The Center for International Affairs of the Academy of Korean Studies hosted the “2021 Academy of Korean Studies & People’s Education Press Textbook Seminar” on October 13 (Wednesday). The AKS and the People’s Education Press have been taking turns to host the textbook seminar since 2003 to provide a forum for discussing issues and research trends related to curriculums and textbooks of the two countries.

In order to cope with the COVID-19 global public healthcare crisis that mankind has not experienced in the past century, this year’s seminar, which had the theme of "Life Safety and Health Education in Textbooks," looked into how life safety and health education in South Korea and China are dealt with.

There were a total of eight presentations on the topic. Presentations of the Korean side were: “School Safety Education in Korea” (Yu Byeong-yeol, Seoul National University of Education), “The Process of Introducing Healthcare Curriculums and Safety and Healthcare Education in Korea” (U Ok-yeong, Graduate School of Education at Kyonggi University), “School and Safety after April 16” (Choe Yun-a, Ansan Gangseo High School), and “The Past, Present, Future of Physical Education and Health Education” (Lee Gyu-il, Kyungpook National University). Presentations from the People’s Education Press were “Exploring Integration of Life Safety and Health Education among Science Teaching Materials” (Wang Haiying, Zhang Junxia, People's Education Press), “A Practical Exploration to Strengthen Life Safety and Health Education in Middle School Biology Textbooks” (Wang Ying, People's Education Press), “A Thought on the Implementation of Life Safety and Health Education in Elementary School Textbooks on Ethics and the Rule of Law” (Liu Tong, People’s Education Press), and “Life Safety and Health Education in Physical Education Teaching Materials” (Huang Lijuan, People’s Education Press).

In the free discussion session, participants examined and discussed what efforts South Korea and China are making to increase the people's capabilities for dealing with accidents and disasters and crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic through policies and education at the national level.

The seminar was held online due to COVID-19, and the two organizations agreed to continue to advance research and exchanges on textbooks of the two countries.