“Result Presentations of International Collaboration Program for School Development in New Era*: Proposals for school revolution in terms of Multicultural Symbiotic Society Coexistence” was held in Osaka city on Saturday, 10th of February and more than 80 people in educational field attended.
12 teachers, who are also the students of the United Graduate School of Professional Teacher Education of Osaka Kyoiku University, visited Germany, Canada, and England to learn from other practices and share achievements. They presented school revolutionary plans with local characteristics of Osaka and different situations of each country in mind. Germany has accepted many immigrants and also been active in volunteer activities. Thus the group in Germany suggested that international students who had just arrived in Japan could be gathered at the one school and learn Japanese language. Canada is well known for its multi- ethnicity and diversities. The research group in Canada proposed to prepare “a small bag to heal mental scares” for each student. These bags contains family photos and treasures for students. The British school system places emphasis on their evaluation method. The research group in the UK, therefore, suggested that students, teachers, administration staffs and parents would share their values and decide “ethos of students”.
After the presentation, Mr. Daichi Harada, Chief Officer for International Cooperation Planning, secretarial section, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) said “Everyone must realize better points in foreign schools, but you also could reassure the strength and weakness of education in Japan.” Chief Professor of the United Graduate School of Professional Teacher Education, Eiji Morita suggested that “All proposals should be well utilized for our classes, and all presenters should try hard to make them come true at your schools.”
Lastly all attendees voted for the best proposal award, and then “To implement Inclusive Education in terms of productive support of coordinators as main roles” by Ms. Yasuda (teacher of Tennoji primary school in Osaka city) won the prize. Ms. Yasuda said “I could consider how sustainable my proposal can be with practical approach. Our organizational management has already started for next fiscal year. I would like to complete my plan gradually but surely.”
Some attendees said “Schools in Osaka are rapidly internationalized, so that learning language to study is very essential. We need to construct our organizational supporting way for students and parents.” They also added “We need to pursue International Cooperation and Multicultural Coexistence in the forthcoming future, so that this program could provide crucial experience for active teachers. We hope this could be continued.”
*This was held as a part of “International Collaboration Program for Education in New Era” conducted by MEXT in fiscal year 2018. Based on the Kurashiki Declaration, adopted by the G7 Kurashiki Education Ministers’ Meeting in May 2016, this program aims to reaffirm the importance of international partnerships and improve the education practices to deal with the diversifying educational challenges.