I nt roduc t ion
The Asia-Paciﬁc Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) promotes regional cooperationand exchange activities in the ﬁelds of education and culture for the purpose ofrealising a peaceful and sustainable society where diverse culture is respected. As
one of our activities, we have carried out bilateral International Exchange
Programmes for School Teachers between Japan and Korea, China, Thailand andIndia since 2001. As of March 2023, the programmes were carried out as part of the“International Collaboration Programme for Education for the New Era” commissionedby the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan(MEXT). This booklet, the ʻTREE of International Exchange: Weaving the Future
Through Dialogue,ʼ which summarises 20 years of the achievements of ACCUʼs
International Exchange Programmes for School Teachers, along with voices ofparticipants, has been produced in two languages, Japanese and English, to make iteasily accessible for people in the ﬁeld.
The ʻTREEʼ in the title originates from Asia-Paciﬁc Educatorsʼ Platform: TREE, a
website for programme participants. The International Exchange Programmes for
School Teachers provides a place for Transformative learning, Respect for diversity,
Exploration and Exchanges (TREE).
This booklet consists of an introduction to international exchange “opportunities”(Chapter 1), a “dialogue and contribution” section that listens to the voices ofteachers (Chapter 2), and topics on international exchange for school teachers(Chapter 3). A production committee for this booklet was formed with three teachers
who had participated in ACCUʼs International Exchange Programmes for School
Teachers, and they collaborated, through deep discussions with the ACCU, toproduce it.
Dialogue between teachers is a core part of the Programme, especially in this time
where there are increasing opportunities for online exchanges. Through thedialogues and contribution, this booklet conveys the dialogue that we think isimportant, in a way that we hope communicates the stories and brilliance of theteachers and children involved in this project to as many people as possible. We
hope that those people who pick up this booklet will feel that, even in these uncertain
times, they can move forward to a better future that transcends borders, and that itprovides hints to help them to discover new possibilities.
Last but not least, many people have participated in the creation of this booklet. We
would like to take this opportunity to thank you all.

Asia-Paciﬁc Cultural Centre for UNESCO（ACCU）
International Educational Exchange Department

3

Introduction

5

Chapter

6

The main player of this programme is "Teacher"1

Learning space where teachers and children are inspired
to change the futurein ACCUʼs International Exchange Programme for School Teachers

8

Opportunities where teachers in Asia meet and learn from one another

9

Create connections and expand exchanges

10

TREE Photo Contest

11

Chapter

12

TREE of International Exchange - Weaving the Future Through Dialogue -14

2 Nurturing through dialogue

Dialogue

Learning space where teachers and children
are inspired to change the future

Overcoming the COVID-19 Crisis - International Exchange Innovation -Mr. Shinichi Takahashi （Teacher, Koshigaya Kita High School, Saitama Prefecture）
Mr. Joen Honam （Teacher, Gangwon-do Oﬃce of Education, Gangwon International Education
Association, International Education Department）

21

Contribution

Connect with people and spread kindness to turn an unpredictable
future into a more peaceful future.

Mr. Itaru Matsuno（Teacher, Nagoya University of Economics, Ichimura Senior High School）

28

DialogueConnecting, learning from each other, taking actionItʼ s the brilliance of a kaleidoscope

Mr. Akira Ogawa（Teacher, Kitakyushu Municipal Sugao Junior High School）
Ms. Punam Rajage（Teacher, Kai. Sadashiv Urf Bapusaheb Darekar, Pune Municipal Corporation School no. 174-B Kondhawa bk.
Pune, Maharashtra, India）

３ International teacher exchanges during the current

35

Chapter40

The Asia-Paciﬁc Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)

41

Conclusion

COVID -19 crisis

Chapter

1Introduction video of the International Exchange Programme for School Teachers (with Japanese subtitles)

The main player of this programme is"Teacher"

Local communitiescom
mmunities

in ACCU’s International Exchange Programme for School Teachers

Opportunities for international exchanges througheducation are open not only to children, but also to
adults.
Meeting and talking with a wide variety of teachers interms of region, country, types of school, subjects,
positions and age, helps both parties realise what they
have in common and what is diﬀerent…
By sharing various values, and expressing latent ideas
and perspectives in words, this eventually helps lead toa deeper understanding of oneself both inside and out.
Those types of opportunities are expanding right infront of teachers.
How about reaching out and grabbing them?
These programmes provide an opportunity for teachers
to improve, and also encourage them to give their experiences back to their classrooms after the programmes
ﬁnish.

Parents & GuardiannChildren
Child
dren

※ The actual programme is comprised of a combination of several ofthese activities※ Period - About one week for an in-person programme- One-time, or a few times a month for an online programme

Dialogue・Exchange meetings

・Cultural experiences

・School visits

・Question and answer sessions

・Music/movie appreciation

・Photo contest

・Exchange of opinions

・Opening and closing ceremonies
Cooperation

・Experiments

・Lesson observation

・Educational/cultural institutions/World Heritage
sites visitsCollecting Information

・Joint lessons

・MEXT (Ministry of Education) lectures

・Creating action plans

・Lectures from experts

・Lesson study

6

Experiences

・Future oriented retrospective work

・Orientation

・Provision of information from handbooks

Colleagues
Colleaagues

Promotion of international mutual understanding andunderstanding of diverse values in the educational setting

Gain international
insight▼

Respect for diverse cultures,for a peaceful and sustainable society

Sharing Information
・Debrieﬁng sessions inside and outside the school
・Production of written reports
Online Platform：TREE

Have adialogue withvarious people

Be exposed to ideas,
perspectives and culturesof other countries

7

Opportunities where teachers in Asia
meet and learn from one another

Create connections and expand exchanges
Meet other teachers across the regions on Asia-Paciﬁc Educatorsʼ
Platform: TREE, a social media service for programme participants!

What is TREE?

Since 2000, the ACCU has been commissioned by UNESCO, United Nations University,and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan(MEXT), to carry out bilateral International Exchange Programmes for School Teachers

TREE is a membership-basedsocial media service for Japaneseand overseas teachers who haveparticipated in or cooperated on
International Exchange Program m e s f o r S c h o o l Te a c h e r s t ofacilitate exchanges among themand has been fully operated inJapanese and English since 2020.

with Korea, China, Thailand and India, which it has done for over 20 years.

A total of over 5,500 teachers have met through the programmes to mutually deepen
their understanding and learning.

Host

Jap an(MEXT)

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan
Planning, implementation and operation

UNESCO (ACCU)

Asia-Paciﬁc Cultural Centre for

TREE stands forTransformative learning,
Respect for diversity,
Exploration andExchanges.

A total of 1,203 school teachers have participated in dispatch programmes (as of March 2023, including
online programmes). A total of 224 school teachers have participated in exchange meetings with foreignteachers (as of March 2023, including online programmes). A total of 939 Boards of Education, schools andinstitutions have received visits from foreign teachers (as of March 2023, including online programmes).

Partner organisations

Ko rea2,336 school teachers participated between 2001 and March 2023 (including online programmes).

Partner organisation

C h in a

Ministry of Education of the Peopleʼs Republic of China (MOE)

1,782 school teachers participated between 2003 and March 2023 (including online programmes).

Partner organisation

Thailand

Korean National Commission for UNESCO (KNCU), Ministryof Education of the Republic of Korea (MOE)

Ministry of Education of the Kingdom of Thailand (MOE)

121 school teachers participated between 2015 and March 2023 (including online programmes).

Partner organisations

Ministry of Education of India (MOE), Centre for Environment

Education of India (CEE)In di a101 school teachers participated between 2016 and March 2023 (including online programmes).

＜Programme timeline＞

8

2001

Start of exchange programme with Korea

2002

Start of exchange programme with China

2010

10th anniversary of the programme

2015

Start of exchange programme with Thailand

2016

Start of exchange programme with India

2020

20th anniversary of the programme, start of Asia-Paciﬁc Educatorsʼ Platform: TREE

Join TREE<- Scan the QR code to register yourmembership (on computer or smartphone).
① Application for membership registration② Identiﬁcation by administrator (within three business days)③ Receipt of e-mail announcing registration completion◎ If you add the page to your smartphone home screen,
you can easily have access by tapping once like an app.

