AEF was pleased to contribute to the National Symposium on the Future of Australia-Korea School Partnerships organised by the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) earlier this year.

Supported through a grant from the Australia-Korea Foundation, IEAA’s National Symposium was held online over 29 August, 30 August and 1 September 2023 and brought together more than 240 school leaders, educators, policy makers and a diverse range of other school stakeholders from both Australia and Korea.

Led by Jennifer Star and Emeline Gillingham, AEF's session covered lessons learned and insights for successful Australia-Korea School Partnerships from BRIDGE and Study Tours.

BRIDGE, which stands for ‘Building Relationships through Intercultural Dialogue and Growing Engagement’ is AEF’s flagship teacher professional development program which establishes school partnerships between students, educators and school communities. Through the use of a blended model of teacher professional learning, face-to-face, online learning and an international homestay program with partner schools, BRIDGE supports teachers to use technologies to open their classrooms to the world. The Australia-Korea BRIDGE program was established with Australian government funding from 2010 to 2016 with the explicit purpose of increasing participation in Korean language learning in Australian schools.

Funded by the Korea Foundation (a South Korean-government funded organisation), the Korea Studies Workshop Programme (KSWP) aimed to skill senior education policy officers, curriculum developers and secondary school educators to include studies of South Korea in school curriculum. 240 Australian educators have participated in this highly-acclaimed international study program since 1993, gaining first-hand knowledge to lead curriculum on Korea and support the teaching of Korean language in Australian schools.

Bringing together a panel of Korea BRIDGE and study tour participants, symposium attendees heard about how these programs worked as well as key learnings that can inform future Australia-Korea school partnerships.

IEAA has made available the following symposium resources to share key learnings, ensure accessibility and deepen impact of the information and insights that were presented during the symposium:

• Recordings of symposium sessions, including AEF’s session on Australia-Korea BRIDGE
• A follow-up report on the National Symposium on the future of Australia-Korea school partnerships which can be downloaded 
• A Linked-In group for Australia-Korea school stakeholders who are interested in connecting with one another
• Further resources which have been supplied by National Symposium presenters, including AEF’s What works Report on School partnerships in a digital age.

Explore the symposium portal here, and subscribe to the AEF newsletter for future opportunities to engage with Korean schools.