뉴스레터

To educate students with disabilities about Dokdo is to recognize social membership

Dokdo is the territory of the Republic of Korea, a long history and the present. It is very natural for Koreans to know Dokdo and have a heart to care about. The reason why education on Dokdo is important in schools is that knowledge and consciousness of territory form the identity of the nation and people, and foster democratic citizenship as a national issue at the geographical and political level.

Democratic citizenship education should be universal to anyone. We should all learn about the social, moral and political issues facing individuals and society, develop our knowledge as a democratic citizen, and be guaranteed the opportunity to learn the domestic and foreign issues surrounding our territory, including Dokdo. This requires an educational approach to cultivate knowledge, understanding, value and attitude that meet the educational needs of each student.

Teaching students with disabilities about the territory of the Republic of Korea means to awaken their rights and responsibilities as a member of a country. This is an active recognition that students with disabilities are valuable members of society, which can help the general public to improve their perception of disability and social integration of people with disabilities. The fact that students with disabilities are not an exception in territorial education is also a declaration that all Koreans recognize Dokdo as the Inherent Territory of the Republic of Korea. Therefore, it is the developmental aspect of Dokdo education to actively guarantee Dokdo learning to have territorial identity for students with disabilities.

Disability Students who are Infringed on Education Rights on Dokdo

Dokdo education in schools has been composed of social studies subjects including geography, history, and general subject learning. However, there has been criticism that the contents of learning are divided by subject and proceed in a non-systematic, superficial, and distributed way. However, students with developmental disabilities such as intellectual disabilities and autism disorders, which are difficult to complete general curriculum, have not been the subject of criticism. This is because the Dokdo education sector is virtually nothing more than a barren place in special education courses.

Dokdo-related contents are extremely limited in the basic curriculum completed by students with developmental disabilities who are more than 70% of People with Special Education Needs. It was only 10 years ago that Dokdo-related contents appeared in the basic curriculum in the long history of special education. This is only one unit of the middle school social studies textbook written in 2015. In elementary and high school courses, there is no educational opportunity for Dokdo through curriculum education. Therefore, it is expected that the elementary school or high school will handle the Dokdo education unit of the middle school social studies department by flexibly interpreting the basic curriculum that allows students to learn the subjects of other grades.

The Dokdo education textbook for elementary and secondary students (e.g., knowing Dokdo correctly, Dokdo: I make) published by NAHF is considered to have contributed greatly to Dokdo education. However, the organization of learning contents, teaching and learning methods, and the form of textbooks did not reflect the various characteristics of students with disabilities. There was a fundamental limit to apply to students with disabilities who have various disability characteristics in the areas of sensory, cognitive, and exercise, especially students with developmental disabilities who have differences in cognitive level. The fact that the Dokdo education textbook developed by the state did not consider students with disabilities can be seen as alienating and discriminating against students with disabilities in Dokdo education.

Article 5 of Special education laws for persons with disabilities and others(Duties of State and Local Governments) states responsibility for study, development and distribution of the textbooks and the teaching equipment necessary for special education in order to provide appropriate education to individuals with special needs. Article 14 of Act on the prohibition of discrimination against persons with disabilities, remedy against infringement of their rights, etc. stipulates that it is discrimination against persons with visual or hearing impairments that does not provide braille materials, large typeset materials, screen readers and enlargement programs when educating them. Based on the above two laws, not including students with disabilities in Dokdo education itself does not guarantee the right to education, and if there is no appropriate Dokdo education textbook for each disability, this can also be an act of discriminating against people with disabilities.

textbook for elementary school students with developmental disabilities

textbook for elementary school students with visual impairments 

Efforts to foster Territorial Identity for Students with Disabilities: Citizen Education

In March 2020, NAHF published Dokdo education textbooks for students with disabilities. We developed elementary, middle, and high school textbooks for students with developmental disabilities such as intellectual disabilities, emotional disabilities, and Severe and multiple disabilities, Braille(tactile) and voice materials for students with visual impairment in the 5th and 6th graders of elementary school. Based on the self-directed textbook 'Dokdo: I make (2019)' published by NAHF, the universal characteristics of Dokdo education were reflected, and the characteristics of cognitive level and learning style of students with disabilities were also considered.

In pursuit of the educational goal and consistency of the "2015 Special Education Basic Curriculum", the elementary textbooks for developmental disabilities consisted of activities that provided multi-sensory experiences such as interest in the natural environment and geographical characteristics of Dokdo through colorful fairy tales and stories. The middle school textbooks emphasized self-regulated learning activities that perform various missions to express love for Dokdo, so that they could learn about the natural environment of Dokdo and raise their attitude to value Dokdo based on historical facts. The high school textbooks aimed at providing the experience and vitality as a visiting member of Dokdo with the concept of Dokdo travel, and understanding the international legal issues surrounding Dokdo and having the attitude of democratic citizens with territorial identity. Also, the Braille(Tactile) materials for elementary school students with visual impairments were braille translation and embossed images of the contents of texts, pictures, and tables, and the audio materials were scripted and produced as human voices read by voice actors.

To find the direction and method of Dokdo education for students with disabilities is to actively recognize that they are Korean citizens with active citizenship and to enjoy universal rights. Therefore, it is expected that the development of textbooks for the visually impaired middle and high school students and textbooks for the hearing impaired students, as well as textbooks for the disabled adults, will continue to be developed as soon as possible, and various levels and forms of teaching and learning materials for Dokdo education will be developed. This is important to the NAHF's efforts to educate Dokdo and to study academically, as well as special education academic world. Having Dokdo education textbooks suitable for the type and level of disability is a matter of establishing a status as a country that faithfully implements civic education and strengthening territorial sovereignty.