Ulsan Office of Education Expands Scale and Activity Areas of Education Welfare Connection Team

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Duyul] The Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education has expanded the scale of this year's Education Welfare Connection Team from 40 to 60 members and broadened the activity fields from three areas?learning, counseling, and care?to six by adding arts, physical education, and career.

The Education Welfare Connection Team is a student-tailored integrated support project that pairs students facing economic, psychological, and academic difficulties one-on-one, providing customized programs needed by the students and connecting them to advanced education welfare programs when necessary.

The project was piloted in 2021 in the Buk-gu area of Ulsan and was expanded to cover the entire Ulsan region last year.

Last year, the 40 members of the Education Welfare Connection Team operated throughout Ulsan, meeting 48 vulnerable students 746 times to provide personalized support in learning, counseling, and care.

As a result, satisfaction surveys showed positive evaluations with 97% from the Education Welfare Connection Team members, 100% from the connected students, and 97% from recommending school staff.

Reasons for positive responses included ‘emotional empathy’ cited by the Connection Team members and ‘variety of experiential activity opportunities’ by the connected students. Notably, pre- and post-tests for the connected students confirmed significant improvements in self-efficacy and school life adaptation.

Ulsan Office of Education.

Based on last year’s achievements, the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education has expanded the scale and activity fields of the Education Welfare Connection Team this year to strengthen customized support.

To enhance the student-tailored support capabilities of this year’s Education Welfare Connection Team members, various training programs such as expert counseling training, learning guidance methods training, customized small group training, and case sharing will be operated.

To support the customized growth of connected students, ecological play experiential activities will be provided for lower-grade elementary students, and career exploration activities will be supported for upper-grade elementary and middle school students.

The Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education will recruit the 2023 Education Welfare Connection Team from the 25th of this month until the 8th of next month. The activity period is from March this year to February next year.

Any Ulsan citizen wishing to participate in one-on-one customized activities for students in need can apply. Applicants can download the application form from the city education office website and submit it either by visiting in person or via email.