What should principals do to ensure democratic and collaborative education?
Contains principles and guidelines for the "principal's work," as well as the experiences and wisdom of principals.

What does the principal do and should do at school?
This book presents the role and appearance of a "good principal" who innovates schools and practices democratic citizen education, based on the principal job guidelines created through research and discussion by the Jinggeomdari Education Community.
It contains specific principles and tasks, as well as the concerns, reflections, and experiences of actual principals, regarding the work of principals, who create and operate the school curriculum, innovate work methods and school spaces, and communicate and build relationships with school members.
Although the stories in this book focus on the principal, they offer ideas and imagination for how to create a democratic and educational school where everyone is a leader.

For the healthy development and sustainable future of a democratic society, we must first produce school principals equipped with curriculum expertise and democratic leadership.
To change 5.35 million students, 450,000 teachers must be changed, and to do that, 12,000 principals must be changed.
Because the classroom depends on the teacher and the school depends on the principal.
When the principal changes, the working attitudes of teachers, administrators, and civil servants will soon change, and the education and culture of the school will change as a result.

In my view, the biggest reason the "first progressive superintendent era," which promoted school innovation under the banner of "innovative schools," ended with the 2022 local elections is the failure to transform the position and role of school principals into democratic leadership.
(……) Even in the era when progressive superintendents were in the majority, most principals remained complacent with past practices and displayed an outdated attitude, regardless of the policies and slogans they put forth.
As a result, the perceived change index in most schools was low.
This is why the era of progressive superintendents of education failed to progress and ended in failure.
--- From "Why the Principal's Job Guidelines Now?"

For a long time, school education has prioritized show-off events, fragmented and fragmented program operations, and administrative processing based on instructions and control from higher-level organizations, rather than focusing on operating a curriculum that fosters the growth and development of each student.
School principals must boldly transform the administrative-centric school system into one that focuses on curriculum management. They must also dedicate themselves to creating and supporting an environment where all teachers can learn and grow together through learning communities and enhance their capabilities as curriculum experts.
To avoid being trapped in the identity of an administrator, school principals must actively participate in teacher learning communities both inside and outside the school and continuously improve their capabilities as curriculum experts.
--- 「School principal's job principles and practical tasks - 1.
Among the “curriculum operation tasks”

The principal has a lot to consider and decide.
The weight of responsibility is also great and heavy.
However, if you are crushed by the weight of responsibility, you can easily become obsessed with 'management'.
If the emphasis is on ‘management’, it will be difficult to realize the original function of education.
Education begins with respecting students as unique individuals.
Democratic citizenship education is also possible only when students' independence is respected.
The first condition of citizenship is to have thoughts and opinions.
Opinions are formed through the experience of thinking about and deciding on one's own problems.
Citizens can only approach their lives if they can actively practice and enjoy their rights, rather than being passive beings subject to regulations and instruction.
This kind of practical orientation of the principal makes student autonomy possible.
--- 「School principal's job principles and practical tasks - 3.
Among the “school member related tasks”

Lowering the school walls, connecting the village to the school and the school to the village, and connecting local educational resources are things that principals can and should do.
If you look around a little, you will see that there are many activists, groups, and organizations in the community who want to work with schools.
There are many people willing to help students and many programs available to help them.
The problem is connection.
This is why networking, the act of connecting the dots to create a line, should be a key pillar of a principal's external work.
--- 「School principal's job principles and practical tasks - 4.
From “External Affairs”

The school was run so that the curriculum, which linked knowledge and life, could be aligned with the actual school life of students.
To introduce a representative example, the order in which meals are eaten is not fixed, but meals are distributed in rotation for the same number of days by grade.
(……) In terms of meal order, playground use, and classroom layout, schools generally have a practice of giving priority to older students.
This is the result of the logic that since you will get your turn anyway if you wait, it is ultimately equal, along with the efficiency aspect.
But there are already many messages embedded in this logic and process itself.
If what we say in class, “We must consider the weak first,” is completely opposite to what we see in real life, then that education has failed.
Where students actually learn is not from textbooks, but from real-world, operational life.
--- From "Everything in school is the curriculum"

