Busan pitches 'innovative' schools

Kim Seok-joon, superintendent of the Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Busan on Jan. 19. / Courtesy of Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education

Superintendent advocates autonomy in curriculum, personal management

By Chung Hyun-chae

Kim Seok-joon, superintendent of the Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education, has vowed to set up “innovative” schools to normalize school education.

“Most problematic of all is that schools have been turning into cram schools where students engage in cutthroat competition with each other to get admissions to universities,” Kim said. “I hope innovative schools will change this trend so that public education can be normalized.”

He admitted that although there are 582 innovative schools throughout the nation, Busan doesn’t have any as of yet.

Kim disclosed a plan to launch 10 innovative schools in March _ one kindergarten, six elementary schools, one middle school, one high school and one special-purpose school for the disabled.

Busan is jumping on the bandwagon of innovative schools which have become the buzzword for liberal education superintendents since they swept the June 2014 local elections throughout the country.

What is an innovative school?

An innovative school refers to a public school that can pursue new ways of learning based on the opinions of school staff and members, including students, teachers and parents, not on directives from the education office or the education ministry.

The innovative school program emphasizes autonomy in school operations. Thus, school operators are encouraged to reform schools from the bottom up, not from the top down.

“The 10 schools designated as innovative schools will be given free rein in terms of curriculum and personnel management, which could ensure democratic school management,” Kim said.

The autonomy can encourage school members to actively participate in curriculums and other programs they develop by themselves.

Also they can add creative programs that can help students find their interests and aptitudes, instead of focusing on such subjects as Korean, English and mathematics, which are crucial for college entrance exams.

“I acknowledge that it is important for high school students to enter a good university under the current competitive education system. So I’ve tried to designate more elementary and middle schools than high schools as innovative schools,” Kim said.

The education office will provide 40 million won ($36,849) to 60 million won for each innovative school this year, and will grant 30 million won per year from 2016 to 2018.

“We set two fundamental rules: ‘Not too much financial support’ and ‘No additional points for innovative school teachers,’” Kim said.

The first rule is to make innovative schools financially independent, according to the superintendent.

“A school would not achieve educational innovation as long as it receives financial support from the education office,” Kim said, adding that the most important factor should be the participants’ passion, not money.

In the same vein, Kim is taking a step to discourage innovative schools from giving their teachers extra points which are required to get promotion.

The teachers, vice principals, principals, and parents of new innovative schools attended a training session in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, from Jan. 20-22 to discuss ways to successfully implement innovative school programs.

Narrowing English education gap

Aside from the innovative school project, Kim’s all education policies are aiming to revitalize classroom education.

“Distrust in public education has caused the dilapidation of schools. It has also widened the educational gap between students of rich families and students of poor families,” Kim said.

Liberal education also plans to make more investment in English education in elementary schools.

“English is the subject on which parents spend the most on private tutoring for their children, deepening the educational divide,” Kim said.

His education office has delayed the provision of free school meals for middle school students due to budgetary constraints.

But, the office has decided to spend more on recruiting native English teachers for elementary schools.

“We will earmark 5.5 billion won to make each elementary school in Busan have one native English teacher,” Kim said.

The office has also supported an English immersion program at the “Busan Global Village” in which all sixth-grade students engage in activities such as using an English library, having English debating and attending English writing classes. The village is in Seomyeon, central Busan, for two days.

“I believe strong English education will cut back on private tutoring bills and thus narrow the educational gap,” Kim said.

Who is Kim Seok-joon?

Kim, 58, was elected education superintendent of Busan in June 2014.

He was born in Bonghwa, North Gyeongsang Province, in 1957.

He received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Seoul National University in 1975.

He also obtained his M.A. and a doctorate in sociology from the university in 1979 and 1992, respectively.

He was hired as the youngest professor at Pusan National University in 1983 when he was 26. Since then he has served in the department of social science education at the school.

Kim also has artistic talent that won him recognition three times at an art competition hosted by Korean Pastel Artists Association from 2011 to 2013.

He has served co-president of the Busan Education Forum since 2013.