Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education Live Broadcast of the '2020 Student Leadership National Forum'

Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education live-streamed the '2020 Student Leadership National Forum' on YouTube. Photo by Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] The Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education announced on the 30th that the '2020 Student Autonomy National Forum,' attended by over 200 teachers from elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide, was live-streamed on YouTube on the 29th.

Hosted by the Ministry of Education and organized by the Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education, this forum, themed 'Education 2030 Future Education and Competencies,' focused on student agency and ways to enhance student autonomy, which are key topics addressed by the OECD. The event included panel discussions and subgroup discussions conducted via ZOOM.

The panel discussion began with a video presentation titled 'Cases of Student Autonomy Manifestation' by Choi Yoon-seo, a student at Jeonnam Foreign Language High School, followed by thematic presentations on ▲ the meaning of student autonomy (Professor Shin Cheol-gyun, Kangwon National University) ▲ democratic citizenship education and student autonomy (President Lee Hyuk-gyu, Cheongju National University of Education) ▲ future education and student autonomy (Researcher Jo Yoon-jung, Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education Research Institute) ▲ educational environments where student autonomy manifests and the role of teachers (Senior Teacher Yoo Han-sang, Daejeon Gao High School).

Subsequently, participants were divided by school level (elementary, middle, high) and subgroup (curricular, extracurricular, blended) into nine ZOOM rooms, where the 'National Democratic Citizenship Education Field Support Group' facilitated the subgroup discussions as moderators.

A teacher who moderated one of the subgroup discussions said, “The successful completion of this large-scale online forum, comparable to an on-site forum, was possible because we proactively prepared for the rapidly advancing future educational environment accelerated by COVID-19.”

Superintendent Jang Seok-woong stated, “It is our duty and the role of education to support our children living in the present to have the strength to lead their own lives in the future. I hope that the diverse opinions discussed in the two forums will serve as nourishment to manifest the latent student autonomy and further act as a catalyst to bring out teacher autonomy.”