▲ A view of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education building
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will implement a reorganization effective January 1, 2027, to strengthen student mental health support and establish a dedicated department for teacher protection.
Through this reorganization, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education plans to overhaul its student mental health and emotional crisis support systems as a top priority.
First, the mental health functions will be separated from the existing Democracy and Citizenship Education Division and reorganized into the "Mind Growth Support Division." Responsibilities related to mental health, respect for life, Wee Centers, and customized student support, which were previously scattered across regional offices of education, will be consolidated under the Student Customized Cooperation Division.
The regional offices of education also plan to reinforce personnel, including educational superintendents, dedicated to these tasks.
The Student Customized Support Division under the Planning and Coordination Office will be reorganized into the "Student Customized Support Division" and transferred to the newly restructured "Student Growth Support Division" under the Lifelong and Career Education Bureau.
As a result, student-targeted support functions—such as welfare and emotional crisis support, life education, dropout prevention, and support for migrant-background students—will be centralized within the Student Growth Support Division.
The citizenship education functions of the former Democracy and Citizenship Education Division will be reorganized into a separate "Citizenship Education Division" to oversee student self-governance, history and constitutional education, and global and ecological citizenship education.
A new "Teacher Rights Policy Division" will also be established under the Education Policy Division to oversee teacher protection.
The Teacher Rights Policy Division will handle policies related to teachers' rights and interests, including not only the protection of educational activities but also support for low-experience and disabled teachers, improvement of working environments, spread of a culture of mutual respect, and legal and institutional improvements.
A "School Legal Support Team" will be newly established under the Administrative Management Division to oversee support for various legal matters within schools, excluding cases of teacher rights violations.
The Student Competency and Innovative Education Division under the Education Policy Division will be reorganized into the "Teaching, Learning, and Innovative Education Division."
By integrating the career guidance functions of the Seoul Education Research and Information Institute with the career education functions of the main office, the office plans to link teaching, learning, and evaluation with career and admissions policies, while responding to changes in evaluation methods such as the expansion of descriptive and essay-type assessments.
The Elementary Education Division will house a Basic Academic Skills Team and establish a Reading and Character Education Team.
The School Support Division will newly create a Private School Policy Team in charge of policies to enhance the public accountability and responsibility of private schools.
The Seoul Education Research and Information Institute will reorganize its structure focusing on the Policy Research Institute, the Educational Research and Evaluation Department, and the Educational Data Department to strengthen policy research and educational big data functions.
Seoul Superintendent of Education Jung Keun-sik explained, "We hope that this reorganization will serve as a stepping stone for promoting 'basic education for all and happy cooperative education,' and become a driving force enabling schools to faithfully fulfill their fundamental educational functions while the education office powerfully drives policies centered on schools and students."
(Photo provided by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Yonhap News)
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