Principals often ask themselves questions about their identity as educators or administrators.
The moment you become a principal, you inevitably become closer to the identity of an administrator.
However, the moment a principal loses his or her identity as an educator, he or she can easily become immersed in school management focused on performance and results, which is disconnected from the teachers' perceptions.
The best way for a principal to maintain his or her identity as an educator is to teach directly in the classroom.
So, unless there were unavoidable circumstances, we practiced classroom instruction for one hour per class.
The class was structured around topics such as friends, environment, and dreams for each grade level, and picture books appropriate to the topic were found in the school library and used as teaching materials.
Through classroom instruction, we can gain a deeper understanding of students' learning and emotional situations, as well as the physical classroom environment, and directly experience the situations teachers face, making it easier to support field-oriented educational activities that do not rely on indirect experience.
--- From "Restructuring School Work with Educational Activities at the Center"

"What do you want to do? Why do you want to do it? How do you plan to do it?" comes first, and only after that is determined should a budget follow.
But interestingly, in schools, budgets are drawn up in December and adjusted in January, new school workshops are held in February, and curriculum plans come out in March.
The order is reversed.
(……) It is a mistake to think that you can persuade schools and teachers with money.
Even in the classroom, the practice of paying students to read books has the effect of taking away the joy and spontaneous enthusiasm of reading itself, and the same is true for schools.
If the budget takes precedence over the teacher's passion, budget execution can easily become consumption, and even a situation may arise where the budget becomes burdensome and teachers adhere to minimalism.
What schools and teachers need is purpose and meaning.
--- From "Budget, Managing Money Without Owners"

I asked if it would be okay to hang the Education Community Agreement on the blackboard in front of the classroom instead of the Taegeukgi.
A novel idea.
The Taegeukgi has always been there, without question, as a default option for classroom posters.
Instead of the Taegeukgi, a community agreement? What's not to like? A joint agreement is more appropriate for the classroom.
(……) A bitter feeling came over me after he left the principal’s office.
The young teacher may not have intended it that way, but I realized that he had made me a manager.
I came to the conclusion that I had unconsciously gone along with his subconscious, saying, "I can't decide on even such trivial matters, so you, as the principal, should decide and take responsibility for them."
I was briefly intoxicated with the role of a generous administrator with the power to judge and permit the choice of whether to hang the Taegeukgi in one's classroom or to hang the community promise.
I should have said this.
“Teacher, whether to hang the Taegeukgi or the community promise in the classroom is up to the teacher and the students to decide.
Because the classroom is a place where teachers and students live as the masters.”
--- From "There is no master in school"

If we consider the school organization as a garden, the garden needs adequate water, good soil, and adequate light, but what is absolutely necessary, especially in the current situation, is wind.
For the wind to pass through, an appropriate distance must be created between each entity and boundaries must be clearly defined.
I believe that the role of a principal is to be a skilled gardener who creates an environment where teachers can grow.
If parents are excessively involved in or demanding of the school, if the school is overly unified and administratively disciplined and tasks are too much for teachers to do anything, or if the school has a strong culture of unifying grades by saying, "All classes are the same," then you will never see beautiful and abundant flowers in the school garden.
--- From "The Principal Who Tending the Garden Called School"

On Teacher's Day, there was a principal who wrote a three-line poem with each teacher's name and gave it to each teacher as a gift.
The ability to write a poem when you see someone's name and something related to that person comes to mind is possible when there is a connection.
When the bond between relationships is strong, it is easier to ask for help when difficult situations arise.
Just having a colleague within the school who I can ask for help and who will listen to my struggles makes me feel secure and safe with my teachers.
What allows my struggles to function as 'solidarity' rather than 'shame' comes from the human relationships in my daily life.