What you can do on TREE :After registration- Provision of materials and videos from thesecretariat to participants of International
Exchange Programmes for School Teachers- Information exchange among programmeparticipants- Finding interaction and project participants- Sharing your educational activities- Set proﬁle picture- Search for friends and send friend
requests- Join a group of your interest and enter agroup in the programme that you participate- Read a post by another user and leave
a comment- Make a post

9

TREE Photo Contest

mom
e

s

p r e c i ou s

nt

TREE holds photo contests on speciﬁc themes with the aim of stimulatinginteractions between its members.

Below are the winning entries for this yearʼs contest.

Theme

What is “peace” to you?

We created an opportunity to think about “peace” together, by
getting people to share photos that symbolised peace for them.

Nurturing through dialogue
The ttranquilTh
il sea off M
MochimunehiﬁﬁshinghihharbourbItʼ happyItht beb ablebl tot sing
i
f
l !
Itʼs
to
freely!

thinking about what “peace” is to me, but I ﬁnallyin Cambodia. Letʼs hope more and more children are(Shizuoka prefecture) at dusk. It took me quite a while
realised that to me itʼs that moment at the end of agood day when I look out at the sky and the sea. Letʼshope it spreads a little peace throughout the world!

Theme

After the civil war, children were able to enjoy art freely
able to experience art. Letʼs hope that they have abright future.

What is the most rewarding part about being a teacher for you?
We created an opportunity to share photos that symbolised therewarding aspects of being a teacher.

MeetingMtitteachershffrom aroundd th
the world,
ld andd students
t d t ffullll off

ThiTThis iis a photoh t off ttree-planting.
l ti
I ffeell it iis

These numerous beneﬁts make the noble profession of

future of the planet, and for children who willlove.

teaching worthwhile.

10

rewarding to do things for the sake of thebe the leaders of the future generation.

Chapter2

A candid brainstorming session was held,

where keywords about international exchanges for school teachers were jointly contributed.

: Please tell us what was yourmotive for and how you felt
about international exchanges
for school teachers.

Weaving the Future Through Dialogue

Mr. Matsuno

When producing this book, we formed a production

committee that was centred around three teachers who

We all explored together the "right"
subtitle until the very end!

I wanted to know what it would feel like if I went to one ofthe partner countries of the school teacher exchanges.
At ﬁrst I was all alone, but I realised that I got a lot ofkindness and love from teachers who were initiallyindiﬀerent, and before I knew it I dragged a school into
the exchanges. But I think that itʼs important that it is notmandatory.

Mr. OgawaI think the ﬁrst step is a little intimidating. Thatʼs
why small steps are important. After that, itʼs
about perceiving each problem as somethingthat we all have in common.

Mr. Takahashi

Even if there are lots of teachers who areinterested in international exchanges, they donʼtknow how to connect with foreign schools. I
think this international exchange for school
teachers has great potential as a ﬁrst step.

had participated in ACCUʼs International Exchange

Programme for School Teachers. The ACCU and theteachers had deep discussions online to produce thebooklet, and ended up with a face-to face meeting,where they arrived at a subtitle that incorporates the
Weaving the future through dialoguesHere are some excerpts from the teachersʼ actual words
that were said while they were arriving at the subtitle
decision. Surely it will serve as encouragement to: Is it quite diﬃcult to get other teachers in the school involved?

Power ofimaginationpassionate ideas contained in this booklet.

ters

EncounDiversity

And continuing on the following pages, the teachers on

us to experience (personally) from the International
Exchange Programme for School Teachers.

Mr. Takahashi

Stimulation

tions toConneccal
lo itiesnmcom u

the committee each show us from their dialogues withteachers abroad and contributions what they really wantWell, when you start at a new school, itʼs important torespect the place and the individual teachers there, so I
think you need to give it some time and get to know
people before pursuing that path.

Constructing
networks

everyone who is thinking about knocking on the door ofinternational exchanges for school teachers.

Shindot
Respec

SDGs
Innovation

Ito

Ability to
get involved

blem ty
Pro abili
g
n
i
v
sol

ing
Act eselfnobyMr. Matsuno

Commonalities
and differences

Small
steps
Continuing
if it’s fun

Dialogue
Love
Considerationfor others

Mr. OgawaIf the teacher enjoys it, the children will enjoy it too!
Even to management I conﬁdently say “Iʼll do it!”
Although itʼs natural that there are diﬀerent levelsof enthusiasm, so I want people to see me enjoying
myself.

: What kind of future do teachers envision toward the international exchange?

Personto person

inDifficulty g
continuin

The teachers themselves
shouldnʼt be afraid of the
programme failing, andwant to give the children
more experiences.

By building up relationships with not only teachers but local
people as well, you come to perceive things as not simply otherpeopleʼs problem but as a problem that concerns you. This
leads to people feeling more sympathetic to the other people in
the world. Even after 2030, I want to give children the ability tocontinue aiming for a sustainable society by themselves. If
people are connected, theyʼll manage it somehow or another!

Giving childdifferent dr ren
eams

r

artne
our p on
ace y
s
f
,
e
t
p
s
o r
Fir
rson t
as pe
logue
ia
d
a
e
= hav

Weaving

Mr. Matsuno

Mr. Takahashi

UIF

Mr. OgawaWithout taking forever to choose my words … if weʼre all living anyway, I
want to connect childrenʼs future with “kindness!” I think I want tocreate that kind of society!
Usually we tend to prioritise study as being the most important thing,but I think this can be a chance to help make children
be more considerate.

Future5ISPVHIDon’t misskeywords..

Dialogue

Imaizumi

Production Committee Members

Mr. Shinichi Takahashi (Koshigaya Kita High School, Saitama Prefecture, Teacher: English, Inquiry-based learning)
Mr. Ryo Ogawa (Kitakyushu Municipal Sugao Junior High School, Teacher: Social studies, Special needs education)
Mr. Itaru Matsuno (Nagoya University of Economics, Ichimura Senior High School, Teacher: Social studies)
Asia-Paciﬁc Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) International Educational Exchange Department
Yumi Shindo (Director) / Tae Ito (Programme specialist) / Mika Temma (Programme specialist)
Design Moi Co., Ltd.

© Katsusuke Nishina

Akiko Imaizumi

Thank you for sharing
Invaluable experiences.

Temma

13

Dialogue
Mr. Joen Honam (hereafter referred to as Joen): Iʼm going to talk about Gangwon-do morethan Korea, but we have been doing these exchanges for a long time. However, in-person exchanges
have become diﬃcult due to COVID-19.
So, since last year, we have been carrying out online exchanges. Since weʼve gone online, many
students and teachers have said that they want us to produce more types of various content, so
now weʼre providing content like this forum. And we plan to continue like this in the future.
The exchange between Japan and Gangwon-do was held online for the ﬁrst time last year. I haveheard that many Japanese students want to interact with Korean students, so I hope that thisOvercoming the COVID-19 Crisis- International Exchange Innovation -ﬂourishes even more in the future.
I got the impression from my interactions with Japanese students that they are very diligent in their
preparations, and I was very impressed by all their hard work. Currently, you have provided us with
an opportunity to carry out two international exchange programmes, including one at KasukabeGirlʼs High School (Mr. Takahashiʼs previous school), and Iʼm also hoping to actively carry out more

