On Tuesday, February 27, 2024, the 'Gifu Collaborative Activities between Community and School Forum 2023' opened. This forum serves as a venue for presentations by the members of 'Gifu Center for collaborative activities between communities and schools (short for 'GIFU CCCS')' on its activities in 2023, and information-sharing for better operations in 2024 and beyond.

The 'GIFU CCCS' was jointly established by the Gifu Prefectural Government and Gifu University in order to support and promote collaboration between local schools and community. Its mission is to foster the healthy growth of children and contribute to the revitalization of the community. The center focuses on three specific objectives:

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, educates and secures 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 collaboration between local schools and community, 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 and workshops and sending the center officials to these events)

The forum is held for the people engaging in collaborative activities between local schools and the community (including social education committee members, social education experts, public facilities employees, coordinators of school and community collaboration, youth development experts, town and community planning staff, local government officials, and school officials (including community school members)). They discuss and share their thoughts on collaborative activities between local schools and the community, and individual case study reported within Gifu Prefecture.

A total of 244 people attended the forum, and many of them were school principals and vice principals. Their presence demonstrated strong interests in collaborative activities between local schools and the community.

As a guest speaker, Professor MAKINO Atsushi from the Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo (who also serves as a member of the Central Council of Education, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan) delivered a speech titled, "Create a Hometown: think about collaboration between local schools and the community." Professor Makino spoke about the importance of collaboration between local schools and the community by focusing on 'relatability' while analyzing today's social educational policies in consideration of the current social and economic dynamics.

His speech was followed by the reports presented by two speakers. They were Mr. YAMASHITA Tetsuo, and Ms. YOKOYAMA Aki, (respectively, principal and vice principal of Oonaka Elementary School, Gujo City, Gifu Prefecture). They gave a speech under the title, "Education for Children: to become aware of regional values (people, goods and things) and to respect their hometown through collaborative studies that help children understand and connect to local residents." They introduced their activities to gain understanding and support from the community, and specific collaborative programs as community school activities at Oonaka Elementary School.

In the following Q&A session, many questions were raised from the participants such as some points of attention in working with local residents, cooperation between nursery and elementary schools, coordinators' activities from different angles.

Lastly, Professor MASUKAWA Koichi, GIFU CCCS Director (also serves as Director of the Center for Collaborative Study with Community, Gifu University) presented a report on GIFU CCCS activities in 2023 and wrapped up the forum.

GIFU CCCS continues to pledge to host forums and workshops for the promotion of robust collaboration between local schools and the community.