Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education Holds Workshop for Democratic Citizenship Education Officers

Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education held the "2021 Second Half Democratic Citizenship Education Officer Workshop" on the 7th at the Mokpo Shangri-La Hotel. Photo by Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] On the 7th, the Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education held the ‘2021 Second Half Democratic Citizenship Education Officers Workshop’ at the Mokpo Shangri-La Hotel, attended by 26 officers in charge of democratic citizenship education from education support offices.

The workshop featured a special lecture titled ‘Directions and Tasks for Revitalizing School Democratic Citizenship Education’ by Lee Ssang-cheol, head of the Elementary and Secondary Education Research Division at the Korea Educational Development Institute, followed by an overview of the second half’s major tasks by the Democratic Citizenship Life Education and Democratic Citizenship Education teams, and sharing of the current status of democratic citizenship education promotion by education support offices.

In his lecture, Head Lee proposed the following tasks for revitalizing school democratic citizenship education: ▲operating a competency-centered democratic citizenship education curriculum based on the autonomy of individual schools ▲educational principles that actively reflect social phenomena in lessons ▲student-centered open class principles ▲transition to process-centered evaluation.

He emphasized, “Above all, creating a democratic school culture where students can practically participate in school management is the challenge we need to solve.”

He then discussed support measures for participation in the ‘School Democracy Index Diagnosis’ to be conducted in all schools across Jeonnam next month, and the establishment of the Jeonnam School Autonomy Ordinance, which enables educational stakeholders to participate in democratic decision-making processes through the formation of ‘school autonomous bodies (student councils, faculty councils, parent associations).’

Additionally, they explored cases of operating democratic citizenship education curricula through democratic citizenship schools, announced plans to distribute the ‘Namdo Democratic Peace Trail’ editions for Yeosu, Gangjin, and Jangseong, shared the status of student union operations at education support offices, discussed ways to revitalize student autonomous activities, and sought measures to promote peace and human rights education linked to the Yeosun October 19 Incident.

Lee Byung-sam, head of the Democratic Citizenship Life Education Division, stated, “Due to COVID-19, competencies as democratic citizens such as community and solidarity are being emphasized more than ever,” adding, “We will actively support school sites so that Jeonnam students can experience social and personal well-being and grow into ‘citizens’ who pursue and practice civic values of autonomy, respect, and solidarity.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.