E-Introductory Training on Learning for Empathy
On 9 June 2020, UNESCO Office Jakarta organized an E-Introductory Training on Learning for Empathy through Zoom and live streamed on UNESCO Jakarta Facebook page. This webinar aimed at introducing the teacher’s guidebook for learning for empathy in Indonesia, Buku Panduan Guru: Belajar Empati. The webinar included a sharing session by the teachers of the pilot schools on the good practices on Learning for Empathy and lesson learned from the teachers visit to Japan.
The are 678 participants joined the webinar from different cities in Indonesia, including the principals and teachers from the four pilot schools of Learning for Empathy Project, namely Public Junior High School (SMPN) 41 Surabaya, Madrassa Junior High School (MTsN) 6 Jombang, SMPN 3 Surabaya, and MTsN 17 Jombang. The webinar got 1.3K views, 1,083 engagements and reached around 2,444 people during its live stream on UNESCO Jakarta Facebook.
In his opening remarks, Director of UNESCO Jakarta, Dr Shahbaz Khan, highlighted that teachers, as key influencers in social transformation, should be able to ensure that students can learn safely in creative and innovative ways by upholding the values of empathy, including understanding of cultural diversity and promoting a culture of peace and non-violence. The Executive Chairman of Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO, Prof Arief Rachman, emphasized the importance of four pillars of learning, which are learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and learning to live together. He also mentioned that learning for empathy is one of the ethical values that could nurture the spirituality-needed values for life in a plural world to create a better environment for all children of the world.
The representative from Directorate General of Teachers and Education Personnel, Ministry of Education and Culture Indonesia, Mr Lukman Hakim, presented the Teacher’s Competency for Current Learning in Indonesia. He mentioned that future competencies had become current competencies. COVID-19 has urged teachers to be creative, innovative and able to master technology in conveying learning.
The main session of the webinar was the presentation by Ms Yuli Rahmawati from State University of Jakarta, as part of the authors team, who introduced the Guidebook and explained how learning for empathy can be integrated to school subjects with samples from the stories presented in the Guidebook. The presentation was completed by Mr Trezadigjaya, a teacher at Labschool Jakarta who shared his experience in adapting the learning for empathy in his teaching subject.
In the closing session, the Head of Education Unit, UNESCO Jakarta, Ms Mee Young Choi, expressed her appreciation to all presenters, partners, and participants for actively participating in the webinar. She also conveyed that training shall be continued with COVID-19 situation in consideration.
The “Learning for Empathy” project in Indonesia is part of a regional project entitled “Building a peaceful and sustainable future in Asia through education: teacher exchange and support programme” in cooperation with UNESCO Bangkok and supported by the Government of Japan.
Watch the webinar at https://www.facebook.com/UNESCOJakarta/videos/2613934428874051/