Mr. Shinichi Takahashi

Mr. Joen Honam

Teacher, Koshigaya Kita High School,
Saitama Prefecture

Teacher, Gangwon-do Oﬃce of Education,
Gangwon International Education Association,
International Education Department

exchange programmes in the future that students can participate in.
Takahashi: There was a programme in my district that recruited outstanding students in the
district to go to MIT and Harvard University in America, but that has ceased due to COVID-19 and is
now online. From observing the programme the other day, I felt that it was very rich in content, andBackground of the dialogue
Mr. Shinichi Takahashi, a teacher in charge of the English department, international exchange andinquiry-based learning in Koshigaya City in Saitama Prefecture, and Mr. Joen Honam, a teacher who
promotes international exchange at the Gangwon International Education Association, which is
attached to the Gangwon-do Oﬃce of Education in Korea, met (online) through the 2021 Invitation
Programme for Teachers from Korea.
Mr. Takahashi was very impressed with the energetic activities of Mr. Joen who had networks inmany countries. Even after the programme, the two of them continued to engage in exchanges

was even better than what youʼd get from studying abroad. Is that because youʼve taken extra caredue to it being online? Please tell me if you have any secret tips.
Joen: First of all, of course weʼre also carrying it out online in the same way. I think we can hold it
stably online but, as expected, from the studentsʼ point of view thereʼs a limited sense of actually
being on site, and I feel that the concentration and participation levels decline over time. Therefore,
weʼre also considering doing it face-to-face again from next year. However, at Gangwon-do, weʼreplanning to do an online and oﬄine hybrid mix.
As for secret tips, we are building international exchange networks overseas through the embassy. In

involving students, and due to Mr. Takahashiʼs enthusiasm and him wanting to acquire hints on how

the same way I met you through the Korean National Commission for UNESCO (KNCU) and theto promote international exchanges, not only at the school teacher level but also at the

ACCU, weʼre coordinating with other countries through those sorts of organizations. I think weʼreorganizational level, they held a dialogue.

able to have these deep exchanges because of this type of coordination founded on trust. Overseasorganizations can help with adjusting for the time diﬀerence, sorting out subjects that the students

Shinichi Takahashi (hereafter referred to as Takahashi): Thank you for today. The other day, I

are interested in, picking the target grade, and getting to grips with these sorts of issues in advancehelps make the programme something meaningful. At Gangwon-do, we think itʼs important toparticipated as an observer in the “Japan-Korea meeting on international exchange programs incollaborate with these organizations that you can trust. I think itʼs extremely important for the stable

2022,” a youth exchange programme, that was moderated by Mr. Joen, and was very impressed byoperation of the programme that schools that will actively participate are selected through suchwhat a wonderful programme it was.

organizations, and after that operation and management policies are decided in advance.

My districtʼs educational bureau also has an international exchange department but they donʼt have
many exchange programmes with various countries, so I really wanted to introduce it to my districtʼs

14

Takahashi: Your current programme involves the four countries of New Zealand, Taiwan, Japan,

board of education, and I wondered if that type of programme that I saw the other day has been

and Korea, and, in the future, it might also possibly include Russia and Australia. No boards ofmainstream in Korea for a long time?

education in Japan are involved in activities on that scale, but it really made me realise that there is a15

lot of potential out there.

relationships while creating the next programme.

I also often contact embassies and get people from the embassy to visit the school, or take students
to visit the embassy. Sometimes I can get in contact with someone right away, but sometimes I donʼt

Takahashi: Students who werenʼt native English speakers also worked really hard, but despitehear from anyone for ages… Did you have a special connection with someone to start with?

Japanese students being well prepared in the programme, were there times when they couldnʼtexpress their opinions properly when they had an opportunity to do so?

Joen: No, I donʼt have any special personal connections with anyone. I think we probably have very
similar problems. I think that the response of the embassy probably depends a lot on the staﬀ that

Joen: Well, yes. They seemed really well prepared, and I think that they did an excellent job when it

are deployed from each country, and the will of the particular individual that you deal with. I think thatcame to the presentation. So far, in the international exchange programmes that we have run at

the countries that weʼve had good exchanges with up to now, has largely been due to the very strong

Gangwon-do with countries where English is not the ﬁrst language, Iʼve felt that in sections where they

will of the person at the embassy who just happened to answer the phone. At Gangwon-do, we have

have to answer in oﬀ-the-cuﬀ English, they often struggle to answer straight away. However, having

contacted all sorts of countries, and the ones weʼve been able to successfully cooperate with so far

said that, I want to praise all the students from Kasukabe Girlʼs High School for being able to answer

are the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, and Vietnam. There are someand express themselves so well. In the future, in exchange programmes between Japan and Korea,

situations where we haven't been able to successfully cooperate as well, but we have also thought

weʼll have exchange programmes in Japanese of course, and we also have plans to have debates inabout a backup plan. Weʼre also applying for exchanges with countries like Italy, and think it might beEnglish. I think that increasing these types of opportunities will help students become able to cope,

good to apply for cooperation through the local government. Also, with countries where it is goingand improve their improvisational skills and personal abilities.

well, I feel that it was a big help that we contacted them with a specialised programme.
Iʼve also heard that there are some areas that donʼt feel that there is any particular need for

Takahashi: Up to now, in Japanese high schoolsʼ course of study, English has been evaluated ininternational exchanges. But I believe that by gradually doing international exchanges with these otherterms of the four skills of speaking, writing, listening and reading, but now speaking has been split

countries, even if itʼs just with small steps, that theyʼll come to understand the necessity. I think thatʼs

into a further two categories of presentation and conversational exchange, and, as you say, they are

how we can build up our network. I also believe that itʼs better to contact international organizations

good at presentation if they prepare, but I think that impromptu conversational exchange and being

rather than schools directly.

able to exchange opinions in a foreign language are very important issues for the future, and it is amajor issue at my current school.

Takahashi: There are some areas that donʼt place much importance on international education.

Iʼd like to hear about Korean students as well, but in Japan they tend to be extremely uncomfortablewith making mistakes, and so try to speak in perfect English. And ultimately I really feel that this slows

Joen: Iʼve heard that from several people but I donʼt know if itʼs right or not, but Iʼve heard and felt

them down and hinders them from responding spontaneously. When you were mediating thethat there are some situations like that. But I also hear that we should continue to keep knocking on the

programme the other day, you expressed your thoughts very rhythmically in English, and I thought

door and not give up, even in those situations.

that students would probably learn a lot from just listening to that.

In other words, at Gangwon-do we hope to carry on doing international exchanges like this one with you.

Joen: Many of the students that participated in that Gangwon-do forum had lived abroad, so a lot of
Takahashi: Certainly. Please come to Japan next year and come to my district. Iʼm looking forward

them were very conﬁdent in their English abilities. So, although you just praised me for my natural

to seeing you. Mr. Joen, what do you place most importance on when youʼre carrying out an

English, for me the reality was that I had to proceed smoothly in English like that. I think that Japaneseinternational exchange programme?

studentsʼ greatest strength in English is their clear pronunciation. In regards to the four skills that you
talked about earlier, I think that improvisational conversation exchanges is an issue in both Japan andJoen: I think that there are many things that are important. But, ﬁrst of all I think meeting,

Korea. As youʼd expect, students who have experience of living abroad have good English, arecommunicating, and sharing ideas with people involved from overseas is important. From my

conﬁdent speakers, and can talk about their ideas lucidly. Compared to them, students who havenʼt

experience so far, there are an extremely large number of things that are important in international

lived abroad are more limited. But even with those limitations, they have to demonstrate their abilities,

exchanges, but I personally attach the most importance to relationships with the people involved, overand they have to prepare for presentations in advance. And so, I think that the Japanese students did

aspects like the business side of things.

a good job reading aloud writing that they had prepared, and properly pronouncing words so that

Related to what I was saying earlier, I think once you have done a programme, you can take thethey could be heard. That is an important ability.

results from that and start thinking again about another programme. And you can continue to build

16

17

Takahashi: While I think international exchange through English is important, you just mentioned

about 20 schools in Gangwon-do in the UNESCO Associate Schools Network, but not many of themexchanges in Japanese, and you can now take Korean as a second foreign language at Kasukabe

are actively involved in exchanges. Iʼm hoping to actively promote international exchanges in these

Girlsʼ High School. In Japan there are quite a few places where you can study a second foreignschools in the future. I feel that using the UNESCO Associate School Network for these types oflanguage besides English, such as Chinese, German, and French, although Korean is surprisingly rare.

exchanges will enable better exchanges, and will help expand them. Iʼm also planning to work hard on

There should be a massive demand for it in Japan, but no systematic educational arrangements haveincreasing the number of schools in the UNESCO network.

been made for it yet. Iʼd love to do an international exchange programme using Korean with, forexample, the ﬁrst day being in English, the second day being in Japanese, and the third day in Korean.

