In August 2022, 4 Japanese participants with a strong wish to "meet and talk face-to-face with Cambodian participants with whom we have been connected only online for about a year and a half since 2020!
What were the events and learnings in Cambodia that moved the Japanese participants during this fieldwork?
We were driven from the city to a rural area in Kompong Thom Province, Cambodia.
On the first day, the group visited Phlong Primary School, where Cambodian participant Ms.Ngoun Sreiynin is working.
ー What did she feel after visiting classes at Phlong Primary School, interacting with the children and spending time talking with the teachers?...
Thank you, Phlong Primary School!
At Sambor Prei Kuk, a dynamic fusion of Cambodia's natural wonders and heritage areas, time was taken to slow down and relax with deep breathing and enjoy a moment of immersion in Sambor's history.
ー What did he feel in the relaxed time and space of his first visit to KompongThom?
Mr.matsuda
In Cambodia, time and space are more relaxed and the lives of the people there are more visible. In Japan, on the other hand, there is a sense of closure, adults are busy with work, students are busy with school and lessons. And sadly, there are no visions for the future…...。
When I came to Cambodia this time, I once again realized the importance of space and comfort. I would like to think about how schools and other places in society should be balanced in order for everyone to live a better life in society.
Lastly, in the past I have often gone abroad alone to look for information and learning material, but this time I spent time with teachers of various subjects from other schools and made many new discoveries by interacting closely with them.
We got together every night and had time for reflection amongst the teachers.
By sharing both emotions and distractions in a verbal way, we deepen each other's learning.
After spending time in Sambor Prei kuk, we moved from Kompong Thom to Siem Reap Province, where we visited a vocational training school in the city.
They actually came into contact with rural life and interacted with the people who live there.
ー What he felt at the vocational school？
Mr.Inoue
Like Ms Sasaki, I took part in this fieldwork because I wanted to meet and talk face-to-face with the participants from Cambodia. I was able to participate in the fieldwork with teachers I would not normally meet in my school life, and I was able to learn a lot.
I was most impressed by the classes at the vocational training school. I was very surprised to see that the style of learning and the way the classes proceeded was different from what I had imagined, as the students actively made presentations and discussions with each other, without the teacher's one-way lecturing style. There are many things there for us Japanese educators and high school students to learn. Next time I would like to actually go there with my own students!
Vocational training school classes.
Cambodian participants Mr.Ly Hour and Mr.Kom Pheak were very attentive attendants. Thank you, Vocational Training School!
We visited Bayon Secondary School on the outskirts of Siem Reap.
The Bayon Secondary School's classrooms
ー What did he feel on his first trip to Cambodia?
Mr.Maeda
This time, I was strongly motivated to "give back to the students what I have learnt". In fact, I was able to experience for myself that "learning is deepened by seeing things in the real world".
During the training, I was particularly impressed by the talk by Ms Chea, the head of the Bayon Junior High School, which we visited on the third day. Mr Chea said that in Cambodia, students who receive a high quality education and those who do not have a high quality education have very different career options, and that they have "no dreams or hopes". At that time, as I thought of the students in Japan, I realised that my own students, who only have dreams and hopes (in the sense that everyone goes to school as a matter of course and has choices lying in front of them), often say things like "I don't have a university to go to" or "I don't have anything I want to do".
This experience made me think again, "I want to increase the number of students who have dreams and hopes for what they want to do by pointing the arrow at themselves." I want to continue my search, sometimes getting a little confused about career education!
Japanese teachers listen attentively to Mr. Chia, at Bayon Junior High School
On the last day of DAY 4, Cambodian participants gathered
Once again we shared the joy of meeting face-to-face!
> The travel bookmark used during the Cambodia fieldwork can be downloaded here.
Supported by The Toyota Foundation
Ms.Keiko
I have always wanted my students to experience the 'real thing' in education. I participated in this fieldwork with the hope of sharing what I saw with my own eyes in the classroom with my students after I returned to my home country.
I was especially moved by the attitude of the children at Phlong Primary School when I was there. These children do not take it for granted that they go to school every day, for reasons such as helping their families with their work and their families' lack of interest in education.
Comparing the environment in Cambodia and Japan, I could feel from the bottom of my heart not which is better or worse, but just how happy I am to be able to decide what I want to do, to have so many choices for the future spread out before my eyes, and to have an environment where I can create my own future path. I was able to feel how happy I am to have an environment where I can create my own path for the future.I was able to see the actual conditions in the rural villages, listen to the teachers' stories, and realize that the learning environment for children in rural Cambodia is so different from that in Japan, and then see their expressions of curiosity and the pure look in their eyes as they learn. It gave me the opportunity to rethink what I, as a teacher, can do and what I can do about "education.