APECEIU and UNESCO Educational Reform and Cultural Night
Halfway through the programme, all UK and USA
participants, alongside teachers and Heads of Schools from all over the world, were invited to Seoul for a mid-point review at the APCEIU
head office.
The day consisted of 3 lectures about the vision that APCEIU
and UNESCO have for the future of education. The overall message was that to be successful, we need to work together and interconnect with schools all around
the world. They advocate that communication and understanding of other cultures, is key to a
sustainable future.
Francis Daehoon Lee started off the workshop.
The outline of his session.
APCEIU and UNESCO's fundamental values.
An interactive group activity to identify how we will use specific ideas discussed in the session.
There were several lectures and interactive sessions which ended with us collectively sharing ideas about how we could integrate global interconnection into our schools.
After the formal sessions, APCEIU organised a cultural night for us all. We had dinner and then the festivities began. All attendees were asked to wear their cultural dress for the evening and seeing as England doesn't really have anything distinctive, we made do with a hat and a few British flags!
UK and USA participants representing for their countries!
The Geordies in their football shirts and even the Queen made an appearance!
In preparation, the APCEIU coordinators asked those involved to perform a cultural song or dance for the event. It was lovely as so many volunteered, which made the celebrations fun and entertaining.
The APCEIU coordinators passionately performed the Korean version of Romeo and Juliet!
The Korean Romeo and Juliet performance was followed by the Gangnam Style dance. The Korean in blue and white, had quite the moves!
Dave Fudge - part-time busker - was 'reppin it' for the UK,with songs from The Beatles and Oasis.
A beautiful cultural dance from Kazakhstan.
A cultural song and dance from the Pacific Islands.
The Americans doing the Electric Slide line dance.
My absolute favourite part of the night was the Principal of a school in Pakistan. He had such energy and charisma and the dance was quite easy to learn! Watch the clip above and try it at home!
The next day, we visited Yonsei University in Seoul which is one of the top three universities in South Korea. It is also one of the oldest universities and founded by Horace Grant Underwood, who was born in London and then immigrated to the USA in the seventies. This might explain why the buildings look the way they do.
The library.
Professor Tae Lee lead a presentation in one of the university's lecture rooms and enlightened us about the Korean culture and education. What I particularly liked about her presentation, was that it added a personal touch and she spoke from a perspective of an American-born Korean. She too had to adjust to the customs and way of living, like us right now!
Much of the culture stems from the ancient philosophy of Confucianism. It centres around respect and the relationship with others.
Interestingly, even the language is built around the values of Confucianism.
As well as introducing us to the origins of their cultures and beliefs, Tae Lee explained some aspects of Korean education.
With this being the outline of how much education costs for a parent in Korea, we can see the pressure that parents might put on their children. As well as paying tuition fees for school, it is common for parents to send their children to a hagwon. This is a special school/academy that students attend to boost their school grades. The only issue that Tae Lee pointed out, is that many who go to these hagwons, surpass what they do in school and are given extra work that pushes them ahead of the mainstream education, which can have an affect on their concentration at school. The first reason being that they are too tired from studying at the hagwons and the second is that they are ahead of the school curriculum and so there is no need to listen in class.
Apart from motivation and ambition, it seems for the secret to success may lie in hagwons.
