Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing. Journal of Econometrics, 225(2), 254–277.
34.
HammarbergT. (1990). The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and how to make it work. Human Rights Quarterly, 12(1), 97–105.
35.
HerdP.MoynihanD. P. (2018). Administrative burden: Policymaking by other means. Russell Sage Foundation.
36.
HodgesR.DochenC. W.JoyD. (2001). Increasing students’ success: When supplemental instruction becomes mandatory. Journal of College Reading and Learning, 31(2), 143–156.
37.
HolbenD. M.ZirkelP. A.CaskieG. I. (2009). Teacher fear of litigation for disciplinary actions. Journal of School Leadership, 19(5), 559–585.
38.
JacksonP. (1968). Life in classrooms. Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
39.
JenningsP. A.GreenbergM. T. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 79(1), 491–525.
40.
JensenS. S. (2023). The timing of parental unemployment and children’s academic achievement. Advances in Life Course Research, 57, 100557.
41.
JeongS.JeongD. (2020). Analysis of the relationship between the Korean Student Human-Rights Ordinance and school violence in middle school. The Journal of Educational Administration, 38(2), 89–112.
42.
JerrimJ.Lopez-AgudoL. A.Marcenaro-GutierrezO. D. (2025). Does within-school between-class ability grouping harm the educational outcomes of socio-economically disadvantaged children?International evidence. European Sociological Review, 41(5), 722–736.
43.
JungH.KangC. (2015). Effects of the Korean Student Human Rights Ordinance on student behavior: Indulgent teaching and student responses. Korean Journal of Labor Economics, 38(3), 97–130.
44.
KahneJ.BowyerB.MarshallJ.HodginE. (2022). Is responsiveness to student voice related to academic outcomes?American Journal of Education, 128(3), 389–415.
45.
KimK. (2019). Teachers’ administrative workload crowding out instructional activities. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 39(1), 31–49.
46.
KimS.LeeJ. (2010). Private tutoring and demand for education in South Korea. EconomicDevelopment and Cultural Change, 58(2), 259–296.
47.
KimY.ChoiS.ChunC.ParkS.KhangY.OhK. (2016). Data resource profile: The Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBS). International Journal of Epidemiology, 45(4), 1076–1076e.
48.
KohlbergL. (1963). The development of children’s orientations toward a moral order I. Sequence in the development of moral thought. Vita Humana, 6(1/2), 11–33.
49.
LaneT.NosenzoD.SondereggerS. (2023). Law and norms: Empirical evidence. American Economic Review, 113(5), 1255–1290.
50.
LipskyM. (1980). Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public service. Russell Sage Foundation.
51.
LundyL. (2007). Voice is not enough: Conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British Educational Research Journal, 33(6), 927–942.
52.
MatlandR. E. (1995). Synthesizing the implementation literature: The ambiguity-conflict model of policy implementation. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 5(2), 145–174.
53.
McAdamsR. H. (1997). The origin, development, and regulation of norms. Michigan Law Review, 96(2), 338–433.
54.
McAdamsR. H. (2015). The expressive powers of law: Theories and limits. Harvard University Press.
55.
McPhailL.ThornicroftG.GronholmP. C. (2024). Help-seeking processes related to targeted school-based mental health services: Systematic review. BMC Public Health, 24(1), 1217.
56.
MeyerJ. W.RowanB. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83(2), 340–363.
57.
MezeyN. (2001). Law as culture. Yale Journal of Law & Humanities, 13, 35–67.
58.
MitraD. L. (2004). The significance of students: Can increasing “student voice” in schools lead to gains in youth development?Teachers College Record, 106(4), 651–688.
59.
MoynihanD.HerdP.HarveyH. (2015). Administrative burden: Learning, psychological, and compliance costs in citizen–state interactions. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(1), 43–69.
60.
O’FarrellP.WilsonC.ShielG. (2023). Teachers’ perceptions of the barriers to assessment of mental health in schools with implications for educational policy: A systematic review. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(1), 262–282.
61.
OslerA.StarkeyH. (2006). Education for democratic citizenship: A review of research, policy and practice 1995–2005. Research Papers in Education, 21(4), 433–466.
62.
