2024, are the children of South Korea okay?
The infinite loop of the Buddhist society, the current state of teachers in Korea.
The 2022 revised curriculum and high school credit system: What preparations should schools and teachers make?
What can education offices do with reduced local education finance grants?
What are the megatrends driving change in global education?

The Korean education system in 2023 was a chaotic mess.
Recently, following the 'Seo-i Elementary School teacher death incident', there have been endless issues such as the protection of teachers' rights, 'the expansion of Neulbom School', 'the introduction of graduate schools of education', 'killer questions on the CSAT', 'the transfer of authority over higher education to local governments', 'the introduction of a bill for the superintendent of education's running mate system', and 'the preservation of foreign language high schools, international high schools, and autonomous private high schools'.
This ongoing confusion is once again being met with the phrase, "an era in which school education is impossible."

Even amidst this chaos, policies that directly impact schools are being implemented, including the 2022 revised curriculum, the high school credit system, the 2028 college entrance exam reform, the reduction of local education finance grants, the integration of reserved and high school education, and the expansion of IB schools.
What should schools and teachers prepare and how?

Last May, education experts gathered to identify key education-related issues for 2023 and 19 key keywords expected to significantly impact education in 2024 and beyond.
Afterwards, we published "Education Trends in Korea 2024" to help people anticipate and prepare for 2024 by analyzing the phenomenon and background with 19 subject experts.

For example, the recent Seoi Elementary School incident shows that the social consensus of the industrial age regarding the “right to education,” which is the basis of public education, has collapsed.
In light of changes in society and the environment in which children grow up, a new social consensus is needed regarding which unit of the state the people should appropriately delegate authority over their children's education to, the extent to which it is appropriate to delegate this responsibility to public education, the general content and method of education to be delegated, and how public education should accommodate the diverse educational needs that arise as society becomes more fragmented.
(Omitted) Now is the time to create a new discourse as a collective intelligence to form a new social consensus oriented toward the future, even if the beginning may seem small.
And it is time to expand the network of these small beginnings and create a movement for a new social consensus.
The Seoi Elementary School incident is just the tip of the iceberg, and a fundamental solution will be difficult without forming a social consensus at the level of a "national movement to establish a new right to education in a digital society and a risk society" and promoting mid- to long-term education reform based on that consensus.
--- p.10

Changes in education are sensitive to changes in society.
Considering the role of education in cultivating the talents society demands, it is not surprising that trends emerging in the field of education are sensitive to social changes.
This means that in order to examine the trends in education observed globally, it is necessary to first examine the megatrends that are intertwined with changes in education trends.
This analysis is expected to enable discussions not only on current global education trends but also on potential future trends in the field of education.
To this end, before delving into global education trends in earnest, we will examine the factors that shape them. Every two to three years, the OECD publishes a report outlining the megatrends driving global education change.
Among them, the recently published 「Trends Shaping Education 2022」(OECD, 2022) presented five megatrends related to educational change as growth, living and working, knowledge and power, identity and belonging, and our changing nature.
--- p.14

Since the launch of ChatGPT, a wave of generative AI adoption has spread across all sectors of society, and education is no exception.
In the field of education, there appears to be a strong desire to actively utilize generative AI in line with the digital transformation trend, despite age restrictions, issues of ghostwriting and plagiarism, hallucinations, copyright issues, and security concerns.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Education and each city and provincial office of education are actively producing and distributing generative AI guidelines such as ChatGPT.

--- p.56

If we summarize the opinions of the experts above, the direction of future education in the AI ​​era will ultimately be to focus on "what only humans can do."
What only humans can do is an innate human ability that ChatGPT cannot replace.
The OECD Education 2030: The Future of Education and Skills project, now a bible, focuses on "transformative competencies"—creating new value, reconciling tensions and dilemmas, and taking responsibility. Ultimately, these competencies are about creating new things, resolving conflicts, and taking responsibility. School education in the AI ​​era will likely follow suit.

