Conference on “Best Practices in ESD”

Click here to view the official conference announcement.

Fulbright Japan is pleased to announce a conference to be held in Portland, Oregon during the period November 1-6, 2009 on the theme "Best Practices in ESD (Education for Sustainable Development)."  The conference will be the inaugural event for a new Japan-U.S. ESD Teacher Exchange Program administered by Fulbright Japan. ESD is “a vision of education that seeks to balance human and economic well-being with cultural traditions and respect for the earth’s natural resources,” according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Designed to bring together innovative teachers from Japan and the United States, representing K-12 schools in each country with focused ESD-oriented projects or programs, the bi-nationally fully-funded conference will entail presentations, workshops, and site visits to Portland area ESD-focused schools.

The sharing of "Best Practices" from both countries is designed to raise awareness of ESD-oriented school programs, enhance ESD-related curricula in both countries, and deepen a sense of global interconnectedness between teachers in Japan and the United States in four vital areas of ESD focus: food and sustainable nutrition; environment; energy and resources; and international understanding and cooperation.

The conference seeks a maximum of 15 teacher participants competitively selected from a broad cross-section of the American primary and secondary educational community in order to reflect the rich cultural, institutional, and regional diversity of the United States. Fifteen teachers from throughout Japan will also be selected to take part in this innovative event.

• Application is available online
• This conference is fully-funded
• For more information about ESD, Fulbright Japan, and IIE, click here