On March 18, G-10 students, Yutaro and Shun, participated in the Shinshu High School Conference in Nagano. Yutaro shared this report:
“With sleep in our eyes, Shun and I boarded a bullet train and headed to Nagano city to participate in the Shinshu High School Strategic Conference. The purpose of the conference was to discuss the current education agenda of the Nagano region and how to make it better in the future. We had a fascinating experience.
We started the morning with an interdisciplinary lecture from MEXT minister aid, Mr. Kan Suzuki, regarding the current education agenda in Japan. Mr. Suzuki emphasized the quality and strong passion of Japanese educators and the initiative to hold an education conference as part of the G7 summit last year. Mr. Suzuki also talked about the recent high score results in PISA and the current reforms to Japanese university exams. Mr. Suzuki shared that Japan and the Nagano region can be leaders in the future of education.
In the afternoon, participants had a dialogue about the education agenda of Shinshu region from their own perspectives.Living at ISAK, we often spend time with people from overseas, so it was interesting to have a chance to see the perspective of Japanese high school students and Japanese adults. I was able to get into a deep discussion with a Nagano education department counselor, NPO staff and others about my concern of ‘how to relate education to society’.
I gained several insights from the discussion:
1.) In order to take meaningful action, it is important to have sufficient knowledge of the situation beforehand.
2.) In order to improve the quality of education, we need to improve teachers’ working conditions.
3.) It is important for students to engage in learning rather than waiting passively for the school to teach the students.
We were able to cherish the day by contributing to the intense dialogue which consisted of the diverse perspective of diverse people. Shun and I have only lived in the Nagano prefecture for six months, but after attending the conference we were able to learn more about the power of people and Nagano region. We would like to continue learning about the community so we eventually can actively contribute to improving it.”
– Yutaro, G-10 (Japan)
３月１８日の早朝に眠たい目をこすりながら、新幹線に乗った僕らは信州高校生作戦会議に参加するために長野市に向かいました。午前中は文部科学大臣補佐官の鈴木寛氏の「現代の日本」について学際的なゼミを受けました。鈴木氏の話は昨年のG７において日本がイニシアチブを取り何十年ぶりに教育会合を開いたことに加えPISAでの日本の大健闘ぶりからわかる日本の教育の熱心さについて、さらには３年後の高大接続改革。日本だけでなく、列島で地理的にも真ん中な長野県が世界の教育の中心となれる可能性があることを熱烈に語られました。
午後には参加者同士で信州における諸課題について様々な視点から語り合いました。
Yutaroは「学生時代の学びをどう実社会に役立たせるか」というテーマを提議し、そのことについて教育委員会、社会人、NPO職員と話し合いました。
彼は会議を通して
①社会の構成員としての実践力も大切だが進路選択の上では実践の材料となる十分な知識も必須であるといういこと。
②学びの質を向上するには先生の職場環境改善も必要だということ。
③学校に教えてもらうだけでなく、自ら学びにいく姿勢を大切にすること。
を見出しました。
様々な立場の参加者と熱意を持って語り合ったため、１日はあっという間に過ぎました。
日頃は海外の生徒と過ごす中、同じ日本人の学生や大人と話すということでまた違った価値観を見つけることができました。
長野に引っ越してまだ約半年という中、信州についてまたそこについて住む人について少し詳しくなれたような気がします。
今回の経験で、自分を知り、自らコミュニティーに何ができるかを見極め、それを実践していく大切さを学べました。