--- p.65

Amid the rapid decline in the number of students, the gap in student distribution between urban and rural areas is expected to widen further.
As mentioned earlier, the number of students in rural areas has already decreased, but the decline continues.
From 2000 to 2020, the number of students in rural areas decreased by 220,000 (-48%), from 457,000 to 237,000 for elementary school students.
This rate of decline is 15 percentage points higher than the 33% decline in the number of elementary school students nationwide during the same period.
Another clear trend related to future student populations is the regional imbalance in student numbers.

--- p.73

In short, as the overall scale of education is reduced due to the nationwide decline in student numbers, regional imbalances in various aspects of education, including the number of students, number of schools, school size, number of teachers, and preference for the teaching profession, will worsen.
While urban schools may be able to maintain a reasonable number of students for some time, schools in smaller cities and rural areas within the province will likely face downsizing or closure.
In the case of provincial regions, with the exception of the provincial capital or one or two industrial cities within the province, the reduction in high school education will intensify, and in severe cases, the elimination of high school education. This will lead to an acceleration of the outflow of school-age population from cities, a worsening of living conditions, a decrease in the local population, and an increased risk of local extinction.

--- p.80

When we hear about the climate crisis and the climate change era, such as the recent floods, droughts, typhoons, and wildfires that have swept the world, we, especially the younger generation, are deeply imbued with anxiety and worry about the future.
This is expressed as 'eco-anxiety', 'climate anxiety', and 'climate depression', and the number of people suffering from this anxiety is increasing.
'Climate depression' is a term that encompasses the anxiety, helplessness, and stress felt while experiencing the climate crisis, as defined by the American Psychological Association in 2017.
The World Health Organization (WHO) already warned of the severity of climate change and climate depression in 2019.
How will we overcome climate depression?
--- p.109

There are important things we must do now, for the sake of our children and for everyone, including their parents.
There must be an investigation and assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on relationships and communities, including violence and addiction.
Our assessment and review of education recovery after COVID-19 is nothing short of setting ourselves up for disaster.
Because we are just passing through without reviewing, evaluating, developing improvement measures, or establishing future plans, we are on the wrong path.
Even without the recent global pandemic, mass infections approaching mass infection occur every four to five years.
To prepare for a safer society, taking the lessons of the coronavirus as an example, we must do our best to reflect and organize now.
Otherwise, we are sure to repeat the same mistakes in the next pandemic.

--- p.134

The claim that society is fair according to law and principles prevents us from looking at the world outside the laws currently in effect.
Even if we promote and reward "active administration" while pursuing policies that meet new demands, the so-called "welfare immobility" that often appears is due to the reality that many issues are not resolved within schools and are the subject of "disputes."
The laws and regulations that are fueling this situation are as follows.
These include the introduction of regulations on the payment of performance bonuses to civil servants, the Ministry of Education's response manual in accordance with the Act on Prevention and Countermeasures against School Violence, the Child Welfare Act, and the Child Abuse Punishment Act.

--- p.146

A practical and fundamental solution to the child abuse and teacher alienation that are heating up the educational landscape in 2023 lies in a customized support system centered on each child.
Behind a student in crisis, there is a family in crisis, and behind a family in crisis, there is a society in crisis.
No, on the contrary, in a society in crisis, there are families in crisis, and in families in crisis, there are students in crisis.
We can break this vicious cycle by establishing measures to detect and support it early.
What is more urgent than anything else is the need to legislate and implement measures such as thorough monitoring in first-grade classrooms, authoritative diagnosis through the introduction of school doctors, and designing support tailored to students' needs.

--- p.168

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to private education taking over the areas and time previously occupied by public education, and this shift has not been reversed even after school classes have returned to normal.
The increasing importance of private education in education means that the importance of public education is decreasing.
It's not a new story that parents rely more on private education than public education, but the fact that even parents who were previously in the public education sector have moved into the private education market due to COVID-19 signals a threat to public education.
In other words, expectations for public education are decreasing.

--- p.177

Teachers are not just transmitters of knowledge, but helpers and counselors who help students grow healthily.
Parents need to be redefined as partners, not consumers or complainants.
Only then can we have the exciting experience of growing together while fulfilling our respective roles in the learning community that is school.
I think there must be a reason somewhere within school that we all persevere and don't quit school no matter how difficult it is.

