All four training sessions (held on June 30, September 1, October 6 and December 1, 2022) for coordinators of school and community collaboration in 2022 completed. The sessions are one of human resource development programs offered by the Gifu Center for collaborative activities between communities and schools (GIFU CCCS).

GIFU CCCS was jointly established by Gifu Prefecture and Gifu University in order to support and promote school and community collaboration for sound growth of children and revitalization of the community. The following are the three specific purposes that are aimed by the center:

1. Develop and secure human resources (through collaboration with municipalities and social, education groups, the center provides training opportunities for coordinators of school and community collaboration, educate and secure student volunteers)

2. Conduct survey and research (through collaboration with municipalities and social, education groups, the center carries out survey and research programs to study actual cases of school and community collaboration, pioneering, exemplary cases found in education at home, and makes a presentation)

3. Promotion (the center provides continued support for municipal governments by hosting open lectures or letting its staff attend relevant workshops)

The participants of this training are already assuming important roles in administration for social education, public facilities, schools and community in many parts of Gifu Prefecture, and they participate in the training bearing their own agenda in mind.

The first two training sessions were conducted in a form of "hybrid" between in-person (at Gifu University Satellite Campus, Gifu City) and a video link platform (Zoom) on June 30 and September 1, the same hybrid method was used on October 6 (in-person at Gifu University General Education Building), and in-person alone at Gifu University General Education Building on December 1. A total of 65 people attended and all of them completed the whole training programs.

Here are the details for each training session:

On Thursday, June 30, Dr. HIROSE Takahito, Professor Emeritus of Utsunomiya University (Tochigi Prefecture) who is also serving as President of General Incorporated Association "Tochigi Civic Collaboration Study Meeting (English name tentative)" was invited as a guest speaker. He spoke about interpretation of school and community collaboration and how to implement collaboration programs by citing a general theory on collaboration. Dr. Hirose also mentioned indispensable roles of coordinators and their potentials. In Q & A sessions, active exchange between the participants and Dr. Hirose continued for some time.

On Thursday, September 1, Mr. AOYAMA Tomohiro from Gifu Elementary School Management Council (English name tentative) introduced programs and educational courses for collaboration between elementary schools and community in Gifu Prefecture. It was followed by a speech of Ms. YAMAMOTO Maki from Daihachi Community Building Council (English name tentative, Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture). She reported activities and roles that were facilitated by coordinators for school and community collaboration. Associate Professor UEDA Takanori from University of Tsukuba (Ibaragi Prefecture) made comments on the speeches of the two speakers. The second training ended with Q & A session.

On Thursday, October 6, Ms. ARATANI Sayuri from Shirakawa Villege (Gifu Prefecture) Board of Education gave a speech titled, "Planning for school and community collaboration: start with sharing our wishes." In her speech, she touched on planning for collaboration between school and the community based on actual cases observed in Shirakawa Village. She then spoke about how to share residents' wishes in planning for collaboration with schools, and necessity of developing of young human resources for the future. Lastly, the participants exchanged their views on school and community collaboration via video link platform.

On Thursday, December 1, Associate Professor ITAKURA Norimasa from the Faculty of Education, Gifu University gave a lecture titled, "Children's characteristics of today and how to engage with them." In Q & A session, many questions were raised from the participants which include "possible impacts of facial expressions of adults on children," "children's anxiety of building human relationships," etc. Professor Itakura took some time to respond to each question from his academic perspective. Later, a group work session began by using KPT1) method to review the training session and for information sharing. Members of each group discussed collaboration activities undertaken in each community as well as achievements and challenges for successful collaboration for the future.

When all the training sessions were over, the participants compiled and submitted a report on their experiences of attending the training. We are looking forward to the participants' active role both in schools and the community in the days to come. Those who completed the training sessions 2022 can also attend the follow-up training in 2023.

1)KPT is one of reviewing frameworks for work or project. K for "Keep" (continuation of actions), P for "Problem" (problems to be addressed) and T for "Try" (next challenge)