Takahashi: There are a lot of teachers who are interested in international exchanges and those

Listening to you talk made me think that some thing like that would be really good.

types of activities, but are surprisingly unaware of UNESCOʼs activities. Next month, as part of the“Japan and Korea Teacher Dialogue Programme” (co-hosted by KNCU and ACCU) Iʼll be teaching a
joint lesson together with teachers from two schools in Seoul, Korea, and, ﬁrst of all, other teachers
were surprised to hear about such a fantastic activity, and they would have been happy to do it.
In the future Iʼm going to focus my eﬀorts on spreading these kinds of programmes to young
Japanese teachers, and I feel that itʼs crucial to create organizations to do this. I want to expand thesewonderful types of programmes even further out into the world, and I think itʼs important to create asystem for this.

Joen: I support your activities. Gangwon-do would also like to work together with you on this.
Takahashi: Now, the word diversity has spread around the world, and while it has been widely
accepted, I personally slightly feel that if you look at the downside there is a tendency to not interfere
in what people are doing. And big wars are taking place among all this, and I think that itʼs really
important for the future of the Earth that high school students and students worldwide connect andtalk together, even if only online. Mr. Joen, do you have any ideas for activities that you want to do in
the future?
Photo provided by Gangwon-do International Education Association

Joen: Thatʼs a wonderful idea. In Gangwon-do, weʼve had an agreement with a Japanese high school
since 1995, and do exchanges. We had an online exchange meeting last year. We interact with thisschool in Japanese. I felt with last yearʼs online exchange that it was a real shame that despite the
Korean students being so interested in Japan, we were only able to hold this exchange once a year. In
the future, I would like to hold exchange events in Japanese with everyone from Kasukabe Girls' HighSchool in Japan as well.

Takahashi: Although itʼs really hard to ﬁnd a partner school.... Being able to meet you through an
ACCU programme in one of those times has been a really great asset to me. There are very few highschools in Japan that are UNESCO Associated Schools, and there is not a single public high school in
my district (Saitama Prefecture) that is one. So I hope that the UNESCO network will be able toenable dialogue and communication about international problems like wars and climate change.
Therefore, Iʼm thinking about running debate and dialogue programmes concerning those types ofinternational aﬀairs. Iʼd like to use this occasion to tell you about the direction that Gangwon-do istaking. I think it should change from the type of exchanges we have done with Japan up to now. So
far they have simply been cultural exchanges. I think many have been one-way exchanges to learn
Japanese. In the future I want to make them more two-way interactive exchanges. Our policy is toactively promote international exchanges that enable two-way exchanges with other countries,
including Japan. Ones where international social problems, like the war in Ukraine or the climatechange crisis, can be discussed among students and within the school. Now, weʼre planning andpromoting an international exchange programme using those types of subjects. These debate
programmes are scheduled to start from next year. The plan is to mainly let the students drive it

expand even more. How widespread is the UNESCO Associated Schools Network in Korea?

forward. Weʼre planning it so that everyone can get to know each other better and become friends.

Joen: I can only talk about Gangwon-do. I was put in charge of the UNESCO Associated Schools

by the relations between countries. Nevertheless, we want to deal with these international social

Network in Gangwon-do at the end of last year. There are currently

18

Joen: As you say, I think that itʼs extremely important to talk about international aﬀairs, and to

International exchange programmes are inevitably aﬀected by international aﬀairs. They are aﬀected
problems and try to build cooperative relationships.
19

Contribution
Takahashi: Kamsahamnida (Thank you in Korean). In my life up to now, I feel that Korean culture has
had the biggest impact on me. I often see Korean entertainment on my television or on the internet,
but when I watch the news I hear that Japanʼs relationship with Korea is not very good…. That seems

Connect with people and spread kindness
to turn an unpredictable future into a more peaceful future.

really strange. My wife and daughter spend more time looking at the faces of K-pop artists than they
do looking at mine (laughs). As you say, it would be great if we could gradually get rid of the idea thatcertain topics are regarded as taboo when weʼre talking about various things. In that sense, I feel that
there is great potential in the activities that you are doing, and that I will endeavour to do from here on.

Mr. Itaru Matsuno

Joen: (In Japanese) Arigato (Thank you). I said earlier that frankly I feel that up to now our exchange

Teacher, Nagoya University of Economics,
Ichimura Senior High School

relationship with Japan has been quite a one-way relationship, but I cannot help having a few doubts
about whether we can have a relationship where we can talk about sensitive issues. I met andinteracted with Japanese students three times last year, and I felt that they were extremely bright andthat they had a deep interest in Korean culture. And I wondered if they couldnʼt have diﬀerent andbetter dreams. I thought that it would be a good starting point if they could leave the sensitive topics
behind for a while, and instead talk about international social problems that we have in common. As amember of the Gangwon-do International Education Committee, Iʼd like to say how supportive we areof your activities. I hope we can build a good cooperative relationship.

Takahashi: Kamsahamnida (Thank you in Korean). Our relationship started when I ﬁrst met andtalked with you last year when I was at my former school, but I never dreamed at that time that weʼd

It starts from the classroom
Connecting textbooks with the world you live in
Carrying out learning activities with high school students in the classroom was what motivated us to turn
our attention to international exchanges. These learning activities can be divided into three stages oflearning.

be able to talk for over an hour like this. I hope that students will go on your programmes, then that

The ﬁrst stage was “learning about domestic and international events together with the students.” We did

the students will become friends on an individual level, and from that point be able to speak about

activities that helped us understand and connect the contents of the textbooks with events that weresensitive topics for the ﬁrst time, and things that are ﬁlled with meaning, and I think it would be great

occurring currently. Connecting events in the world with whatʼs in the textbooks is a citizenshipto build a future with that type of dream.

educational activity. All sorts of events are occurring on the earth every day. We used newspapers andJoen: Thatʼs true. I agree with what you said and think we can share a good dream together.

The second stage was “learning about each otherʼs kind diverse perspectives” by getting everyone in thethe news to learn that these events had a big eﬀect on ourselves.

Takahashi: Thank you very much. Do you have any ﬁnal comments?
Joen: Well ﬁrst Iʼd like to thank you for inviting me to have this meaningful discussion today. Iʼm notsure how much help I was, but I was happy to take part. You mentioned before that you werepreparing to do a lesson with teachers from Seoul and Iʼm interested about the content of that, but Iʼll
contact you later to talk about that. I think the plan you talked about earlier is a dream that can cometrue. And Iʼd like to help you with that dream personally, publicly and oﬃcially. If you have anysuggestions in the future, please feel free to contact me at anytime. I think weʼll also continue to haveinternational exchanges in the future. I hope that the students will be able to interact with each othereven more. (In Japanese) Arigato gozaimasu (Thank you very much).

classroom to make their opinions clear. Each individual student has kind opinions inside them that reﬂects
their personality, but the status quo has made it diﬃcult to express their true opinions out loud. So, weused facilitation software and electronic blackboards to anonymously visualise each studentʼs opinions. By
using this visualisation of each studentʼs “kind diverse perspectives,” while protecting their privacy, wewere able to share in the classroom kind opinions that reﬂected their personalities, and think more deeply
about our own ideas.
The third stage was an activity that asked what kind of measures (Action) they could take considering
their own perspectives, and taking the ﬁrst two activities (“learning about domestic and international
events together with the students” and “learning about each otherʼs kind diverse perspectives”) into
account. I personally worked alongside the students, conscious of the need to help nurture problem
solving skills as they set out to deal with the problems that are currently arising (in an unknown
environment) with their own eﬀorts.
As we worked through these three stages of learning, we confronted issues that could not be solved by(Discussion held on 22 August, 2022)

school activities alone. In order to solve domestic and international problems, we realised that there was aneed to hear from a variety of voices such as local people, people working for NPOs that are speciﬁcallyworking on solving that problem and other Japanese and international high school students. Without