--- p.190

Reservation integration is not a goal but a means, and it is not a finished product but a process of gathering.
Integration should not be understood as unification.
While it is necessary to unify the administrative and management agencies, this does not mean that all early childhood education and childcare facilities in our country should be unified under a single model.

We must first look at the situation we are currently in at the starting line of the unification of the reserves.
For the past several decades, we have operated kindergartens and daycare centers, facilities established by various entities, including public, private, private, and corporations. In these facilities, 1.6 million infants and toddlers are receiving education and care from 318,000 teachers.
The starting point of our unification is right here.
It is not possible to close facilities that currently care for infants and toddlers or to force teachers who educate infants and toddlers to resign.
It is not even possible legally.
Dismantling the education and care system that infants and toddlers currently belong to is neither right nor possible.

--- p.226

Why is the growing number of city and provincial offices of education in Korea adopting the IB program, regardless of progressive or conservative affiliation? All of the offices of education pursuing this program cite innovation in future education and assessment as their common rationale. They argue that the IB's vision for learners aligns with the values ​​and competencies pursued in future education.
However, when comparing the IB, the 2015 revised curriculum, and the 2022 revised curriculum in terms of learner image and desired competencies, as shown in the table below, there is no significant difference, and it cannot be seen as being particularly more suitable for future education.

--- p.255

When promoting KB, the problems that may arise will differ depending on whether it is implemented in all schools or in schools of choice.
If KB were introduced to all schools, it would mean changing the entire national curriculum.
If the purpose of introducing KB is to change classes and assessments, it would be much easier to create an environment that allows for changes in classes and assessments while maintaining the current curriculum.
Also, as pointed out earlier, the nature of the IB is to specialize in excellent students, so it would be too much of a stretch to apply it uniformly to children of various levels in public education, and if it is pushed through, the educational gap will widen further and private education will increase, as we have sufficiently examined in the above article.

--- p.274

The purpose of curriculum autonomy is to enable schools to understand the characteristics, actual conditions, and needs of each school, expand the national curriculum, and implement the curriculum in various ways.
Especially in a situation where the purpose of education is to cultivate students' capabilities and initiative since the 2015 revised curriculum, the active participation of teachers and students, who are the main players in educational activities, needs to go beyond the level of mere teaching and learning.
Accordingly, a study by On Jeong-deok et al. (2020) proposed the establishment of an institutional device that would allow individual schools to autonomously organize and operate a certain number of hours of the curriculum.
This means creating an autonomous space where schools can decide on what to teach through consultation with students.
Autonomous learning will lead to the creation of a curriculum as a learning experience at the individual school level and even at the teacher and student level, which can be effective in fostering agency as described in the OECD 2030 learning framework.

--- p.288

Teacher initiative or agency refers to the ability of teachers to act proactively in their relationships with the social structures in which they are placed (Tao & Gao, 2017).
And this goes beyond the level of mentioning teachers' individual practice capabilities in educational change discourse, and is understood more broadly as an ecological phenomenon that depends on the quality and nature of the practices that teachers engage in within their environments (Priestley et al, 2015).
This suggests that in order for teachers to develop their competencies and leadership as teachers, an approach is needed that encompasses not only the individual level but also the social, cultural, and structural levels.
Therefore, schools must provide an educational environment where all participants can demonstrate initiative based on autonomy, thereby laying the foundation for education that can create a school culture in which all educational participants can grow together.

--- p.296

The high school credit system is a complex policy that must take into account not only the curriculum structure but also the college entrance system, high school system, academic achievement evaluation, teacher supply and demand, budget, and spatial innovation.
As research and model schools are operated and the national curriculum is revised, changes are gradually appearing in the school operating system, curriculum, responsible education, and evaluation system.
Through this process, we are supporting our students to develop more of their own strengths.
However, there is still a lot of work to be done to develop children's abilities and create a happy school by designing their own curriculum.
--- p.305

The college entrance system has changed from the scholastic ability test to the College Scholastic Ability Test, and has been subject to frequent changes, including the introduction of new selection factors such as essay tests and changes in the evaluation methods of selection factors such as the admissions officer system.
However, due to the tradition of focusing on academic achievement, establishing a college entrance system that is consistent with the curriculum is a distant task.
Meanwhile, the high school credit system and the 2022 revised curriculum, which require fundamental changes to high school education, are also demanding corresponding changes to the college entrance system.
Policy discussions are currently underway regarding the 2028 college entrance system reform plan.
The college entrance system, which is changing with the introduction of the high school credit system, requires in-depth deliberation on the best alternative while reflecting social changes, the positions of stakeholders, and national and social demands.

