On Monday, February 7, 2022, Gifu University Symposium, "Cultivation of School Administrative Staff in Inclusive Education Age" was held online. It was attended by a total of 142 participants including school staff, education board members and guardians from inside and outside of Gifu Prefecture.

Building up a new platform for "inclusive education" has been a huge challenge today, and to facilitate this "inclusive education," cultivating administrative staff from the perspective of well-being of children with special needs is particularly of great importance.

In the first section, Mr. Taizou Yamada, Director of Special Needs Education Division, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology delivered a keynote speech titled, "Cultivation of Administrative Staff for Children with Special Needs." He spoke about the current special-needs education policies and how to nurture administrative staff to deal with children with special needs. Later, Professor Kiyoaki Shinohara from Gifu Shotoku Gakuen University (Gifu City) discussed with Mr. Yamada concerning school administration and management. While listening to their exchanges, the audience could deepen their understanding of school operations and education for children with special needs.

In the second section held under the title, "AY 2021 NITS* and Professional Degree Program Collaboration Report: online professional skill development training for future administrative staff at special-needs schools," the participants shared the specific training contents. In the following third section, the participants gathered together to discuss what are the most important elements for administrative staff today and for the future.

The latest symposium offered an invaluable opportunity to the participants to learn how to foster administrative staff for children with special needs, and make a solid step forward for better school administration.

The Professional Degree Program of the Graduate School of Education, Gifu University will be renewed from AY 2022 with stronger focus on individual study subjects. We continue to develop school curriculum which can cover all children with diverse backgrounds through close collaboration with everyone concerned.

*NITS: National Institute for School Teachers and Staff Development