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21

external collaboration, we couldnʼt work towards a solution. By doing activities outside the classroom aswell as in, and actually connecting with the world outside the classroom, as well as connecting withoutside people, it helps create the prospect (Anticipation) of being able to solve the problem.
In this way, by (1) learning about events occurring domestically and internationally, (2) visualizing thediverse kindness each individual has and thinking deeply about their own ideas, and (3) doingcollaborative activities with people outside the school, it naturally leads to Sustainable Developmental
Goals (SDGs), and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) activities, and connects to international
exchanges and global citizen activities.
ESD contributes to all of the SDGs, which are speciﬁc goals for building a more peaceful world. The
components of the OECD Learning Compass 2030 are the “core foundations of learning, knowledge,
skills, attitudes and values, transformative competencies to create a better future, and the AAR(Anticipation, Action and Reﬂection) Cycle.” When actually carrying out these activities, school teachers
utilise ACCUʼs International Exchange Programme for School Teachers to connect with teachers outsideof their school, which is very useful for
networking and building up connections withother people while you proceed with the activities.
At our school, exchanges before the COVID-19

The ﬁrst international exchange between the students of Suwon Foreign Language High School and ourpandemic led to international support andschool was held online in November 2019. For this cultural exchange meeting, the students of bothcollaborative activities during the COVID-19 crisis,countries divided up into groups and gave presentations to each other on popular subjects like “Anwhich Iʼll talk about later.

introduction to food, make-up and dramas,” and “Advice on going to higher education.” The results of the

I feel that international exchanges cultivate anquestionnaires that both schools carried out after the event showed that, like the Dispatch Programme toimportant perspective of being a global citizen,

Korea, it was an enjoyable exchange meeting. We used Skype at that time, as it was before the pandemic

for students who will be living in the future, so

and video meeting systems like Zoom were not widely in use. Thanks to gaining the cooperation of thethat they can live resiliently and deal with prob-

teachers in both the Korean and Japanese schools, and working together by holding meetings,

lems that transcend borders in an unpredictable
future.

Volunteers making a thank you banner for Fairtrade
products

Meeting with Noh Yumi

connection tests and so on beforehand, the event went very smoothly.
In ways like this, after the Dispatch Programme to Korea in July 2019, our school and Suwon Foreign
Language High School, in addition to activities at the schools in both countries, have continued to sharevarious types of information, such as about our schoolʼs international support activities of UNESCO

I met with Ms. Yumi in July 2019, on the “2019 Invitation Programme for Japanese Teachers by theactivities (volunteers interested in SDGs).

Government of Korea” (hereafter referred to as the Dispatch Programme to Korea) when I visited the

Meanwhile, our SGDs volunteers continue to learn from UNHCR and JICA about the problems of refugees

Suwon Foreign language High School. On the Dispatch Programme to Korea, we were able to have aﬂeeing from wars and conﬂicts, and have taken

great time and deepen mutual understanding by interacting with both teachers and students. I particularly

action with charity events (selling fair trade

felt the studentsʼ kindness and their perspectives as global citizens when the high school students gave

products) to ﬁnancially support Syrian women

their presentations in Japanese. During my participation in this exchange, I personally thought deeply

refugees, fundraising for the UNHCR organization,

about what I should work on for the sake of peace as a teacher when I returned to the classroom.

and holding a UNHCR refugee ﬁlm festival, while

I continued to interact with the other teachers through email, Skype, etc., after the programme as well toworking together with outside parties. One questionbuild friendly relationships, which helped promote mutual understanding and the creation of a solidthat came out of our studies was, “Do you get peace

network. And due to this, as a result of continuing international exchange activities with Ms. Yumi and thewhen wars and conﬂicts are over?” so we also

other teachers at Suwon Foreign language High School, it led to us being able to hold student exchange

learned about the current situation in post-war

meetings.

Cambodia. Our support activities for Cambodia* From “Under the TREE of International Exchange” (pp.36-37)

arose from our online studies about the situation on

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23

the ground there. In August 2019, we realised that there was no playground equipment on the grounds ofpublic primary schools in deprived areas, so the community and the high school students collaborated
together on a “Swing donation project,” and then a “Well repair project.”
In 2020, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we continued to interact and share information
with Suwon Foreign Language High School, and there was a crossover with the support activities for
Cambodia that our school was carrying out, as we decided to collaborate together on the “Homemade
mask support project” that Iʼll introduce next.
Cambodia support project carried out with Suwon Foreign Language High School 2020 & 2021
This was a project to send homemade masks to public primary schools in the Puok District, Siem Reap
Province of Cambodia, carried out collaboratively by students from our school and high school students
from the Suwon Foreign Language High School. The project arose as the students continued to study
Participants from Suwon Foreign Language High School (2020)

and asked themselves, “Is there anything that we can do?” This is a region where people live on one totwo dollars a day. Cambodia, like Japan, sealed their borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19, andtook the measure of temporarily closing all of their schools to protect the health of their students. Afterthe temporary school closures, it was compulsory to wear masks in the classroom but, as in Japan, there
was a continuous shortage.

A thank-you letter from the Department of Education in Trapeang

Thum Village, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia.Joint mask project

Participants from Suwon Foreign Language High School (2021)

involving three countries (Korea, Japan and Taiwan) (2020, 2021)* The thank-you letter clearly speciﬁed the names of the schools

in the three countries by writing it using the alphabet.

Both Japan and Korea were in the middle of dealing with the seemingly never-ending COVID-19 crisis, but
we were able to continue our interactions and links between the schools, and collaborate together on aninternational support project for Cambodia.
We continued this activity for the 2020 and 2021
school years, and we received a thank-you letter fromthe Cambodian Ministry of Education.
Take action by yourself
Thatʼs why you feel the hardships and thewarm support
There are also diﬃculties involved in interacting withChildren at a public primary school wearing the masks sent toCambodia24

30,000 masks from Japan and the SDGs

volunteer students (The Chunichi Shimbun newspaper)

outside schools. The ﬁrst thing that needs to becoordinated is the dates and times that activities are25

held. Each school has a diﬀerent timetable and schedule for school events. And when you transcend

activities to support Ukrainian refugees ﬂeeing from war and conﬂicts raised over 850,000 yen fromborders, there are also big diﬀerences due to time diﬀerences, whether they have long vacations or not,citizens, which we donated to the UNHCR.

the timing of entrance exams, and so on, so just coordinating dates and times was not easy at all.
In addition, further adjustments may become necessary if you are working with people from the world

Teachers as global citizens

outside of school, such as researchers or people from the local community.
In the future, I think that as collaborative activities with the outside world advance, the teacherʼs skills as a

In my interactions with partner schools and while carrying out projects, there were two things I took great

facilitator will become even more important as they act as a coordinator between the school and thecare over.

outside.

The ﬁrst was to personally understand the perspective of Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and to pay

Also, unpredictable trouble may crop up while the project is being carried out. The 2021 mask support

the utmost respect to my partners. “GCED aims to contribute to learners taking the initiative in creating a

project had a problem with international transportation when the masks were detained at Phnom Penh.

peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, safe and sustainable world, by getting them to take on an active role in facing

On that occasion, we had to get help from a lot of people.

the various problems that exist in the world, and work on solving them at the local and international
level.” From the MEXT website. To create an environment where students can face various global

A feeling of happiness fromproblems, ﬁrst I must personally have a deep understanding of the current situation in both countries

various peopleof the upmost importance that there is mutual respect.

cooperation and solidarity with(social conditions), and in order to work on collaborative activities at the local and international level, itʼs
The second thing was to involve stakeholders and include many people from wider society. Dealing with a

If I had to say what was the motivation,variety of international problems is diﬃcult if you can only rely on your own abilities and areas of activity.

point or pleasure of doing these projects, Iʼd

If teachers can act as facilitators and involve stakeholders, including people from wider society, it will leadprobably say itʼs the feeling of happiness I

to better solutions and, furthermore, by cooperating with others, teachers can escort students to

get from doing collaborative activities withresearch activities in areas outside of their own expertise to help solve problems, which leads tolots of friends. Even though we donʼt

improving the quality of education.

necessarily solve a particular international
problem, I get a strong sense of solidarity,and experience feelings of kindness, fromworking collaboratively with lots of people.

