Why is this work relevant for PR?

From the Other Side, an educational tool that fosters different perspectives on issues like justice, LGBT rights, and the value of life, drove elementary school teacher’s awareness on these issues and broke boundaries for a new form of classroom teaching. It changed the way kids learn and propelled a diverse way of thinking. In addition, the project is shaking up the Japanese educational system where the teacher authoritatively imparts knowledge, and students memorize the answer. Our picture book got families discussing different ways of thinking. It is now available at the library at one-third of Japanese elementary schools.

Background

Japan, which enacted a revised Immigration Control Act in 2018, already has the fourth highest number of immigrants in the world, and the growing influx is fundamentally remaking Japanese society. But Japanese schools have been unable to keep up with such rapid change. The Japanese educational system has for decades valued conformity above all else: the teacher authoritatively imparts knowledge, and students memorize the answer. So Poplar Publishing, a small publisher of picture books, teamed up with the Toda City Board of Education and the Future Institute to form the Diversity Education Project, which tried to figure out a way to get children into the habit of considering the different sides of each issue.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The idea takes the form of a new type of educational tool called “From the Other Side,” which nurtures diverse viewpoints by encouraging children to consider social issues like justice, LGBT rights, and the value of life from different perspectives. Kids are asked questions like, “Mom says you shouldn’t hit people. So why is it okay for superheroes to wallop the bad guys?” Or “Girls can wear trousers or skirts. So why can’t boys wear skirts too?” Questions like these elicit a multitude of responses by getting kids thinking about all sides of the issue. Every child has a different answer.

Describe the strategy (30% of vote)

Japanese teachers are used to just teaching the answer; they are not good at encouraging children to think for themselves and engage in debate. But that method of teaching is ill suited to the increasingly diverse society that is emerging with the revision of Japan’s Immigration Control Act. So we decided to develop a completely new educational tool to assist teachers struggling to teach about diversity. This is designed to get children to express a multiplicity of views, and thus foster debate, by asking questions that require them to examine each issue from different angles, instead of simply feeding them pat answers. The subject matter consists of topical issues intended to get teachers and students engaging in proactive talks, like bullying and LGBT rights.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We created an educational tool that encourages thinking from different perspectives and gets children thinking and talking about diversity. Working with teachers and a local Board of Education, we also designed a public elementary school class shared online as a model case. The educational tool and the teaching guide were made available to download for free, so that teachers all over Japan could easily replicate the lesson themselves. The educational tool was published in the form of a picture book by Poplar Publishing. This took the debate about diversity beyond schools and into the home by getting parents and kids to talk about contemporary social issues like the value of life and LGBT rights. A hashtag campaign was launched to give the project a boost and make it socially relevant, so that anyone could share their thoughts about it on social media.

List the results (30% of vote) – must include at least two of the following tiers:

The class taught in school created such a sensation that one TV program put together a debate segment featuring the questions actually used in the classroom. In addition, more and more schools are teaching the class at the initiative of teachers and local Boards of Education. The picture book ranked number one on Amazon Japan in the ethics category and has so far been delivered to 7,000 elementary schools all over Japan — one-third of all elementary schools in the country. It is also slated for publication in South Korea and Taiwan, which have similar education systems as Japan’s. One of our clients, picture book publisher Poplar Publishing, has decided to build on the project’s success by entering the education market.

Please tell us about the social behaviour and/or cultural insights that inspired your campaign

Schools are controlled by the national Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and before a textbook can be used in classroom it must go through numerous reviews, a process that takes 4-5 years. The system is completely controlled by the government. So we came up with the idea of shaking things up a little by mobilizing teachers and the local Board of Education. We decided to start with a trial class during the one hour a week that teachers are free to use as they like. That allowed the educational package we developed to be used as a teaching aid rather than having to be certified as a textbook. Teaching aid is not controlled by the government.