OstermanK. F. (2000). Students’ need for belonging in the school community. Review of Educational Research, 70(3), 323–367.
63.
OstromE. (2009). A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social-ecological systems. Science, 325(5939), 419–422.
64.
OstromE.WalkerJ.GardnerR. (1992). Covenants with and without a sword: Self-governance is possible. American Political Science Review, 86(2), 404–417.
65.
ParkH. (2021). Effects of enforcing the Student Human-Rights Ordinance on the school human-rights environment. Korean Journal of Sociology of Education, 31(1), 31–57.
66.
ParkH.KimH.HongY. (2017). Topic-modeling analysis of major social issues in the Student Human-Rights Ordinance. Asian Journal of Education, 18(4), 683–711.
67.
ParkV.DatnowA. (2017). Ability grouping and differentiated instruction in an era of data-driven decision making. American Journal of Education, 123(2), 281–306.
68.
PengS.HuangY. (2024). Teachers’ authoritarian leadership and students’ well-being: The role of emotional exhaustion and narcissism. BMC Psychology, 12(1), 590.
69.
PerryJ. L. (1996). Measuring public-service motivation: An assessment of construct reliability and validity. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 6(1), 5–22.
70.
Perry-HazanL. (2021). Students’ perceptions of their rights in school: A systematic review of international literature. Review of Educational Research, 91(6), 919–957.
71.
PiagetJ. (1932). The moral judgment of the child. Routledge.
72.
PicchioM.UbaldiM. (2024). Unemployment and health: A meta-analysis. Journal of Economic Surveys, 38(4), 1437–1472.
73.
PopkewitzT. S. (1988). Culture, pedagogy, and power: Issues in the production of values and colonization. Journal of Education, 170(2), 77–91.
74.
PoundR. (1910). Scope and purpose of sociological jurisprudence. Harvard Law Review, 24, 591–616.
75.
QuennerstedtA.MoodyZ. (2020). Educational children’s-rights research 1989–2019: Achievements, gaps, and prospects. International Journal of Children’s Rights, 28(1), 183–201.
76.
QuennerstedtA.QuennerstedtM. (2014). Researching children’s rights in education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 35(1), 115–132.
77.
ReynaertD.Bouverne-de-BieM.VandeveldeS. (2009). A review of children’s rights literature since the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Childhood, 16(4), 518–534.
78.
RoseN.O’MalleyP.ValverdeM. (2006). Governmentality. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 2(1), 83–104.
79.
RothJ.Sant’AnnaP. H.BilinskiA.PoeJ. (2023). What’s trending in difference-in-differences? A synthesis of the recent econometrics literature. Journal of Econometrics, 235(2), 2218–2244.
80.
RyanR. M.DeciE. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.
81.
SchimmelD.MilitelloM. (2007). Legal literacy for teachers: A neglected responsibility. Harvard Educational Review, 77(3), 257–284.
82.
SchneiderA.IngramH. (1993). Social construction of target populations: Implications for politics and policy. American Political Science Review, 87(2), 334–348.
83.
SewellW. H.Jr. (1992). A theory of structure: Duality, agency, and transformation. American Journal of Sociology, 98(1), 1–29.
84.
ShipanC. R.VoldenC. (2008). The mechanisms of policy diffusion. American Journal of Political Science, 52(4), 840–857.
85.
SunL.AbrahamS. (2021). Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects. Journal of Econometrics, 225(2), 175–199.
86.
SunsteinC. R. (1996). Social norms and social roles. Columbia Law Review, 96, 903–968.
87.
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969).
88.
TummersL. L.BekkersV.VinkE.MushenoM. (2015). Coping during public-service delivery: A systematic review. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(4), 1099–1126.
89.
United Nations. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child.
90.
UrinboyevR.WickenbergP.LeoU. (2016). Child rights, classroom and school management: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Children’s Rights, 24(3), 522–547.
91.
WarrenJ. M.BlountT. N.BelleG. (2024). Implementing effective school-based mental health services: A guide for school counselors. Professional School Counseling, 28(1), 1–11.
92.
ZemansF. K. (1983). Legal mobilization: The neglected role of the law in the political system. American Political Science Review, 77(3), 690–703.
