Fostering Future Citizens Through Reading... Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Introduces Seoul-Style Reading and Debate Program

Promotion of Solidarity and Cooperation Among High Schools, Education Offices, and Universities
Support for Project Expenses Using Existing Reading Education Budgets

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has unveiled a blueprint for a differentiated ‘Seoul-style In-depth Issue Reading and Debate Program,’ a new concept aimed at academic advancement through cooperation between high schools and universities.

On the morning of the 7th at 10 a.m., Seoul Superintendent of Education Cho Hee-yeon announced the ‘Seoul-style In-depth Issue Reading and Debate Program’ at a press conference held at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.

The reading and debate program is a co-growth initiative between high schools and universities designed to enhance high school students’ critical and logical thinking skills through exchanges with doctoral researchers in the Seoul area.

Superintendent Cho explained, “Through in-depth reading to identify issues and questions, and debates that express one’s own thoughts, this education aims to nurture future citizens who develop new imagination by acquiring wisdom of coexistence and mutual growth rather than competition.”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

◆ Collaboration System Between Secondary and Higher Education Institutions = The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education promotes solidarity and cooperation among individual schools (high schools), the education office, and universities (doctoral researchers) through the ‘Seoul-style In-depth Issue Reading and Debate Program’ using reading and debate as a medium. To this end, it supports matching between high schools and doctoral researchers. In high schools, teachers plan and operate programs within the curriculum reflecting school and regional characteristics, while doctoral researchers participate in student guidance based on their professional expertise in their fields.

Participating students experience deeply reading, debating, and writing about a single book together with their school teachers and doctoral researchers, thereby enhancing their critical and logical thinking skills, democratic citizenship, and further strengthening their career planning capabilities.

◆ Issue Reading and Debate Education That Sparks a Revolution in Thinking = The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education emphasizes issue debates as a distinguishing feature from other reading and debate education programs. To this end, it plans to carefully select and distribute about 100 recommended and reference books that inspire a revolution in thinking. Among these 100 books, the recommended list of 50 titles includes reasons for recommendation, issues, and key questions, which serve as the basis for in-depth reading and debate.

To select the recommended books, a ‘Recommended Book Selection Committee’ was formed by appointing 19 experts from various fields including humanities, arts, and sciences. The committee is co-chaired by Professor Song Joo-myeong of Hanshin University and Jeong Mi-seon, Reading and Debate Education Advisor at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, and consists of 9 university and professional subcommittee members and 8 high school teacher subcommittee members.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education expects that through collaboration between high school teachers and university doctoral researchers in operating in-depth issue reading and debate classes, it will overcome the limitations of fragmented reading and debate classes and achieve a higher-level new concept of academic advancement.

◆ Selection of Professional Doctoral Researchers and Operation Examples Provided = To this end, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has formed the ‘Seoul-style In-depth Issue Reading and Debate Leadership Group’ composed of doctoral degree holders or higher. Professional doctoral researchers will collaborate with teachers within the school curriculum to guide students. Approximately 200 doctoral researchers were initially selected through an open recruitment process, and those who complete a 10-hour competency enhancement training will be finally selected as members of the leadership group.

Additionally, the education office plans to provide various types of curriculum operation examples to help participating high schools run the program smoothly. To ensure stable and continuous operation linked to the high school curriculum, eight types of operation examples have been developed, including △Creative Experiential Activities (club-linked type) △Creative Experiential Activities (autonomous or career-linked type) △Standalone Subject-linked type △Integrated Subject-linked type △School Priority Project-linked type, among others.

◆ Customized Matching and Project Budget Support for Each School = Furthermore, reflecting requests from high schools wishing to operate the Seoul-style In-depth Issue Reading and Debate Program, the office supports matching with doctoral researchers. High schools request matching with desired doctoral researchers considering books that fit their school’s curriculum operation plans.

Each school operating the program can utilize three reading and debate project budgets provided by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education for all schools. Since 2022, the office has been running three reading education projects for all elementary, middle, and high schools: △Seoul-style Reading and Debate-based Project Classes △Morning Book Walk Project △Systematization of Reading and Humanities Curriculum. Separate budgets are allocated for each project. High schools wishing to participate in the Seoul-style In-depth Reading and Debate Program can use these three reading education budgets to cover up to 70% of the total project cost for educational instructor fees and manuscript fees for doctoral researchers belonging to the leadership group.

Superintendent Cho emphasized, “Academic advancement required by the new era goes beyond ‘rote memorization education’ to education that cultivates students’ ability to find and structure knowledge independently, that is, the power to think critically and creatively.” He added, “‘Seoul-style In-depth Issue Reading and Debate Program’ is a differentiated Seoul-style reading and debate educational activity aimed at academic advancement through cooperation between high schools and universities.”

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