TEACHERS, TEACHER EDUCATORS AND TEACHER EDUCATION IN THE DIGITAL ERA (FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE WAY FORWARD)

Focusing on the central role of Continuous ProfessionalDevelopment (CPD) in the digital era, this article addressesthree most essential components of the CPD. First, thenecessity of CPD for school teachers is discussed. Then followsthe discussion on issues and problems of CPD in remote areas.Illustrations on matters related to CPD practices in schooleducation on remote areas in Japan and United Kingdom arethen presented to conclude the article.

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF UNESCO ASSOCIATED SCHOOLS PROJECT NETWORK IN JAPAN

Environmental education for sustainable development in Japanhas developed rapidly in recent years. Focusing on formaleducation, schools called “UNESCO School” play a leadingrole in environmental education for sustainable development.The school network approved by UNESCO was for promotinginternational understanding education, but it is currentlypositioned as an association of schools promoting ESD. Thispaper describes the establishment and development of theUNESCO School and focuses on the practices of the schoolswhich focuses on environmental education as ESD.

PATHWAY TO RIGOROUS TEACHER TRAINING AND EFFECTIVE TEACHING FOR BETTER STUDENT OUTCOMES

Against the backdrop of changing environment and demands inthe digital era, this article proposes a pathway to rigorous teachertraining and effective teaching. To this end the following threeessential subtopics are extensively and intensively discussed:Effective Teacher Training, Profile and Pedagogical Practices ofHigh Performing Education Systems, and Education Reforms inASEAN.

HOW TO ACHIEVE QUALITY EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FOR ALL: GOAL 4 OF THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Obtaining a quality education is essential to creating sustainabledevelopment. The overarching Goal 4 of the United NationsSustainable Development Program (UNSDP) ensures that allgirls and boys complete free primary and secondary schoolingby 2030. However, the early years represent the most importantand vulnerable time period in the individual life-span and earlyeducation sets the fundamentals of achieving the overarchinggoal of SDG4. It is regarded as the golden time for ensuringstrong foundations for life chances. Early Childhood Education(ECE) supports children’s survival, growth, development andlearning, including health, nutrition and hygiene, and cognitive,social, physical and emotional development D from birth toeight years old in formal, informal and non formal settings.Therefore, the United Nations (UN) set a sub goal underthis notion exclusively for the early childhood education; By2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality earlychildhood development, care and preprimary education so thatthey are ready for primary education (SDG 4.2). Following theUnited Nations’ notions, The dedicated member countries planactions to achieve the necessities of the Goal 4 by 2030. Theseactions generally fall under eight categories: (1) Access andequity, (2) ECE governance, (3) Curriculum and pedagogy, (4)Teacher training, (5) Nutrition, (6) Family-School-Communitypartnerships, (7) Standards for learning environment, (8) Useof technology and digital materials. The presenter will provideinformation about these domains of improvement in order tomeet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)4.2.

INTEGRATION SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO HIGHER EDUCATION CURRICULUM

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has beenpromoted by UNESCO to create a sustainable society in thecontext of achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) onthe global agenda 2030. Higher education plays an important rolein formation and development of human resources, producingstudents with sustainability awareness, who understandinterrelationship between environment, economy and social.Constant functions of university as a higher education institutionremain fovused on missions: teaching, research, and communityservice. University students with such a sustainability awarenessare agents of change, who are expected to support the SDGsachievement. Therefore, ESD needs to be integrated into highereducation programs to increase knowledge, influence attitudesand behavior of students towards sustainable development andenvironment. Integration of ESD concepts and principles intohigher education curriculum is an important important endeavour.This artcle addresses matters around the issue and trend of thedevelopment of higher education curricula in various countrieswith various options and approaches to its implementation.

