Above: Junko Rondo giving a talk at EMI, January, 2020
Dear SEMIS Coalition,
Nice to e-meet you!
My name is Junko Kondo. I’m a former public middle school social studies teacher and
currently an assistant professor at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies in Kyoto, Japan. I’m
thrilled to share that my research paper, based on the SEMIS Coalition and forming part of
my PhD dissertation, has just been published in the Australian Journal of Environmental
Education (open access): https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2025.10059
A Personal Connection to Michigan
Although I live and work in Japan, Michigan has long felt familiar. I was born and raised in
Shiga Prefecture, home to Lake Biwa—Japan’s largest freshwater lake—which has been a
sister state to Michigan since 1968. In fact, our lake even has a sightseeing ship named
Michigan, a symbol of this long-standing friendship.
Growing up, my family—who volunteered in international exchange programs—often hosted guests from Michigan. For me, “American people” meant warm-hearted Michiganders whose generosity and curiosity sparked my own interests in culture and nature there. Years later, when I began studying Place-Based Education, going to Michigan felt like the most natural step.
Meeting the SEMIS Community
In early 2020, just before the world shut down due to COVID-19, I had the privilege of
spending time at Eastern Michigan University as a visiting scholar. There, I was introduced to SEMIS and met many of you—educators, community partners, and organizers—whose
passion for Place-Based Education deeply transformed my understanding of what education could be.
What struck me most was how personal and alive your work felt. Education wasn’t just a
profession—it was a way of being. Rooted in place and people, committed to justice, and full of joy, your practice embodied care, passion and authenticity. I’ll never forget the words of one community educator:
“One of our students, she was really shy… Now she’s grabbing the mic, talking to people
about climate change. Oh, I’m gonna cry. It’s so happy. She’s standing up in front of
everyone, trying to speak out.”
Or this from a classroom teacher:
“If you’ve ever been to a SEMIS meeting, it’s just good people wanting to be involved in good projects that are good for communities… It’s uplifting. Good for the soul.”
And this reflection from a SEMIS staff member:
“I was a very sensitive kid… When I joined the Social Foundations and Ecojustice Education
master’s program, I felt like—I found my people. I love doing education with teachers. It’s
really empowering to go to work and be aligned with your own values.”
Writing Through Uncertainty
The pandemic cut short my stay in Michigan. I returned to Japan just as universities across
the state were closing. But the experience left a mark. As I continued interviewing SEMIS
educators via Zoom, I began to ask deeper questions:
What does it mean to be an educator in times of uncertainty?
What kinds of practices are needed in this era, where disruption and complexity are the norm?
These questions shaped the long and sometimes painful writing journey that eventually
became this paper. At first, I struggled to articulate what I had witnessed, especially across
cultural and educational contexts. Over time, I came to understand that the practices I
observed could be described as vernacular—emergent, grounded, and relational, and carried by their own momentum.
Vernacular Agency and the Role of Educators
In the SEMIS case, educator agency was marked by something I couldn’t quite define at
first—but eventually, I came to call it indeterminism. That is, teachers and community
partners navigated uncertainty not with fixed solutions, but through reflective, responsive,
and evolving practices. Their work was shaped by cultural tensions, institutional constraints, and community needs—but it was also guided by deep ethical commitments to students, local communities, place, and to themselves as educators.
These vernacular practices were not outcomes-focused in the conventional sense. They did not seek to standardize or scale. Instead, they unfolded through relationships and
responsiveness—what I describe in the paper as relational entanglements and shared
commitments. Importantly, indeterminism was not a weakness, but a source of creativity and transformation.
Education for Uncertain Times
In both Japan and the U.S., I found that vernacular forms of educator agency challenge the
logic of modern schooling, which too often values control, predictability, and measurable
outcomes. Instead, SEMIS educators model an alternative approach—one that embraces care, emergence, and pluralism. In this way, the implications for education in uncertain times go beyond curriculum content. They call for a shift in how we understand the educator’s role:
From control to care,
From linearity to emergence,
From expert authority to shared inquiry.
These are not easy shifts. They are slow, contextual, and deeply human. But they offer
powerful orientations for those of us seeking to nurture more just, sustainable, and
compassionate futures.
With Gratitude
This paper took time to complete, as it reflects both my academic journey to conceptualize
transformative education in uncertain times—and my ongoing journey of developing my
English skills (haha). Still, I’m deeply grateful to have finally captured what I’ve learned and
what I believe matters for the planetary good.
To all SEMIS educators—thank you for welcoming me, sharing your stories, and showing me what it truly means to live and learn as agents of change.
This work is for you.
I’ll be attending the Place-Based Education Conference this November to share this article
and my dissertation, if you’ll be there too, I’d love the chance to connect in person!
Warm regards from Japan,
Junko Kondo
SEMIS Coalition Professional Development January, 2020