ENAGEED: Enabling a Better Future with Non- Cognitive Skill Development

Over the last decade, pedagogical methods across the world have undergone huge shifts owing to the rise and subsequent ubiquity of technology. The COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated the transformation. Today, conventional teaching methods, such as blackboard-based classrooms, are replaced with highly engaging virtual teaching environments. This continuum of education for students worldwide is made possible through the adoption of innovative EdTech solutions and services and their rapid adoption by national education boards.

And no other country has played a more active role in digitalizing their teaching and learning process better than Japan. In 2018, the island nation announced a USD 4.6 billion project, the GIGA School Program, which is a planned approach to the digitalization of the way students and teachers across 35,000 schools receive and deliver educational material. This program played a vital role during the coronavirus outbreak as it helped continue education even while traditional teaching and schooling were disrupted. Similarly, with respect to developing a future workforce that is perfectly equipped for the challenges and opportunities of their time, the Japanese government has introduced new guidelines that emphasize the need to develop non-cognitive skills such as emotional maturity, empathy, interpersonal skills, and verbal and non-verbal communication going through an expanded curriculum that allows students to expand their horizons of learning. In light of this, the current Japanese EdTech space is brimming with firms developing non-cognitive skills-driven offerings. Leading this race with its comprehensive portfolio of career education and non-cognitive skills training solutions is Shinjuku-based ENAGEED.

Established in 2012, the company was founded to answer a simple question: Why are some individuals proud and engaged at their workplace while others remain dissatisfied and passive? After some research, the company's CEO, Ujike Mitsunori recognized that the reason for this disparity in offices across his nation is the lack of non-cognitive skill training and development in the primary and higher secondary educational curriculums. To bridge this gap, Mitsunori is working to systematize the next generation's view of occupation and the ability to involve others in making things happen, and to nurture the idea of correctly understanding one's innate potential and being proactive in one's life and society.

And he started developing the ENAGEED portfolio of educational content and training services with an aim to drive the development of a "かっこいいおとな" (Kakko-ii O-tona), which translates to a highly engaged, active, and positive individual, from an early age.

The company's portfolio includes four core modules: the ENAGEED CORE, ENAGEED BASE, ENAGEED GEAR, and the ENAGEED SUMMIT. Each is designed to boost non-cognitive skills through skill development, learning and trial, and competition, respectively. ENAGEED CORE and GEAR suites are a library of classroom-based learning content, which includes seven volumes of ENAGEED's highly curated non-cognitive skill development material, as well as special content to help teachers effectively deliver the message to their students. Mitsunori also elaborates on its ENAGEED GEAR offering, which allows students to conduct self-trial via a series of self-trial programs. With this, students can assess their own development and visualize the learning experiences that impacted them. Lastly, with ENAGEED SUMMIT, an annual event where students can openly present their ideas, the company drives non-cognitive skill expression through competition. "ENAGEED SUMMIT is a presentation tournament of ideas for junior high school/high school students nationwide who are using ENAGEED teaching materials to pass through three examinations and utilize the power learned at ENAGEED to improve the world," adds Mitsunori.

Concurrently, ENAGEED also offers training and educational material for the business sector, which is currently focused on assisting HR departments in better handling their workforces' personal and professional needs. Mitsunori further elaborates how the challenges its business clients face are leveraged as vital inputs when developing capabilities for the education arena.

Highlighting the impact of ENAGEED's portfolio are several success stories the company has ignited since its inception. In one instance, ENAGEED CORE helped first-year students from a high school in Kumamoto write their 'year in review' reports more smoothly than their second-year counterparts. The company's program also inculcated a forwardthinking mindset within students, which aided them in expanding the horizons of their career options. At another high school in Osaka, ENAGEED classes minimized the number of student fights within the premises owing to a shift in their perception of education and the vital role it plays in their futures.

Similar to this successful client collaboration, ENAGEED has assisted numerous other schools across all Japanese prefectures. Moving forward, the company aims to spread awareness of its offerings to more countries, with trials already underway in the nations of the Philippines, Ghana, and Bolivia and expansion plans that include more APAC countries and the world at large. To conclude, Mitsunori reiterates the ethos of ENAGEED, "We will continue finding newer ways to expand our capabilities, which will, in turn, enable us to support more teachers and students in gaining the knowledge that will ensure positive future outcomes."