As society rapidly becomes more multicultural, the importance of Korean language education for students from multicultural families has grown significantly. However, there are no dedicated Korean-language teachers to educate them, and instructional materials are insufficient, so education for students from multicultural families has not been effective.

To address this situation, Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) and the Jeollabuk-do Office of Education will undertake a program to train regular Korean-language teachers to educate multicultural students.

To this end, the Korean Language Institute will, for the first time nationwide, offer a 120-hour in-service training program for teachers of Korean as a Second Language (KSL).

KSL was introduced into the elementary and secondary curriculum in the 2013 curriculum reform. It is a Korean-language program aimed at second-generation children of multicultural families, immigrant children, and children who entered the country mid-term, who often have difficulties adapting to the Korean language and culture. The program is delivered at the elementary, middle, and high schools that the target students attend, for up to ten hours per week.

While other provinces have provided 60-hour training courses, JBNU is the first to implement the 120-hour training that Korean-language teachers are required to complete under the Basic Act on the Korean Language.

Accordingly, JBNU and the Jeollabuk-do Office of Education plan to prepare for the rapidly increasing demand for Korean-language education by providing training to about 30 teachers each year.

In Jeollabuk-do, 400 students from multicultural families are entering elementary school this year, but the number is expected to exceed 1,000 new multicultural students per year in four to five years, making this training even more important.

Teachers who complete this training program will receive professional development credit recognized by the Office of Education and will be eligible to take the Korean-language teacher certification exam. Upon passing the exam, they will be awarded a Korean-language teacher certificate issued by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Kim Minho, Director of the International Cooperation Headquarters, said, 'JBNU has experience in educating foreign learners, so this program is expected to create a strong synergistic effect,' and added, 'We will strive to make the advanced research on KSL education and the teacher training initiative, which began in Jeonbuk, a nationwide model case.'