30,000 masks from Japan and the SDGs volunteer
students (The Chunichi Shimbun newspaper)

When Iʼm working on collaborative activities together with other people out in the world, like researchers,
school student leaders, teachers, students, people in the community, and teachers and students fromother countries, it really feels just like weʼre spending time cultivating a big TREE.
I feel the activity connects not only to learning at school, but that working with people outside of school
helps create the concept of “social well-being.” I hope that students who experienced these activities andwill live in an unpredictable future, will ﬁnd solutions through collaboration when they are confronted with
big problems after they graduate.
As we have continued to carry out these activities, we have received support from not only Mr. Matsuoka,
our schoolʼs director, and Mr. Shibuya, our head teacher, but also from the teachers in the staﬀ room, theparents and guardians, and the people in the local community. From 2022, a UNESCO Committee wasfounded in the school from among a group of students who wanted to learn about the ideology of
UNESCO and take action by themselves. While itʼs only a small sprout, I want to continue to watch over
and work alongside it in the hope that one day it will become a big TREE.
There are many diﬀerent opinions in the world, but by cooperating jointly with a variety of people, for our
support project for Puok District, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, we received over 100 messages of
support from all over Japan, including Hokkaido, as well as donations of 3,000 masks in 2020, and 30,000

Thoughts on the future, and those people who have continued to collaborate
From here on, Iʼd like to continue in the same way as before in working with my students on peace
activities (UNESCO activities) that value “relationships with people.”Through cultural exchanges and international support activities with everyone at Suwon Foreign Language
High School, we were able to carry out a project that was a bridge to peace for both countries, and will
hopefully lead to a bright future.
Activities where I worked with people both inside and outside of Japan helped me perceive global
problems as something that concerns me, and cultivated my ability to explore them.
In addition, Japanese and Koreanhigh school students were able towork together on the Cambodia
support project. From here on too,Iʼd like to continue to promote ESD
with everyone, and work on
initiatives that transcend national
borders using the UNESCO
Associated Schools Network.

masks in 2021. Furthermore, we also received support from businesses, and so we were able to install
handwashing facilities in those places, as well as sending them masks. In addition, our fund-raising

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Dialoguelearn, and what they could do. And even after the activities started, I continued to think about how
and what they could learn through them. The reason I oﬃcially started to do environmental activities
at my school was due to the start of a policy to promote environmental activities at schools in Pune,
which is where my school is located. At ﬁrst, I started by teaching the children about the ecology ofwild animals in Puneʼs wildlife parks, based on initiatives taken to protect wild animals. The ﬁrst weekof October is designated as “Wild life week” in India, which is a week for wild life protection activities,
so during that I introduced learning activities about the wild animalsʼ way of life in the park, and theneed to protect them. In speciﬁc terms, I got the children to write a script for a play by themselves.
And then, the children acted out the role of animals in the play. And thanks to various people

Connecting, learning from each other, taking actionItʼs the brilliance of a kaleidoscope

watching that play, they also thought about wild life, along with the children, and adopted a positive
perspective. The children wore animal masks in the play, and it was worked really well.
In addition to that, in India we have an art form called Rangoli, where coloured sand is used to makepictures with plant and animal motifs on ﬂoors or walls. We learned about the water and energy thatis needed to make these Rangoli, and as the children wanted to learn about environmental issues,

Mr. Akira Ogawa
Teacher, Kitakyushu Municipal Sugao
Junior High School

Ms. Punam Rajage
Teacher, Kai. Sadashiv Urf Bapusaheb Darekar,
Pune Municipal Corporation School no. 174-B
Kondhawa bk. Pune, Maharashtra, India

and waste disposal in particular, we made an online questionnaire and sent it to 70 organizations. At
that time, we received replies from over 100 people. Also, one of the activities we did during the
COVID-19 crisis was a rubbish bin contest. Students competed to see who could make the best
rubbish bin using eco-friendly materials like old newspapers. We spent 10 days making rubbish bins,
and then they were actually going to be installed in the local area. The theme was to make aneco-friendly rubbish bin that could be used in the same way as the regular plastic ones. The

Background of the dialogue

students thought by themselves about how they could make an eco-friendly rubbish bin. For

Mr. Ryo Ogawa, a teacher in charge of social studies and special needs education at a school in
Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and Ms. Punam Rajage, a teacher in charge of Marathi, English,
maths, science and social studies at a school in Pune District, Maharashtra State, India, met (online)
through the 2021 Invitation Programme for Teachers from India. Mr. Ogawa said that after meeting
Ms. Punam he discovered that the educational practices of Japan and India had a lot in common,and his image of India changed greatly. Both of these two people, who are developing powerfulactivities rooted in their local communities, were able to have a dialogue together.
Akira Ogawa (hereafter referred to as Ogawa): Ms. Punam, thank you for meeting with me
today. Last year I participated in the Invitation Programme for Teachers from India (hereafterreferred to as the India Invitation Programme), and I was deeply impressed by your activities at thattime. Today, Iʼd like to hear more about what appeals to you, the motivation for your activities, andwhat you think about the initiatives that you are doing.
Punam Rajage (hereafter referred to as Punam): Itʼs nice to see you. First, Iʼd like to express
my thanks to you, and then Iʼll start oﬀ the talk. If I remember correctly, I started doing
environmental activities at the school I was working at in around 2009. Before I started those
activities, I thought about what type of things the students should learn about, what they wanted to28

example, students came up with new eco-friendly product ideas like a rubbish bin that after it is ﬁlledwith rubbish can be buried in soil, and then left to naturally biodegrade.
Ogawa: I started my activities from around 2016, which was quite a bit later than you. I was
originally a social studies teacher, although now Iʼm a special needs teacher, but during my dailyinteractions with students I was struck by how many of them seemed to have low self-esteem andlacked self-conﬁdence. So, I started the “Econnect Project” as something that I thought might help
students solve or improve their problems. The term “Econnect” comes from combining the words

29

Ogawa: My school didnʼt have anything like that, but when I started doing activities I had a strong
desire to transform the children. At the time, there were no projects that connected the school withthe outside world. Therefore, in order to start a new project, I visited companies and public
institutions and asked them to work together with us.
Punam: Thatʼs a wonderful initiative.
Ogawa: Thank you very much. When I actually started my activities, I really saw that there were lotsof people doing activities all over the country, like this India Invitation Programme. I was surprised torealise that itʼs not just children who are shy, but a lot of adults are too. But the amount of people
who cooperated with us steadily increased as the activities built up.
When I participated in the India Invitation Programme last year, I hoped to get four things out of it“eco” and “connect.” Children in special needs classes have more experience of making mistakes
than those in regular classes, and so have a strong tendency to lack self-conﬁdence. Moreover, theresults of a 2014 Cabinet Oﬃce survey showed that Japanese children overall have low self-esteem
compared to children from other countries. In response to this, I started this initiative in the hopethat children could build self-conﬁdence by contributing to society and connecting with the local
community. Therefore, when we carry out a project we always tackle it by connecting with six
relevant organizations, which are international organizations, local organizations, educationalorganizations, NPOs/NGOs, governments and businesses. So far, we have taken on 21 projects inthe three sectors of disaster relief activities, social contribution activities, and international
exchanges. Iʼd like to ask you a question here. Probably each of these projects has various meanings
to each child, but they all have the theme of improving a problem, and Iʼd like to know what are themajor themes in your work?
Punam: The consistent theme in my projects and activities is nature conservation andenvironmental protection. Iʼm hoping that I can put conservation and environmental protection in thehands of the young generation, or the students in other words.
Ogawa: In 2016, when I started my activities, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) had not yet
spread to Japan, and it was quite hard to get understanding from people around us. Even in the school,
it was like, “What are you doing?” Has environmental education been promoted in India for a long time?
Punam: Environmental education started in India around 1985. I was still a child then, but myteachers taught us about nature conservation at school, and we did environmental protection
activities like planting trees on hills, so we also had opportunities to learn about environmental
protection at school. So, since I became a teacher myself, I also regularly do these types ofconservation and environmental protection activities. My fellow teachers are also doing similar
environmental activities with the children, which encourages me.

