Seminars

Award Ceremony and Outcome Sharing Session for the 2025 Best Practices Contest on Childcare Center and Kindergarten Care and After-school Programs Held

The Korea Institute of Child Care and Education (KICCE), together with the Ministry of Education, held the “2025 Best Practices Contest on Childcare Center and Kindergarten Care and After-school Program Operation – Award Ceremony and Outcome Sharing Session” at the Seoul Royal Hotel on Thursday, November 27. The event aimed to identify exemplary on-site cases of extended childcare in childcare centers and after-school care programs in kindergartens and to share the outcomes of these initiatives. Approximately 100 participants attended, including officials in charge at metropolitan and provincial offices of education and frontline teachers.

This year’s contest was hosted by the Ministry of Education and 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education, and organized by KICCE. A total of 286 institutions nationwide participated, including 227 childcare centers and 59 kindergartens.

The contest was conducted in three categories: 

implementation of distinctive after-school courses and extended childcare programs,

operation of linked care services, and

on-site implementation of specialized programs* developed in 2024 by the Ministry of Education, metropolitan and provincial offices of education, and KICCE.

* All Together Physical Play, Heart Blossom Art Play, Lalala Music Play, Soksoksok Science Play, and Pangpangpang English Play

In each category, one Grand Prize (Minister of Education Award), two Excellence Prizes (Minister of Education Award), and three Encouragement Prizes (KICCE President’s Award) were selected. In this year’s contest, customized programs that were planned and implemented in consideration of regional circumstances and institutional characteristics were recognized as outstanding practices.

In addition, the Ministry of Education held an outcome sharing session in which awardees directly presented how they operated their care and after-school programs, thereby facilitating the dissemination of best practices. This was followed by a session to explore ways to promote gap-time care and after-school programs, which are key national policy tasks, during which officials from metropolitan and provincial offices of education discussed future policy directions.