--- From "The Power of Creating a Warm Educational Community"

What I am repeatedly reminded of is the sense of solidarity that students share with me, as 'the same people', before they are simply objects to be taught.
Everyone has a similar amount of goodwill.
Once you connect with that kind of feeling, nagging about why you wear makeup or why you don't follow the school uniform rules becomes meaningless.
When it comes to anxiety, children are much more anxious than adults.
When I meet students while reading poetry and sometimes giving tarot consultations (I've been doing tarot for 10 years and am quite the expert), I realize that their anxiety and good intentions to do well are two sides of the same coin.
It would be the adults' job to take that into account and set up seats for students.
Isn't justice without listening and compassion just violence?
--- From "Meeting Students with a Heart of Hospitality"

After that, the number of times Yeoreum was separated from the classroom decreased.
As summer became more stable, the class became more stable.
From the following year onwards, Yeoreum hardly ever came down to the principal's office.
And three years later, he graduated as the most dignified child of all.
This change would have been difficult to achieve if the homeroom teacher had to take responsibility alone or if everyone had to resort to makeshift measures to appease the child.
So schools need to have experts in various fields.
(……) In addition, a system is needed to organize various people in the school on a daily basis to discuss and solve student problems with the homeroom teacher.
So, when there is a 'problem behavior', whether it is a counseling committee or a student life committee, the adults who have observed the student and made eye contact with him or her should gather together with the homeroom teacher to discuss and find a solution.
--- From "The Principal as an Omniscient Interferer Who Builds and Unbuilds Relationships Surrounding Students"

When it comes to parental complaints, the school principal needs to intervene quickly and actively from the beginning.
The reason is, firstly, that there is a greater chance of resolving the problem quickly and efficiently before it gets worse.
Second, the target of parents' complaints will be shifted from individual teachers to schools, creating an environment where teachers can focus more on educational activities.
Third, the emotional strain and hurt experienced between teachers, students, and parents can be significantly reduced through rapid problem-solving.
(……) In the cases of serious violations of teachers’ rights or difficult situations that were revealed as a result of the Seoi Elementary School incident, it was revealed that the school principals did not actively respond.
The principal is the representative and general manager of the school.
With the authority and responsibility given, teachers have the responsibility to protect their right to education and create an educational community where students, teachers, and parents coexist well.
--- From "Establishing Parents as Real Subjects of Education"

Communication with parents also plays a huge role in resolving classroom complaints.
Parents of first-grade elementary school students are curious and want to know everything about their children, but sometimes they feel frustrated because they cannot fully satisfy their curiosity due to limitations in their conversations with their children.
School-level parent training for new students also includes time planned and run directly by the school principal.
The principal personally explains the school's educational philosophy, vision and direction of the school's curriculum operation, and understanding of students.
It can give the impression that the school principal is not someone who just sits in the principal's office or is disconnected from parents, but someone who is responsible for school education.
I think it is very important to recognize that the principal is with the parents, students, and teachers.
--- From “Schools and Parents, Becoming True Partners in Education”

When teachers live in the village, the connection between classes and village resources occurs naturally when running the village curriculum.
Because the teacher's living area is the same as the student's living area, the teacher's experience is reflected in the class, and the teacher can find the class he or she wants to teach in the village.
Additionally, by understanding the characteristics of the region, you will gain a deeper understanding of the lives of students and their families.
(……) I always hoped that teachers who work in conjunction with the village would not transfer and would remain at our school.
So, we left some as invitations, and also invited teachers from other schools.
Even if we wanted to keep them, there were times when we couldn't invite them due to the number of faculty members.
If the Office of Education wants to successfully implement its policies, it must improve its personnel system.
Work is done by people.
Teachers who know how to collaborate with the village must work long-term to build a village-integrated curriculum and village education community, and to maintain a connection with the village.

--- From "Schools and Teachers in the Village"