Hayunsoo, Superintendent of Busan Metropolitan Office of Education, held a New Year's press conference and announced the key tasks for Busan education in 2023.
[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education is designating this year as the inaugural year for "Character-Based Academic Achievement Enhancement," "Digital-Based Future Education," and "Restoration of Hope Ladder Education," and is promoting various policies.
Superintendent Ha Yun-su held a 2023 New Year's press conference at 11 a.m. on the 4th in the briefing room of the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education and announced the key tasks for Busan education this year.
Superintendent Ha explained that the five major focus tasks for this year are set as "academic achievement enhancement," "character education," "future education," "elimination of educational gaps and educational welfare," and "safety and communication," and that major policies will be promoted for each focus task.
First, the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education will faithfully fulfill the fundamental responsibility of public education by establishing a system for properly teaching and learning to enhance academic achievement.
To guarantee basic academic skills and enhance academic achievement, the Busan Office of Education will provide students with multifaceted opportunities for academic correction based on data, centered on the "Busan Academic Development Institute," which opened last year.
It will develop the nation's first "Busan Academic Achievement Support System (BASS)" utilizing big data and artificial intelligence.
This system supports personalized learning tailored to each student's learning level based on data, provides AI-generated questions, explanations, and course recommendations, and helps students improve their academic achievement by linking with learning mentoring for self-directed learning and basic academic support instructor systems.
The IB research schools, which will be fully introduced this year, are planned to be operated as "candidate schools" in the second half of this year according to each school's preparation status.
The high school credit system, which will be fully implemented in 2025, will be supported for smooth field adaptation by preparing substantial operation plans through the "Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Education Office Business Agreement" signed last year.
The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education plans to conduct character education naturally integrated into all curricula.
The Office of Education operates the "Morning Change (體仁智)" project, which provides "face-to-face morning physical activities" for character education and physical and brain development.
This year, two research schools and 50 leading schools will be operated, with leading schools being recruited throughout the year. The goal is to introduce this to all schools by 2025.
The Student Education Center will be transformed into the "Student Character Education Center" to conduct experience-based character education. Programs involving families, such as the "Family Healing Character Camp" and "Healing Barefoot Walking" in nature, will also be operated.
An integrated character education platform "Change (體仁智)" accessible anytime and anywhere by anyone will be established to operate comprehensive and systematic activity- and practice-centered character education.
The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education will also focus on strengthening students' digital future competencies and reforming the specialized high school system to nurture talents tailored to the future society.
The Busan Office of Education will proactively expand the hours of SW·AI education curricula, providing more than 17 hours of SW·AI education per grade for elementary school grades 3 to 6.
In 2024, the SW·AI education curriculum hours for elementary school grades 1 to 2 will be organized to exceed 17 hours. For middle and high schools, the number of hours for information-related subject classes will also be expanded to more than 68 hours.
The specialized high school system in the western Busan area will be reorganized into the space and aviation fields, and reforms will also be carried out for specialized high schools linked to regional industry demands such as power and non-power nuclear, semiconductors, fisheries and shipping, and e-sports.
To expand the employment base for vocational high school students, a "Job Discovery Team" in the Vocational Education Innovation Zone will also be operated.
Various educational welfare and educational gap elimination policies will be implemented so that students' efforts alone can be the only condition to achieve their dreams.
The Busan Office of Education will launch the "Interregional Educational Gap Elimination Promotion Team," a general organization that will comprehensively perform educational gap elimination tasks, in March.
The Promotion Team plans to devise ways to eliminate educational gaps through public education by strengthening learning capabilities and educational power in old downtown areas such as Sasang-gu and Yeongdo-gu, supporting the renovation of aging school facilities, and promoting the establishment of schools for balanced educational development.
By the first half of 2024, the establishment of the "(tentative name) Busan Scholarship Foundation" will also be pursued. The foundation is planned to be established as a public interest corporation funded by local governments and will support vulnerable students and out-of-school youth.
The "(tentative name) Busan Special Education Center" will also be established, aiming to open in March 2026. The education center, with a building area of 1,700㎡ and four floors, will be created as an open complex cultural space for establishing a culture of empathy for disabilities and a special (inclusive) education experience center.
In addition, efforts will be made to revise the "Out-of-School Youth Education Support Ordinance," support learning preparation materials before admission for vulnerable groups, support graduation album costs for vulnerable groups, produce school commute safety maps, improve school commute safety routes, introduce a CPR education completion system, establish the "Busan Student Health Promotion Center," and establish the "Busan Parent Education Center."
Ha Yun-su, Superintendent of Busan Metropolitan Office of Education, said, "We are now ready to fully implement the policies promised to the education family and the citizens of Busan," adding, "We will do our best to nurture our children into proud talents who will lead the future, equipped with both competence and character."
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