Ikeda Research Institute for Soka Education
Issue 3/ Jan 18, 2022

Report onIkeda Studies in Education
PurposeThe Report on Ikeda Studies in Education iscompiled and circulated by the Ikeda ResearchInstitute for Soka Education (IRISE) of Soka
University. The Report serves as an informationsharing tool for scholars and researchers of this fieldof study, with the aim of facilitating on a global basis,
further advances in the research of and activities
relevant to Ikeda studies in education.

News Update
CanadaCanada’s SERC-GC at the University of GuelphHumber hosts lecture on value-creating pedagogy
On November 18, the Soka Education ResearchCentre on Global Citizenship (SERC-GC) atCanada’s University of Guelph-Humber hosted its
4th Annual Special Lecture online. The lecturecommemorated the 1930 publication of the first
volume of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi’s seminal work,
The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy, andbrought together 172 participants from 11 different
countries, including Canada, Brazil, India, the UK,
and the US, among others..
Following opening remarks from SERC-GC
Director Prof. Paul Sherman, Prof. Hiroko Tomiokaof Soka University gave the lecture, “Overview ofSoka Education: Makiguchi’s Pedagogy,” in which
she spoke on the value system Makiguchi developedthat emphasizes the values of beauty, gain, and good.
Participants then discussed a number of topics,including education as a means to foster the humancapacity to overcome adversity.

Spain
Spain’s IEDDAI at University of Alcalá holds
symposium on 2021 Peace Proposal
The Daisaku Ikeda Research Institute for Educationand Development (IEDDAI) at Spain’s University ofAlcalá hosted a symposium on Daisaku Ikeda’s 2021
peace proposal, “Value Creation in a Time of Crisis,”on November 19. The symposium was held bothonline and in-person, with more than 100 people, ledby students of the University of Alcalá’s faculty ofeducation, taking part. IEDDAI Director Alejandro
Iborra Cuéllar and Vice Director Ana Belén García
Varela delivered opening addresses.
Next, legal scholar Prof. Vicente Garrido Rebolledoof Rey Juan Carlos University spoke on the need foreducation for nuclear disarmament to facilitate
global peace given the manifold challenges andobstacles thwarting the path to the abolition ofnuclear weapons. He was followed by Prof. María
Jesús Salado García of the University of Alcalá, whoexamined the mission of educators in achieving
SDGs and the importance of those who teach topersist in an inwardly directed process ofreformation.
Participants agreed that by drawing insights affordedin the 2021 peace proposal, the symposium provided
them with an opportunity to share views on the roleof education in advancing and contributing todisarmament and sustainability.

USA
Ikeda Center in the US holds annual forum forintercultural dialogue
On December 11, the Ikeda Center for Peace,
Learning, and Dialogue hosted its 17th annual Ikeda
Forum for Intercultural Dialogue titled, “Becoming
Wide Awake to Our Wisdom, Courage, andCompassion: Global Citizenship as Action andIdentity.” Approximately 250 participants from 27
countries attended the virtual forum. It featured
presentations by Prof. Awad Ibrahim from theUniversity of Ottawa and Prof. Jason Goulah ofDePaul University, and an intergenerational panel
discussion with doctoral and graduate students fromHarvard University, Tufts University, Boston
University, and Indiana University.
Through the presentations and discussion, presentersand panelists examined Daisaku Ikeda’s approach toglobal citizenship and how his perspective provides
a helpful framework for self-identifying and taking
positive actions as a global citizen.
Prof. Goulah noted that Daisaku Ikeda’s “vision ofglobal citizenship is both particular and universal. It
recognizes and seeks to foster a deeper more
fundamental and universal aspect of our sharedhumanity.” He invited forum participants “to begin
to identify as a global citizen and to move your life
toward taking action as a global citizen and asking
yourself, ‘What kind of actions am I taking today,right now, as a global citizen?’”Prof. Ibrahim introduced the idea of the “strong poet,”individuals such as Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela and Daisaku Ikeda,
who not only possess “a radical vision, but alanguage that enables them to articulate that vision.”
He added that strong poets are “full of wisdom, they
think beyond themselves and are courageous andcompassionate.”
During the panel discussion, the emerging
scholars—who had participated in a three-partseminar series organized by the Center earlier in theyear—explored the aspects of Daisaku Ikeda’s
approach to global citizenship that were resonatingwith them the most. The panel also discussed thepotential impact on people’s behavior andrelationships if Daisaku Ikeda’s perspective on
global citizenship were put into practice in oursociety today.
To conclude the main forum session, Ikeda Center
executive director Kevin Maher gave his closing
remarks, which was followed by participants joining
small group discussions.
For a detailed report on the forum, click on this link:
Becoming Wide Awake to Our Wisdom, Courage,
and Compassion | The Ikeda Center for Peace,
Learning & Dialogue | Cambridge, MADaisaku Ikeda on Education
Thoughts on Education for Global Citizenship(Delivered at Teachers College, Columbia
University, New York, on June 13, 1996.)

This Issue’s Selected Writing
Sharma, N. (2020). Value-creating global
citizenship education for sustainable development:
Strategies and approaches. Cham: Palgrave
Macmillan/Springer Nature.

Postscript⚫

We welcome comments regarding this Report aswell as suggestions on specific material that itshould feature in future issues. Contact: Ikeda
Research Institute for Soka Education (IRISE)
of Soka University (IRISE-access@soka.ac.jp)⚫

This Report is issued on a bimonthly basis, with
the next release tentatively scheduled for March
18, 2022