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Vision-making for diverse and future-oriented education: Interpreting the future of learning through environmental design

Over the past few years, our society has grown increasingly complex, and our values and ways of living have diversified more than ever before. In schools, “diversity” is visible daily in many forms—culture, language, family background, developmental differences, learning styles, and more. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) emphasizes comprehensive support for diversity in its publication, “No One Left Behind: The Reiwa Model of Japanese School Education.” Likewise, “diversity education” has become a key perspective widely recognized as essential by many educators today. However, while the importance of diversity is frequently discussed in educational settings, conversations often continue without a clear vision for questions such as: “Where are we heading?” and “What kind of future are we trying to create beyond diversity?” For this reason, it is now more important than ever to emphasize the role of vision-making in achieving diversity in education. For students, teachers, schools, and communities to embrace diverse identities and chart a forward-looking pathway for learning, the key lies in how we envision the future of education. In this article, we explore vision-making for future learning—integrating perspectives from biodiversity and environmental design—to better understand what it means to talk about diversity in education and how to shape a vision that creates the future.