During three days from November 27 to 29, Okayama University held the “Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting on Teacher Education for ESD: Towards Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through Education” with UNESCO, the UNESCO Chair at York University (INTEI), Okayama City Government, the Okayama ESD Promotion Commission, and the Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU).

This meeting was held as part of Okayama University’s project “Development of Asia-Pacific Frameworks for Teacher Education Programme on ESD:Towards Achieving Target 4.7 of the SDGs,” which was chosen for the FY 2018 Japanese Official Development Assistance Grants for UNESCO Activities. The meeting brought together people from the education sector from 19 countries in the Asia-Pacific region who are involved in training of teachers and leaders in charge of implementing ESD. The participants worked on the development of “Development of Asia-Pacific Frameworks for Teacher Education Programme on ESD,” which will provide goals for teacher education for ESD.

Following a speech by Mr. Mitsuhiro Ikehara, MEXT strategist, Minister’s Secretariat, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, President Makino explained the theme and purpose of the meeting. Then, after the participants reported on the current status of teacher education for ESD in their countries, they visited an elementary school in Okayama City that implements ESD. 

Okayama University also held a lecture event as part of the Okayama University ESD Lecture Series. Three world-leading experts in ESD were invited from Canada, the UK and South Korea to deliver lectures. Participants listened to their lectures with great interest and a lively discussion followed. Subsequently, they discussed a framework underlying the Asia-Pacific Standards for Teacher Education for ESD, and clarified how such a framework can be used to promote teacher education for ESD and what qualities and skills are required of teachers and leaders who implement ESD. Participants from each country developed an action plan based on the framework for their teacher education institution and shared it with the participants from the other countries.