At a time when educators across the globe have been coping with the enormous challenge of shifting to emergency remote teaching, mass protests against racial discimination are simultaneously sweeping through local communities from small town America to central Tokyo. While these dual crises may be unsettling, they are also a potential source of significant positive change. The participants on this panel will explore the current challenges of education in the Asian context, including ethnocentrism, the gendered constructions of students and teachers, and support for students with special learning needs, through the broader global lenses of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent demonstrations against prejudice. With a focus on embracing difference as a force for the generation of a constructive shift in the ways in which we envision our roles as educators, panelists will consider the challenges the present context poses to teachers in Asia.
Speakers:
Kristie Collins, Reitaku University, Japan
Maria Guajardo, Soka University, Japan
Oussouby Sacko, Kyoto Seika University, Japan
Jennifer Yphantides, Soka University, Japan
