This article analyses and compares the motivations and (re)actions of the education authorities and parents in South Korea and mainland China towards schooling reform. The focus is on two policy initiatives -- Free Semester Programme in South Korea and Comprehensive Practical Activity Curriculum in China. Applying the theoretical constructs of sensemaking and sensegiving, it is contended that the policy actors in both countries mutually influence each other in their calculated responses to prevailing educational challenges and policy measures. The examples of South Korea and China illuminate the power of resources, processes and meanings as an integral part of sensegiving and sensemaking.