30

personally. The ﬁrst was personal growth and to gain knowledge. The second was new connections.
The third was to utilise the connections and knowledge I gained for the children. And the fourth was
to become a guidepost for my colleagues and junior teachers. Did you have any expectations forthis exchange, Ms Punam?
Punam: Taking part in this exchange programme was a new initiative for me. And I hoped thatparticipating in this programme would be a chance for teachers from other countries, and especiallyteachers from Japan this time, to get to know me and about the activities that Iʼm doing. As well as
introducing my activities to Japanese teachers, I also hoped that I could learn from them. As Iʼdheard that Japanese teachers are very diligent, passionate and hard working.
Ogawa: I was able to get to know you by participating in the India Invitation Programme, and mademany new discoveries. But many Japanese adults are shy. So, I think that there are some people whowant to take part in international exchanges, but canʼt manage to do it. I wish that they had yourenergetic and active side…. Do you have any advice or a motto about how to be active andambitious in your activities, like you?
Punam: Well, yes. I think that all teachers have a hidden brilliance inside themselves. However, I
think some people do not have enough conﬁdence in themselves. Our job as teachers means thatyou have to speak in front of students. I believe that the students we teach see us as god-likeﬁgures in some ways. They donʼt say anything, but they are always watching the teacher. And when
you are seen like that, I think that teachers need to be able to speak with conﬁdence, and in order todo that, if they are teaching about the environment for example, they should learn enough about the
subject so that they can speak conﬁdently on it. Iʼve also seen your SNS, where youʼre doing
environmental activities and so on, and working with various people, and I think conveying this to thewider world in this way gives inspiration and stimulation to other people, and it would be great if they
were able to do that type of thing, too.

31

Ogawa: Are there lots of energetic people like you in India?
Punam: Well, yes. As youʼd expect, there are all sorts of people who are teachers in India, which Iʼmsure is the same in Japan. Especially in India each region has very strong characteristics, which also
has a big inﬂuence. So, while some people may be super conﬁdent as a teacher when teaching alesson, they may not be very positive in regards to media, and not be able to speak well in those
types of places.
Ogawa: I want to eat lots of curry so I can become an energetic teacher like you (laughs).
Punam: Iʼd like to do that too, to bring us closer together (laughs).
Ogawa: Are there any things you struggle with or ﬁnd diﬃcult when carrying out a programme?
Punam: My activities are limited to the area of Pune, and while I personally havenʼt had any
problems with human relations, some of my students have had to face some issues. For example,
when we worked on the waste disposal project, we tried to get the students to interview old people
in the community, but it was hard to get them to respond to our requests. On the contrary, some ofthe students were ridiculed. Itʼs hard not to be disheartened when you get that type of responsewhen youʼre doing a project. So, once more, I took the time to prepare thoroughly so that I could
properly explain to them the purpose of our activities, and got them to give interviews.
After that, we had the problem of the COVID-19 crisis. When we were doing the waste disposal
project, we were going to visit a biogas plant that was located 4-5 km away from the school.
However, there was a curfew to stop the spread of COVID-19, and police were carrying out checks,
so there was no way to go there. So, we explained the purpose of our activity and our infection
prevention measures to the police and, with the cooperation of the studentsʼ parents, we managed
to visit the biogas plant. In that way, we received support and understanding from the police andsociety. As a result, the children were able to interview people who carried out hygiene inspections,

had to give a presentation at the award ceremony.
They practiced reading their script hundreds and thousands of time before the award ceremony, buton the actual day they were too nervous and couldnʼt read it. The students were panicking, and I was
panicking too. It was a 15-minute presentation, but it took them 30-minutes to eventually getthrough it. The students looked really down and were nearly crying, saying things like, “I couldnʼt say
it even though I practiced,” and, “We failed.” I didnʼt really support them properly at that time, justsaying things like, “Just try your best next time.” However, there were lots of people at that award
ceremony, and they saw the students doing their very best to speak and make their presentation.
They tried to speak but their voices didnʼt come out. People who saw that came to see the students

and get information about how waste is sorted, etc.

after the ceremony and told them, “I was moved,” and, “It was really great.” What normally would

Ogawa: In Japan, itʼs relatively easy to carry out questionnaires and interviews, but due to theof the adults around them. I had also got really nervous, and sometimes teachers make mistakes too.

proliferation of nuclear families, there are fewer and fewer opportunities for middle school students
and elderly people to interact. Therefore, children are not very good at interacting with adults, andsometimes it doesnʼt go well when adults and old people interact with children. However, as with youractivities, you deﬁnitely wonʼt succeed unless you interact with other people. I have an interesting
story about that. There was actually no budget for the Econnect Project as there were only a small
number of people involved. So, I wrote out a manuscript and sent out applications to various awards
around the country to get award money. I didnʼt think it was very fair on the children to have to use
their own pocket money to take a bus on their days oﬀ to the places we were doing the activity, and32

to have to sort out their own meals too. Then one day we received a big award, and the students

have been an experience of failure, was transformed into an experience of success by the support
I still have a lot to learn, but I realised how important it was for the children to work together on
projects with lots of people who are watching over them. And secondly, concerning the pandemic,
there are a lot of restrictions due to the COVID-19 crisis. But I also think that the pandemic has
given rise to certain opportunities. How do you perceive the current situation?
Punam: Of course the COVID-19 crisis has had a big eﬀect on our lives. Especially for the children,
including in their environmental activities, weʼve had to re-examine the basics of some of theactivities that we had planned and were in the middle of carrying out, due to the impact of33

COVID-19. In addition, children's behaviour patterns have also changed in part. In thesecircumstances, I thought it would be good to give them conﬁdence by getting them to give a
presentation about themselves. As you said, children get nervous when they have to talk in front ofpeople, and this is very true in India as well, so with that in mind, Iʼm trying to give them
opportunities to talk in class in front of everyone, of course, as well as give presentations in front of
the local community if theyʼre doing activities in society.
Ogawa: My vision for future projects includes continuing on with the Japan-India Exchange Project.
And Iʼd like to involve people from all around the world in my activities. As for my vision as a teacher,whenever Iʼm struggling with activities I think about a kaleidoscope. The reason for that is if theperson using a kaleidoscope doesnʼt turn it nothing changes, and you donʼt get to see a beautiful
view. Moreover, all of the parts in it are essential, and things only materialise when all of the parts
work together. So, I want to continue to grow and develop along with the children while doing allsorts of activities.
Ms. Punam, do you have a vision for future Japan-India projects, and do you have any personal goals?
Punam: My future vision is to carry out activities that raise environmental awareness, ﬁrst for mystudents of course, but also to a wide range of diﬀerent generations. As for my future vision forsociety, Iʼd like to continue doing the tree planting activities that Iʼve done up to now. Iʼve planted
over 350 trees so far. Iʼd like to expand these activities in the future. My vision for international

International teacher exchanges
during the current COVID-19 crisis

exchanges is to continue to actively interact with Japanese teachers like yourself, and to interact
with teachers from other countries such as Thailand, so that teachers from all over the world canconnect together, learn from each other, and work together on activities to protect the environment,with its beautiful seas and clean air.
Iʼm lucky that I have received support from my schoolʼs head teacher, my local mayor, and the Indian
Ministry of Education, and to have had the chance to interact with teachers from Japan and othercountries around the world. Iʼd like to continue to do these types of exchange activities in the future,
make connections with the enthusiastic teachers who work on them, learn from each other, andshare my activities with everyone else.
Ogawa: Please come to Japan so we can plant trees together! Iʼd also love to go to India someday.
Punam: Yes, if I can get some time oﬀ Iʼd deﬁnitely love to visit Japan. And, of course, you arealways welcome to come to India.
Ogawa: Thank you very much for today. Letʼs continue to work together to create a better future
for the children.
Punam: Yes, of course. Thank you very much as well.
(Discussion held on 19 August, 2022)

34

Chapter3International teacher exchange during the current COVID-19 crisis

Japanese

TREE-admin (administrator) posted an update 1 day ago
The spread of COVID-19 has caused society to change in a number of ways. The
environment for ACCUʼs project has also altered signiﬁcantly since 2020, when theoutbreak became fully ﬂedged in Japan. However, even among all this, the ACCU
has put a lot of eﬀort into creating points of contact both inside and outside Japan,
and has placed great value on generating opportunities to encounter diﬀerent
cultures, values and ways of thinking, through people facing each other and having
conversations. Even in diﬃcult circumstances we have continued to believe that itʼs
important to provide the teachers, who are nurturing the children that will lead thenext generation, with opportunities to develop their thinking based on their own
experiences, rather than what someone has told them. This chapter will give a quick
overview of whatʼs been happening in ACCUʼs International Exchange Programme
for School Teachers from 2020 to the present day.

