June
Our meeting on the 22nd of June, focused on listing down the skills we think are needed to be implemented into Japanese elementary schools. We first did a quick introduction, and since each Japanese participant was assigned a stakeholder, we then went around the table presenting our roles in education and dissatisfaction that we have towards the current education system in Japan. Our final steps were to gather the skills we think are important and to reach a consensus.
Our goals in the coming meetings are to discuss more about standardized testing, and then draft up a proposal which we will submit to school administrations and the government.
The meeting was well organized and efficient. All the members pitched in their ideas and contributed to fruitful discussions, and respect each other. I am looking forward to working with them in the coming meetings and of course the conference. (Nakazeki)
July
On 14th July, there was a table meeting for my table4 at Waseda University. It started from looking back at the things we did last month. It was about the advice we got from Yuto Kitamura, the professor at Tokyo University, on our ways to go for the final forum. Also, we talked about the results and analysis on the survey that we did about the soft skills in elementary school, led by the international student. Also, there was a man named Tomoki Yamada, who came to the meeting to advise us about what we are going to do for the future discussions as well. He has experienced MEXT as his job for a year. From then on, we discussed about how we are going to interview the teachers, online or offline, and the context of the survey. Also, it was about who will be in charge of what. Our members are cheerful but also serious in discussions, so we are able to state our own opinions easily. From now, we have to be connected with many teachers. It is by June 31st, and in august we will have to amylase these results. It might be hard bit I’ll do my best! (Hagiwara)