International Collaborative Research Possibilities for Environmental Education in Asia

Taking into account of the both significant growth of higher education in Asia and the infiltration of cosmopolitan viewpoints in environmental education research, our team designed and conducted pilot survey amongst EE researchers of Japan, Korea and Taiwan (n=51) concerning: self-evaluation; methodology; training; themes; education sector levels and interests in and barriers against international collaboration. This paper shares notable trends revealed through the pilot survey and discuss the significance of these in relation to our future, full-scale survey. Toward conducting a larger-scale survey, two aspects should be stressed. First, use of native language is essential to securing greater participants. This would improve the accuracy of meaning sometimes lost through translation and increase the efficiency of completion. More survey participants would enable us to conduct cross-national comparisons, which this study could not. Second, the support from the participating academic societies is crucial not only for executing a full-scale survey but also facilitating opportunities for increasing research skills and capacities international collaboration.