--- p.325

What kind of education and society do we dream of? Looking at the ten education policies proposed by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, we can discern a focus on deregulation, strengthening industrial competitiveness, and preserving vested interests.
However, there is a strong desire to differentiate itself from the Moon Jae-in administration.
Examples include government reorganization, expansion and reorganization of Neulbom School, and reorganization of the Rise project.
However, just as there is nothing new under the sun, it is highly likely that all policies are the product of previous governments.
In that case, neither differentiation through unconditional severance nor the routine implementation of existing policies and projects without reflection and introspection are desirable.

--- p.372

As special autonomous cities (provinces) continue to expand, educational special zones may be significantly expanded again.
The Yoon Seok-yeol administration has announced plans to support the designation of special zones for equal opportunity development and free education zones under the pretext of revitalizing local regions, and many local governments are paying considerable attention to these special zones.
If this trend continues around the time of the 2024 spring general elections, special education zones may overflow.
Can the Education Free Zone really revitalize the region and transform education?
--- p.378

In our country, legal regulations are significantly relaxed within special economic zones.
For example, in the International Education Special Zone, schools that do not apply the national curriculum can be operated.
However, our Constitution declares the principle of legality in the education system to guarantee the right to education for all citizens by establishing basic matters concerning education in laws that reflect the will of the people (Article 31, Paragraph 6).
However, in special economic zones, the law is not applied, and the statutory standard principle is converted to administrative discretion.
In this process, there is a possibility that the minimum standards for establishing educational conditions to guarantee the people's right to education will not be met, and as a result, the people's right to education will be damaged.

--- p.386

It is difficult to increase only education funding within limited national finances, and no one in the education sector is asking for an increase in education funding alone.
However, I would like to emphasize that it is necessary to determine the direction of national finance management by taking into account the characteristics of the Republic of Korea, where the level of talent development is directly linked to the country's potential growth level.
In particular, considering that local education finance grants, which account for approximately 70% of the total education budget in our country, are the foundation of primary and secondary education, the current discussion on reforming grants should be conducted in a way that promotes the growth of our education.

--- p.421

On December 15, 2022, President Yoon Seok-yeol mentioned the running mate at the first state affairs task review meeting, and later on January 5, 2023, the Ministry of Education announced the four major education reform legislative promotion plans, including the Running Mate Act, the Education Free Zone Act, the Higher Education Act, and the Private School Act, in the 2023 Presidential Major Work Report, including the running mate system as one of the Ministry of Education's ten core policies and education reform legislative tasks, thereby confirming the government's official push for the introduction of the running mate system.

--- p.426

Children's Day was established on May 1, 1921 when the Cheondoist Youth Association was founded (President Lee Jeong-ho, then 15 years old), and May 1, 1922, the first anniversary of its founding, was designated and declared as 'Children's Day'.
It was hosted by the Cheondoist Youth Association, and was supported by adults related to the Cheondoist Youth Association, including Bang Jeong-hwan and Kim Gi-jeon.
On this day, a leaflet containing a message to adults and children was distributed. Looking at the message to adults and message to children announced on May 1, 1923, the following year, during the Children's Liberation Declaration, we can see that this message was further refined and supplemented.

--- p.445

A tragedy occurred at Seoul Seo-i Elementary School, where a teacher passed away in the classroom he was in charge of.
Teachers are continuing to hold memorial services, expressing sympathy for those in pain and hoping for a safe educational environment and the normalization of public education.
I believe that for our education to truly be realized, the three main stakeholders in education (students, teachers, and parents) and the three generations of life (children, youth, and the elderly) must deeply realize that they are independent and equal individuals, and they must deeply reflect on how to live together.
To move forward on this path, we need to revive, inherit, and develop the spirit of the Children's Liberation Declaration put forth by Bang Jeong-hwan and the Boy's Association 100 years ago in our educational settings.

--- p.473