Abstract
This paper, based on a practical case study, introduces the collaborative initiatives in English education that Tenri University Educational Corporation’s elementary, junior high, and high school have undertaken since 2013: the 10-year process, insights gained from surveys of the teachers involved, the initiative’s current state, and future challenges. While the importance of school collaboration is recognized in Japanese English education, clarifying goals and ensuring continuity remain challenging. Tenri Schools’ approach emphasizes creating a continuum of educational goals for English language achievement across all school levels, with annual reviews and goal chart revisions. The activities by the team, which was established as the Tenri Schools English Education Guidelines (T-SEEGs) Project, include exchanging information among schools, addressing common challenges, training teachers, and student exchange events. The author, who has overseen the project, conducted surveys and interviews with junior and high school English teachers in 2018 and 2021, revealing that involvement in setting shared school goals effectively promotes collaboration and has led to teachers gaining a more concrete and multifaceted awareness of lesson planning, student understanding, and self-reflection. Participation in these activities has served as opportunities for teacher development, enhancing a sense of inter-school collaboration and improving the quality of information exchange. Although it can be said that the positive effects of these factors have resulted in a continuity of school collaboration over the past decade, there have been some slow progress and problems, such as developing schools’ own teaching materials and improving the methods for assessing the achievement of goals.
Author Information
Takashi Yamamoto, Tenri University, Japan
Paper Information
Conference: IICE2025
Stream: Professional Training
This paper is part of the IICE2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Yamamoto T. (2025) A Decade of Challenges and Evolution: Tenri Inter-schools Collaborative Initiatives in English Education ISSN: 2189-1036 – The IAFOR International Conference on Education – Hawaii 2025 Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 555-560) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2189-1036.2025.47
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2189-1036.2025.47
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