Fostering a Sustainable Global Society Through Teacher Education: From Soka (Value-Creating) Perspectives

Abstract A sustainable future requires individuals to see their inherent humanity and to respect the dignity of all living beings. Since knowledge can be used for both positive and negative purposes, teacher educators must nurture the humanity of pre-service teachers. This study aims to provide concrete examples and resources that foster students’ humanity during their teacher education programs. To achieve this, document analysis was conducted to examine the content and resources of five websites dedicated to Daisaku Ikeda’s philosophy of Soka humanism, offering valuable inspiration and ideas for teacher educators to incorporate humanity into their curriculum and teaching practices. Furthermore, object-oriented interviews were conducted with two educators who have applied Soka humanism in their teaching practices; one was a department chair of science education at a Christian university, and the other served as a vice president of a public university. The findings suggest that Ikeda websites offer useful information for teacher educators to cultivate the humanity of pre-service teachers, transcending differences in gender, religion, ideology, social position, ethnicity, and nationality. The implications for practice and future research are discussed.