[Full Text] New Year's Address by Lim Tae-hee, Gyeonggi-do Superintendent of Education

Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education is making a fresh start as the ‘Future Education Office’

Dear respected members of the Gyeonggi education family!

The new year of 2025, the Year of Eulsa, has dawned.

Wishing you a happy new year

and hoping all your wishes come true.

Gyeonggi education has prepared future education one step ahead of the times.

In 2023, we completed a useful blueprint.

In 2024, we successfully finished solid construction.

In 2025, the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education

will make a fresh start as the ‘Future Education Office.’

‘Future Education Office’

represents the will to create a beautiful future for each individual student.

We will provide multidimensional support

so that each person’s potential and capabilities

can grow boundlessly.

Instead of education that ranks and separates winners and losers,

we will create 100 success models for 100 students.

○ The center and starting point of Gyeonggi future education is the school

‘Gyeonggi Future Education Office’

has established and operates the ‘Gyeonggi Future Education Platform,’

which expands the realm of public education beyond the school.

Public education sector 1 is

the ‘school’ preparing for the future together with teachers.

Teachers focus on cultivating basic character and foundational competencies

necessary for students’ future preparation within the curriculum.

Teachers’ educational activities are fully supported through the advancement of high learning.

Public education sector 2 is

the ‘Gyeonggi Shared School’ preparing for the future together with the local community.

By linking the diverse educational capabilities of the local community with schools,

we provide customized education to each student.

Public education sector 3 is

the ‘Gyeonggi Online School’ preparing for the future together with AI teachers.

Using artificial intelligence (AI) technology,

we help anyone receive quality education anytime and anywhere without time and space constraints.

Through various variations and harmonies of schools, Gyeonggi Shared Schools, and Gyeonggi Online Schools,

the Gyeonggi Future Education Platform is completed.

Teachers’ roles are crucial for the expansion of public education through this platform.

We will support teachers, who are the best educational content prosumers and the future of Gyeonggi education,

to grow through research and collaboration.

○ Organizational restructuring tailored to the Gyeonggi Future Education Platform

To steadily promote the Gyeonggi Future Education Platform

and systematically support educational activities,

an appropriate organizational system must be established simultaneously.

Currently, each department of the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education and the 25 education support offices

are not organized according to the sectors of education,

which may cause difficulties in closely supporting school sites.

In the new year of 2025, we will reorganize the provincial office and education support offices

to support schools, Gyeonggi Shared Schools, and Gyeonggi Online Schools

in line with the Gyeonggi Future Education Platform.

Along with organizational restructuring and the digital transformation of educational administration,

we will establish a data-driven educational administration system,

improve school tasks, and strengthen support for school educational activities.

Through this, each sector’s organization will cooperate organically

and establish a solid system to actively support educational sites.

○ Gyeonggi future education expanding globally

The ‘2024 UNESCO International Forum on the Future of Education’ held last December

was a new experience where the whole world united through ‘education.’

More than 2,800 education experts from 56 countries around the world

experienced the realization of the discourse from the ‘UNESCO Report on the Future of Education’ published in 2021,

which includes cooperation and solidarity, and education across different times and spaces,

in the Gyeonggi education field,

and expressed amazement and admiration.

The forum was a time to confirm the potential and competitiveness of Gyeonggi education.

It gave us confidence that the capabilities of the Gyeonggi education family

have grown to a world-class level.

The competitiveness of Gyeonggi education has grown through autonomy and balance.

In 2025, the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education

will foster a culture where students, teachers, schools, and local communities

recognize each other’s autonomy and cooperate.

We will further activate discussion education that realizes the values of empathy, inclusion, and balance

to support the harmonious growth of the educational community.

Furthermore, Gyeonggi education will actively play a role

in leading global education beyond being the standard of education in the Republic of Korea.

○ Reform of the college entrance system to realize the essence of education

Under the motto of ‘Autonomy, Balance, and Future,’

the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education is striving

to cultivate future competencies such as self-directedness, problem-solving ability, and creativity.

However, this effort inevitably stops before the barrier called ‘college entrance exams.’

We must quickly break away from the outdated and obsolete college entrance system

that evaluates how much knowledge students memorize

and forces them to learn the skill of choosing the correct answer from options.

Also, the current structure where early childhood, elementary, and secondary education all culminate in college entrance exams,

and the current College Scholastic Ability Test that ranks students by scores,

cannot open a bright and beautiful future for our students.

Now, the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education intends to take the lead in college entrance reform.

We will closely cooperate with educational authorities

to discuss college entrance screening methods and

college entrance policy reforms that meet the demands of the times.

We will promptly prepare and present a plan to introduce a fair evaluation system recognized by everyone,

gaining the trust of students, parents, universities, and all educational stakeholders.

Dear beloved members of the Gyeonggi education family!

Through the UNESCO International Forum on the Future of Education,

Gyeonggi education has gained confidence and pride

that it is leading global education.

Gyeonggi education has sufficient capabilities

to bring about change with the power of the Gyeonggi education family alone.

Precious students who will be the protagonists of the future,

teachers dedicated to guiding students,

and staff and parents who firmly support them!

We hope that all members of the Gyeonggi education family will take ownership

and join together on the journey to dismantle the fortress of education built so far

and pave a new path toward future education.

We have the responsibility to create

a world where students live in a brighter, more just, and more peaceful society than the past,

so they can envision a more beautiful future.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education takes its first step as the ‘Future Education Office’

together with the Gyeonggi education family.

Please join us in pooling our strength.

On the hopeful occasion of the new year 2025,

wishing all members of the Gyeonggi education family good health

and abundant happiness.

2025. 1. 1.