Strengthening partnerships with Korea with Teacher Education

An exciting international partnership between Australian and South Korean teacher education academics is reaping mutual benefits as both teams continue to share their knowledge and practice of teaching and learning. 

In June of this year, the Australian team from Sydney visited Korea, part of an Australia-Korea Foundation and Department of Foreign Affairs-funded collaboration with Seoul National University (SNU) academics and their partner schools. 

The Sydney delegation which included Dr Joanne Yoo and Dr Pauline Kohlhoff (UTS School of International Studies and Education) and Dr Annie Agnew (University of Notre Dame) visited the Seoul National University team lead by Prof Youngsoon So, Vice Dean of the College of Education at SNU.

Notes from the field by Dr Joanne Yoo:

Our first visit was to SNU’s Gwanak world-class campus, and it was a privilege to be invited there to share our expertise about our professional experience program with SNU’s College of Education academics and doctoral students.

The SNU team was seeking advice on how to expand their practicum program, similar to the UTS Master of Teaching in Secondary Education course, which is currently structured with 16 weeks of practicum for its undergraduate students.

The SNU academics had been tasked by the Ministry of Education to increase their practicum from four to 16 weeks by 2028.

The Sydney team gave a detailed presentation on structuring a practicum for 16 weeks and demonstrated how to implement it to maximise students' learning experience. 

The Korean academics were keen to collaborate on learning strategies for an effective practicum, and we shared more ideas for building robust school partnerships. 

Prof Yongsoon had already implemented some of the ideas she gleaned from her Sydney visit in February. She had secured 15 partner schools for professional experience, with 13 schools agreeing to take preservice teachers into the future. (Well done, Professor Yongsoon!)

The Sydney delegation also visited two very different high schools to find out more about South Korea’s schooling system. 

The first was Sejong Academy of Science and Arts (SASA). This public co-educational high school was founded in 2015 and currently caters for 265 gifted students who are recruited from all over South Korea. 

SASA focuses on using science and technology (or STEAM learning) to help students explore the world around them. We were so impressed by the student artworks displayed around the modern facilities, which demonstrated the integration between the sciences and the arts. 

Their unique ratio of one teacher to every five students ensures that SASA students are provided with the best possible support. In addition to a well-rounded curriculum, there is a heavy focus on both student and teacher research that is geared towards solving real-world problems. 

Students can further accelerate their studies to undertake first year university subjects. 

It was enlightening and inspiring to visit SASA and to see South Korea’s cutting-edge approach to high school education. 

Our next school visit was to Beombok High School, where Gyeongmo Min teaches senior physics and junior science. 

Upon arrival, we were given a warm introduction to the school by the Assistant Principal and the English teacher. 

Our visit to Beombak High School was particularly memorable as Dr Kohlhoff taught a maths lesson to Gyeongmo’s home room class. Gyeongmo did warn us in advance that his students were 'quite mischievous' and in fact we found his class to be incredibly lovely, and this maths lesson was perhaps the highlight of our visit. 

Students and teachers did their best to create perfect fractions with only pieces of paper and a ruler for drawing lines only. The students wracked their brains to find ways to form perfect thirds and sevenths. The feedback provided by the students showed that the lesson had made a strong impression. They appreciated learning from ‘first principles’ and problem-solving their understanding of mathematical concepts.

It was interesting! I’m tired of my exam. But, during the lesson, I could see a new math! I didn’t expect. A sheet of paper brough me a fresh idea!

This visit to Korea reaffirmed the vital nature and value of international collaboration. 

It was a privilege to meet with staff and students of Beombak High School, Sejong Academy of Science and Arts and Seoul National University, to experience teaching and learning from the other side of the world. 

Developing our partnership with Korean academics and schools have helped us to perceive teaching and learning from a different perspective and to consider how else schooling can be imagined.

We look forward to continuing our collaboration with SNU and their partner schools well into the future!