36





37

TREE-admin (administrator) posted an update 6 hours ago
Here are the reactions and impressions of all the people who actuallyparticipated in the online international exchange programme!

I liked the concept of an international stage
where teachers could discuss current major
topics together. I think we need to talk
together now for the future of earth’s children.

I learned a lot from interacting with Japaneseteachers and students, and realisations that
we’re all in the same boat.

Although nationalities and cultures may bedifferent, you can gain realisations andempathy by interacting with fellow people whoare also engaged in education, and the teachers
themselves can grow and develop through theirexperiences with different cultures, which will
be reflected in their relationships with theirschool students, and in their lessons. I think it’svery important that teachers themselves comeinto contact with all sorts of values andbecome rich in spirit.

I was able to visualised how active learningand ESD could be utilised in community-based
educational activities through all the activities
in the programme.

Amidst a lot of uncertainty in international
affairs, we will be handing over control toyoung people, who will be responsible for the
future of the world. Therefore, education isvery important and, as teachers, I think weourselves need to think about international
interactions and world peace on a regularbasis.

I also benefited greatly from the online
interactions between Chinese and Japaneseteachers. Seeing what Japanese lessons werelike enabled me to reflect deeply on my own
lessons. What is the core of being
student-centred? I think that I was able tosee a part of the answer to that question
from watching how Japanese teachersinteracted with their students.

TREE-admin (administrator) posted an update 20 minutes ago
An introduction to products related to the international exchange programmes.
You can view the PDF from the QR code!




ﬀ
Sta its
titb

・ Thai teachers visited Tohoku at the end of November. They held a “Winter clothes fashion show” with clothes thatthey wouldnʼt usually get a chance to wear!

Face-to-faceedition・ Dancing in a circle around an Indian teacher, in a Japanese childrenʼs centre! The unique dance movements werelots of fun, and both children and adults had an exciting time.

・ Japanese teachers performing a song at a school festival in China. There were over 1,000 students and parentson the lawn where the stage was. Just like an outdoor music festival!

・ Commemorative goods and a box full of sweets from Korea arrived in Japan! Even though weʼre farapart, we were all deeply moved by the thoughtful gift.
Online edition
・ Beloved pet dogs also took part in the online exchange meetings! Being connected by a love of pets
is another thing made possible by online meetings.

38

（EN）

39

The Asia-Paciﬁc Cultural Centre for UNESCO（ACCU）

C onc lus ion
Thank you for reading this booklet. This introduction to exchanges is not really a
so-called guidebook with guidelines. As indicated by the subtitle of our third edition,

What is the ACCU?
The ACCU contributes toward the realisation of a peaceful and sustainable society where diverse culture isrespected in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Educational, Scientiﬁc and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO).

From our two oﬃces in Tokyo and Nara, we promote programmes in the ﬁelds of educational cooperation,international educational exchange, and education for protection of cultural heritage as a member state of

UNESCO in the Asia-Paciﬁc region. In April 2021, we marked our 50th anniversary.

“Weaving the Future Through Dialogue,” following on from “Under the TREE ofInternational Exchange” (2020 edition) and “Invitation to Teachers' International
Exchange” (2021 edition), it depicts a variety of possible futures created from all of themeetings and dialogues that are generated through exchanges.
We at the ACCU agreed on several courses of actions when producing it. The ﬁrst was
to form a production committee and collaborate with teachers from the planning stage.
That is to say, we wanted teachers who had actually participated in ACCUʼs exchange
programmes to be involved, as members of the production committee, with the people
in charge of the design, printing and binding of the booklet from the planning stage.
The second decision was, rather than putting the main focus on simply conveying theteachersʼ experiences, we wanted to convey the joys and hardships of international
exchanges, and discover how the teachers had grown and what they had learnt,
through the interviews and discussions that they had with each other.
In the conversation between Mr. Takahashi and Mr. Joen Honam, a discussion
developed about how a school should build a network for international exchanges. TheyACCU and International Exchange Programmes for School Teachers
The ACCU has planned, implemented and operated International Exchange Programmes for School Teachers forabout 20 years, since FY2000, on consignment from international organisations and government agencies. In
FY2022, under the ʻInternational Collaboration Programme for Education in New Era FY2022ʼ entrusted by the
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT), we carried out exchange
programmes for teachers between Japan and Korea, China, Thailand and India.

suggested that what was important was taking small steps to connect without worrying
about failing, and building a foundation of trust through an accumulation of steadyadjustments, rather than relying on special personal connections. Mr. Ogawa and Ms.
Punam both talked enthusiastically about their respective educational practices, which
are rooted in their local communities. They mentioned how they had at ﬁrst started
activities on their own and, while they experienced some failures, they had naturally
gained the cooperation of those around them by having fun. The meeting between Mr.
Matsuno and Ms. Noh Yumi ﬁrst helped them develop a mutual understanding as fellow
teachers and build up a network, and then the continuing activities enabled an
exchange between their students. We feel sure that there will be readers who are able
to empathise with certain aspects of each of these dialogues and approaches.
The core value of the ACCUʼs international educational exchange programmes is thecreation of learning opportunities through “encounters” and “dialogue” for teachers
across national and regional boundaries. The leading role in these programmes isplayed by teachers. We will continue to create diverse opportunities while listening tothe opinions of teachers. Finally, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to
Mr. Ogawa, Mr. Takahashi and Mr. Matsuno, for their cooperation from the planningstages onwards, and to Ms. Imaizumi of Design Moi Co., Ltd., who was responsible for© Katsusuke Nishina
https://www.accu.or.jp/
https://www.facebook.com/accu.or.jp/
Subscription of e-mail newsletters (monthly delivery): Please Contact the publicity oﬃcial of the ACCU
(kouhou@accu.or.jp) to let us know that you would like to subscribe our e-mail newsletters.

40

the visualisation of the teachersʼ passion.

Ms. SHINDO Yumi
Director, International Educational Exchange Department,
Asia-Paciﬁc Cultural Centre for UNESCO ( ACCU )TREE of International Exchange- Weaving the Future Through Dialogue -1st March 2023
Edited and Published by the Asia-Paciﬁc Cultural Centre for UNESCO（ACCU）,
International Educational Exchange Department
Ms. Yumi Shindo, Ms. Tae Ito, Mr. Takuma Sugito, Ms. Ayano Takamatsu,
Ms. Mika Temma, Ms. Shihoko Hasumi,
1-32-7F Publishers Club Bldg. Kanda Jimbocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-0051 JAPANTEL : +81-3-5577-2853

FAX : +81-3-5577-2854

URL : https://www.accu.or.jp/en/
Cooperation : Mr. Shinichi Takahashi, Mr. Akira Ogawa, Mr. Itaru Matsuno, Mr. Joen Honam, Ms. Punam Rajage
Interpretation（Chapter 2）: ISS, Inc.
Translation : Media Research Ltd.
Design and Print : Design Moi, Co., Ltd.（Artdirection/Akiko Imaizumi, Design/Mizuki Takai）©Asia-Paciﬁc Cultural Centre for UNESCO 2023

ISBN978-4-909607-13-3
Printed in JapanAll rights reserved.

“2022-2023 International Coordination Programme for Education in a New Age” entrusted
by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan（MEXT）