Hwaseong City and Gyeonggi Province Office of Education Sign MOU on Creative Excellence Education

Hwaseong City has signed an agreement with Gyeonggi Province Office of Education on becoming a 'Creative Excellence Education City'.

Gyeonggi Province Superintendent of Education Kim Sang-gon and Hwaseong City Mayor Chae In-seok announced on the 29th that they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for 'Hwaseong City Creative Excellence Education City' at Banseok Art Hall in Dongtan Complex Cultural Center in Hwaseong on the 29th.

At the signing ceremony, Superintendent Kim Sang-gon explained, "Creative excellence education means fostering creative talent through intellectual education," and added, "Intellectual education is education that develops critical thinking—that is, thinking—based on diverse intellectual traditions of human society, cultural literacy, experience and practice, and social engagement."

Hwaseong City Mayor Chae In-seok stated, "Creative excellence education is not about correcting a flawed educational paradigm, but rather introducing a correct educational paradigm," and said, "The city's governing philosophy is for both parents and students to become happy people."

Hwaseong City and Gyeonggi Province Office of Education explained that through creative excellence education, classes will shift to genuine learner-centered education, classrooms will develop together through cooperation rather than competition, schools will become democratic institutions of participation and communication, and students will become those who nurture their own dreams through critical thinking and creativity.

According to the agreement, Gyeonggi Province Office of Education will operate small classes with fewer than 25 students that enable active discussion-based instruction, and promised to secure sufficient teaching staff, including excellent teachers, at schools within Hwaseong City.

Hwaseong City will be responsible for establishing a Creative Excellence Education Support Center to support research, development, and operation of creative excellence education, as well as providing administrative support such as dedicated administrative personnel.

Hwaseong City announced it plans to invest close to 100 billion won in total through 2015 and push forward phased projects to establish itself as a creative excellence education city.

The city plans to implement pilot programs for creative excellence education this year by investing 11.9 billion won to establish a creative excellence education model district, create small class environments, and establish and operate a creative excellence education support center.

Next year, the city plans to invest 20 billion won to implement creative excellence education for all elementary schools, and announced plans to invest 30 billion won in 2014 and 35 billion won in 2015 to implement creative excellence education for all high schools by 2015.

In particular, the city plans to designate and operate two creative excellence education model districts—an urban type in large residential concentrated areas and a rural type in sparsely populated areas—to intensively cultivate Hwaseong City's specialized educational model.