Ulsan Office of Education Establishes Foundation for Educational City Ulsan... Announces Major Achievements of the Year

Selected as Pilot Area for Education Development Zone, Expansion of Basic Academic Achievement Guarantee Project

Reduction of Kindergarten Parents' Fees and Opening of Vocational Education Complex Center

The Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education (Superintendent Cheon Chang-su) established itself as the nation's top-level education office in 2024 by achieving results across various fields such as educational innovation, educational welfare, and laying the foundation for future education.

The Ulsan Office of Education takes time to review the major achievements of the year and reflect on their significance.

In the field of educational innovation, it was selected in the Ministry of Education’s “Education Development Special Zone Pilot Area Designation Contest,” receiving special grants ranging from 3 billion to 10 billion KRW over three years and enjoying various benefits such as regulatory improvements.

The Education Development Special Zone is a system where local governments, education offices, universities, regional companies, and local public institutions organically cooperate and support each other to nurture local talent and create settlement conditions.

With the selection as a pilot area for the Education Development Special Zone, the Ulsan Office of Education can accelerate efforts to nurture local talent and establish settlement conditions.

Starting this year, the basic academic support project has been unified under the Ulsan Basic Academic Support Center, operating a three-stage learning safety net?“within regular classes, inside schools, and outside schools”?tailored to students’ learning levels and needs.

To provide immediate support within regular classes, the one-class two-teacher system (co-teacher system), which had been operated in elementary schools since 2023, was expanded to 10 middle schools. The Cha-eum Teacher system was also expanded to 11 elementary schools to offer more detailed guidance to individual students.

For customized support inside schools, programs such as the Responsible Education Grade System for 3rd graders in elementary and 1st graders in middle school, diversification of the Dudream School program, and development and distribution of the Basic Academic Stepping Stone program were promoted to provide tailored learning support matching students’ levels and needs.

In cooperation with specialized support institutions outside schools, in-depth diagnosis and treatment were provided for students with complex problems. The number of specialized support institutions in educationally marginalized areas was expanded to 31, offering more thorough support to students in these regions.

The city education office conducted the nation’s first comprehensive survey of all elementary, middle, and high school students for the Ulsan Education Longitudinal Study.

To comprehensively understand the growth and development of Ulsan students and establish student-tailored education policies based on this, the “Ulsan Education Longitudinal Study” has been underway for 10 years starting this year.

This is significant as the nation’s first full survey targeting all students in elementary, middle, and high schools. Starting with 4th graders in elementary school in 2024, the survey will be conducted across three school districts targeting 1st graders in middle school in 2025 and 1st graders in high school in 2026.

The Ulsan Education Longitudinal Study will collect data across various domains, including student competencies, to be used in guiding school education support and policy formulation. Last month, the first main survey was completed, targeting about 23,000 people including 4th-grade elementary students, parents, teachers, and school administrators in Ulsan.

The city education office also significantly reduced the burden of kindergarten fees for parents in the Ulsan area, achieving the largest reduction nationwide and easing educational expenses.

This year, the average parental burden for kindergarten in Ulsan was 25,040 KRW per child (779 KRW for public kindergartens and 52,410 KRW for private kindergartens), a 62% decrease from last year, marking the lowest level nationwide. Last year, the parental burden was 3,353 KRW per child for public kindergartens and 130,752 KRW for private kindergartens, averaging 65,913 KRW.

The parental burden refers to the amount excluding government subsidies and includes after-school program fees and specialized activity fees.

Since September last year, the Ulsan Office of Education has provided free education fees for 5-year-old children attending private kindergartens and additional educational support for 5-year-olds attending public kindergartens.

This year, the free education support for private kindergartens was expanded to include 4-year-olds, and additional educational support was provided for 4-year-olds attending public kindergartens. Next year, the free education support for private kindergartens will be extended to 3-year-olds.

Since 2014, the Ulsan Office of Education has maintained the lowest dropout rate nationwide for 10 consecutive years, supporting students to continue their studies without leaving school.

According to the Ministry of Education’s “2024 Basic Education Statistics,” last year, the dropout rate for elementary, middle, and high school students in Ulsan was 0.64%, and the dropout rate due to maladjustment was 0.37%, both among the lowest nationwide.

The “dropout rate due to maladjustment” refers to the proportion of students who dropped out due to school maladjustment reasons, excluding those who dropped out due to illness or overseas departure (postponement, exemption) from the total number of dropouts.

