Educational Fieldtrip Seminar to Boost Post-Pandemic Interactions Between Schools in Taiwan and Japan
Taiwan’s Ministry of Education K-12 Education Administration, the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), and the Japan–Taiwan Exchange Association co-hosted a Taiwan–Japan Educational Fieldtrip Seminar, to encourage the interactions between senior secondary students from schools in Taiwan and schools in Japan during students’ educational trips.
A delegation of 74 principals and teachers from senior secondary schools in Taiwan, led by Dr. Li Chung-Yi 李重毅, the director of the recently established Primary and Secondary School International Educational Alliance, and principal of National Huwei Agricultural & Industrial Vocational Senior High School, and eighty Japanese participants, comprising representatives of the co-hosts, Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), local schools, and local governmental officials met together in Tokyo on October 17, 2023. The seminar participants engaged in group discussions and shared ideas and thoughts about measures to promote and encourage educational trips between Japan and Taiwan, now that the pandemic has passed.
Dr. Li Chung-Yi, director of the Primary and Secondary School International Educational Alliance, explained that the Ministry of Education had established the alliance in August, 2023, in response to the internationalization of education trend, to assist primary and junior secondary level schools to foster multi-cultural and international understanding as core competencies. The Ministry will continue to encourage elementary and junior secondary schools to engage in well-grounded international education that will expand their students’ international horizons.
MEXT representatives expressed their hope that more students in Japan would be motivated to study abroad after interacting with students from Taiwan who are visiting Japan on educational field trips. Having more people study abroad will assist Japan increase its pool of internationally trained, highly skilled professionals.
All the participants were positive about the effects of educational field trips and the associated exchanges between young people from Taiwan and Japan, both for increasing mutual understanding, and for helping to enhance the quality of international education. They look forward to returning to more frequent, close interactions now that the pandemic has passed.
