Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education Accelerates Efforts to Promote Multicultural Education

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 19th that it will continue to promote multicultural education this year, following last year.

The number of multicultural students in Gwangju has been increasing by more than 500 each year, with 3,040 students in 2018 and 3,553 last year.

In particular, the Gwangju Office of Education held the "1st Gwangju Metropolitan Multicultural Education Promotion Committee" on the 16th, deliberated and approved the "2020 Multicultural Education Support Plan (draft)," and then informed all schools and affiliated institutions in Gwangju of the "2020 Multicultural Education Support Plan."

To enhance multicultural sensitivity among school members and improve expertise in multicultural education, the target audience for multicultural education training has been expanded from homeroom teachers of multicultural students to all teachers.

Now, all teachers must complete more than 15 hours of multicultural education training over three years. Additionally, two hours of multicultural-related content have been included in the mandatory training courses for school staff.

To create a multicultural-friendly educational environment and provide customized educational support for multicultural students, 24 multicultural education policy schools will be operated.

Korean language classes increased from 4 schools with 7 classes last year to 9 classes, and one class will be introduced for the first time in kindergartens.

There will be 11 kindergartens and 7 elementary and secondary policy schools operated respectively, and one research school will be operated.

To provide customized educational support for multicultural students, teacher mentoring tailored for 1st and 2nd grade elementary students will be expanded to prevent learning delays, and interpretation services will be provided during emotional and psychological counseling.

The "Stepping Stone Course," a pre-adaptation education program for multicultural students expected to enter elementary school, will also be expanded to three schools.

Existing support projects will continue.

University student mentoring will be expanded to include kindergarten children starting this year, and services such as visiting Korean language education, bilingual speaking contests, language interpretation and translation services, enrollment and transfer support, visiting multicultural education, operation of multicultural education websites, contests for excellent multicultural education cases, and distribution of multicultural education materials will also be sustained.

Oh Kyungmi, Director of Democratic Citizenship Education at the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education, said, "In response to a multicultural society, it is increasingly necessary to enhance multicultural sensitivity across the entire educational community to create a healthy school culture where diversity is respected," and added, "We will continue to support customized education to strengthen the capabilities of multicultural students with diverse characteristics."