Ulsan’s overall dropout rate (0.62%) and dropout rate due to maladjustment (0.35%) are significantly lower than the national average dropout rate (1.0%) and dropout rate due to maladjustment (0.6%).

The dropout rate for high school students was also 1.25%, 0.65 percentage points lower than the national average of 1.9%, marking the lowest rate nationwide.

Investment in future education was also not spared.

In September, the Ulsan Vocational Education Complex Center, the nation’s first vocational education hub, was opened to establish a foundation for strengthening students’ vocational competencies. The center was established within Ulsan Technical High School with four above-ground floors and a total floor area of 3,864㎡, funded with 10 billion KRW from the Ministry of Education’s “New Industry Sector Regional Vocational Education Cooperation System Establishment” project and 8 billion KRW from the education office’s own budget.

The Employment Support Center, previously located within the Ulsan Education Research Information Institute, was relocated to create a system that integrates technical education and employment support. The center’s advanced practice rooms introduced industry-specific equipment to enhance on-site adaptability for employment in related fields.

The city education office also embarked on developing Ulsan-style AI teaching and learning tools.

In November, the Ulsan Office of Education developed “Woori-ai (AI) Teaching and Learning Service,” an AI teaching and learning tool tailored to provide optimized learning experiences according to individual students’ learning levels and needs.

“Woori-ai (AI)” is a smart tool that provides answers to questions and helps solve difficult problems. Students can immediately ask questions and receive help. Teachers gain various ideas to design effective lessons and are supported to enhance students’ learning interest and foster creative thinking using generative AI technology.

This service was developed with direct teacher participation for the first time nationwide and offers optimized learning experiences tailored to individual students’ learning levels and needs. It includes 101 types of lesson models with questions across various subjects such as Korean, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, and English.

The Ulsan Office of Education also boasts top-tier integrity and educational administrative services nationwide.

In the 2023 Comprehensive Integrity Evaluation of Public Institutions, it was the only one among 17 metropolitan and provincial education offices to receive second grade in comprehensive integrity, perceived integrity, and integrity effort for two consecutive years. With no education office receiving first grade, it maintains top-tier integrity nationwide.

The education office strives to eradicate educational corruption and implement transparent and honest educational administration by strengthening punishment for corruption and establishing prevention systems. As a result of these efforts, it has consistently achieved excellent results in integrity evaluations since 2019 and is recognized as the nation’s most honest education office.

It also achieved remarkable results in administrative services, contributing to citizen convenience by earning the highest grade for two consecutive years in the “2023 Comprehensive Civil Service Evaluation” jointly conducted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.

In the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s “Comprehensive Information Disclosure Evaluation,” it received perfect scores in 6 out of 12 indicators, realizing transparent administration. It was also selected as an excellent education office for three consecutive years in the Ministry of Education’s local education finance analysis, recognizing its efficient financial management capabilities.

It won the grand prize at the “2024 Government Innovation Best Practices Competition in Education.” In this competition hosted by the Ministry of Education to discover outstanding cases aligned with the three major government innovation strategies, the Ulsan Office of Education participated in the “Government Preparing for the Future” category with the theme “The First Step Toward a Sustainable Future, Gi·Dae·Hae (Responding to the Climate Crisis) ~ Ulsan Climate Crisis Response Education Center,” earning recognition for its achievements.

The Ulsan Office of Education also ranked first nationwide for three consecutive years in school accounting execution rates.

In the 2023 school accounting financial execution field, the Ulsan Office of Education achieved first place nationwide for three consecutive years since the 2021 academic year. The financial execution rate for 244 schools in the 2023 academic year (as of July 15, Ministry of Education data) was 99.53%, exceeding the Ministry of Education’s target by 1.53 percentage points, proving it is at the highest level nationwide.

These achievements resulted in performance bonuses totaling 3 billion KRW, including 5 billion KRW in special education account financial execution bonuses, 1 billion KRW in first-half consumption and investment financial execution bonuses, and 1 billion KRW in net surplus forecast bonuses, securing a total of 10 billion KRW in performance bonuses.

The Ulsan Office of Education was able to achieve these results through various efforts such as establishing unit school financial execution management plans, promoting rapid execution, focusing on projects expected to have excessive carryover and non-execution, conducting preliminary settlement and execution rate checks, and providing on-site inspections and consultation support for school accounting.