TEACHING ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: STRATEGIES AND CHALLENGES

Building on a serious concern over excessive increase ofproduction garbage waste from one year to another, this articleargues that the garbage waste produced by cities around the globehas led to an environment crisis and the planet earth has faceddesertification, drought, and degradation. Within this scenario, itis high time we brought this awareness by teaching environmentliteracy. To this end, the article discusses climate change as aninconvenient scenario, key challenges, tale of two dying rivers,education for sustainable development, and then approaches toenvironmental education.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BLOG BASED LEARNING IN INTERPRETING CLASS AT THE SIXTH SEMESTER STUDENTS OF ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Blogs Based Learning is one of media in teaching which bringssignificant role unexceptionally in interpreting class. This studyaims to describe the implementation of Blog Based Learningin interpreting class, which would become more sustainable by... of the use of currently popular technology. This research isconducted to gain insights into the implementation of BlogBased Learning, problems faced by the teacher, and solutionsto solve those problems. The researcher got the data fromscripton, event, information, and document. The techniques ofcollecting data are the observation, interview and documentationin teacher’s blogs to clarify the implementation of Blog BasedLearning. The finding showed that the implementation of Blog iswell executed although the uses of blogs are not fully carried outin interpreting class fully. The challenges faced by the teacherin implementing the blogs are mostly related to teacher’s lack ofmanagement to maximize Blog Based Learning and the difficultyin improving students’ awareness. There are several solutionsproposed by the teacher in the implementation of Blog BasedLearning are building a good management and communicatingthe importance of active participations in interpreting classthrough blogs. Some students have low awareness in accessingblogs for additional source for their learning. Both teacher andstudents required to collaborate each other in making goodmedia for teaching and learning process.

EDUCATIONAL CHALLENGES IN 21ST CENTURY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The converging impact of globalization, ICT and knowledge explosion has led to phenomenal changes in the modern society, which have challenged every aspect of our modern lifestyle. To cope with these run-away changes we need to prepare workforce with the skills to handle a range of electronic technologies that characterize this digital era. To prepare citizens with cosmopolitan outlook, cross-cultural understanding, capable of working in multicultural settings on group projects and capacity to think creatively and critically a different approach to the delivery of education is required. This paper argues that nothing less than a radical change, especially in the developing countries, is required in the ways education is delivered to the ‘digital natives’ of today and tomorrow. Arguing that education is the engine room and strength of a nation is based on its quality education, it is crucial for a country to deliver calibrated education to prepare globally competitive citizens. The paper examines various educational reforms undertaken in some successful education systems, but it also serves a caveat that the developing countries like Indonesia or a region like ASEAN should learn from the experience of such systems. At the same time time they should be aware of that an idea which works in one socio-economic setting may not be that effective in another setting as socio-political systems play their own part.

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT AND FILIPINOS’ VALUES, ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS TOWARDS THE ENVIRONMENT

This paper examines the association between the educational attainment of Filipinos and their values, attitudes and actions towards the environment using the World Values Survey (WVS) data for the Philippines in 1996, 2001 and 2012. The three approaches to environment education as discussed in the dissertation paper of Chi (2015) were used as the theoretical framework for this paper. These approaches are: education about the environment, education in the environment and education for the environment. Through appropriate tests of independence, like Chi-square Gamma, and Kruskal-Wallis, data revealed thatFilipinos’ educational attainment significantly influenced their values, attitudes and actions towards the environment. Specifically, those with higher education expressed more positivevalues and attitude towards the environment than those with lower education. The same was found true in taking actions for the environment. Ideally, all Filipinos must care for theenvironment, regardless of education. The findings that is opposite to this scenario callsfor the need to revisit Environmental Education in the Philippines. Transitioning from education about the environment to education for the environment is suggested. Further, subjects like social studies must strengthen citizenship education by incorporating lessons on the environment, especially on participation and taking actions.

SUSTAINABILITY FOR MALAYSIAN TVET

Developing human capital through education is very important for Malaysia. Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is one of education lines that is aimed to produce skilled workers for our country. This education platform is hoped not only to develop students’ academic and technical knowledge, but also to help students acquire high employability skills. Thus, the purpose of this article is to discuss the sustainability for Malaysian TVET as one of its aspirations is to produce more skilled workers for our country, in near future.