When I was initially given this opportunity to travel to Korea, I was a Social Studies teacher at Kearney High School, but due to the delays with Covid-19, I am now about to begin a new role as a School Counselor at Beatrice High School. This has changed my focus and questions for educators in Chuncheon from what I was initially interested in, the history of the area, to counseling in their schools, especially since Korea is known for having a highly competitive education system and subsequent mental health issues that are not widely spoken about amongst the younger population.
Today, Wednesday June 29th, the group had the honor of meeting with the Ministry of Education for the Gangwon District located in Chuncheon. While there, one of the issues discussed was how the Ministry has noticed the negative impacts of Korea’s highly competitive education system and how they are now working towards creating “happier” and “healthier” students. One of the initiatives that they are taking is ensuring that each school has at least one counselor and creating teams that consist of the counselor, home-room teachers, and parents to support struggling students. This was extremely encouraging to hear as when we were taking our Korean classes in Seoul, our lovely teacher Se Young hadn’t heard of the role of School Counselor in the Korean classroom and didn’t have a term for it (she is my age for reference).
The meeting today was informative, encouraging, and enlightening. I am grateful that so many people at the Ministry of Education took time out of their busy schedules to speak with us and tell us more about the direction that they hope to see the Korean education system taking in the future.
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