Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Expands International Joint Classes to 220 Schools... Up to 10 Million Won Support

'Guk·To·In·Saeng' Policy Promotion and Expansion
Support of 1 Million to 8 Million KRW per Class
120 Elementary, Middle, and High Schools Selected for Coexistence-Type Debate Education

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will expand international joint classes in Seoul classrooms this year and support coexistence-type debate classes. Artificial intelligence education and ecological transition education will also expand the number of schools implementing them and the scope of support compared to last year.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on the 7th, the office is expanding the 'Guk·To·In·Saeng (International Joint Classes, Debate Education, Artificial Intelligence (AI)·Digital Education, Ecological Transition Education)' policy. This is being promoted with the aim of fostering students' future competencies. From February to April, meetings were held in 11 education support offices to share and develop policy outcomes.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will expand international joint classes from 193 schools last year to 220 schools. To support this, a budget of 1 million KRW per class and up to 8 million KRW per school is being provided. This year, operating support funds to activate face-to-face exchanges with overseas schools will be provided to 22 schools through a public contest and review, with a budget of up to 10 million KRW per school.

On the 25th of this month and the 1st of next month, for two days, 20 students from five high schools in Seoul and 20 students from New Zealand will conduct international joint classes utilizing coding.

The Seoul-style in-depth reading and debate education, which started last year, will also be activated. This year, 112 high schools and a total of 206 teams will participate. A leadership group of 145 PhD holders in humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences has been appointed.

Photo by Dongju Yoon doso67@

The 'Empathy-based Coexistence Debate' education will also be fully implemented. This is a debate education program developed last year by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to overcome polarization and cultivate coexistence-type democratic citizens. This year, 120 elementary, middle, and high schools will be selected to operate 'social issue project' learning linked with coexistence-type debate classes. At the 'Seoul Student Social Participation Festival' to be held in November, 33 teams selected as representatives from each support office will participate in debates.

AI and digital education promoted by the Ministry of Education will also be applied in Seoul classrooms. This year, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education appointed about 920 AI and Edutech expert teachers as lead teachers. The number of digital leading schools was also expanded from 46 last year to 119 this year. Digital education is supported through the distribution of one smart device per student called 'Dibut' and the operation of an integrated management system.

The ecological transition education, a key project of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, will also be strengthened. The perspective of ecological transition education will be reflected in the curriculum of individual schools, and more than 7 hours per year will be scheduled and operated by grade level. From 2025, ecological transition education textbooks are being developed for use during school autonomous time and class time.

By education support office, a 'Student·Teacher Climate Action 365' practice network has been formed (a total of 3,710 students and 1,010 teachers). Three research schools for ecological transition education curriculum are being operated, and in the second semester, 50 leading schools for resource circulation education will be operated.

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