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Page Title?

• National Association for the Study of Education in Remote and Isolated Areas
• National Federation for the Study of Education in Remote and Isolated Areas

Maybe Research (or even Development) instead of Study? Also, I recommend Federation as the translation for 連盟.--SeanC (talk) 10:28, 12 May 2026 (JST)

Overview

The National Association for the Study of Education in Remote and Isolated Areas (全国へき地教育研究連盟; Zenkoku Hekichi Kyōiku Kenkyū Renmei) is a Japanese educational research organization. The organization is commonly referred to as Zenhekiren (全へき連).

Its work focuses on hekichi education (へき地教育), including:

• Remote and rural schools (へき地校; hekichi-kō), typically located in mountainous areas, isolated regions, or islands
• Small schools (小規模校; shōkibokō)
• Multi-grade classes (複式学級; fukushiki gakkyū)

History

Zenhekiren was established in 1952, following early postwar efforts by teachers in remote and isolated areas to improve educational conditions. At the second national conference, attended by more than 2,000 teachers, the organization was formally established.

The movement was closely connected to the development of national policy for remote-area education. In 1954, the Law for the Promotion of Education in Remote and Isolated Areas (へき地教育振興法) was enacted, creating a legal framework for financial and educational support of schools in geographically isolated areas.

Since then, Zenhekiren has continued to support research exchange through national, block, and prefectural conferences, as well as long-term research plans and practical case-study publications.

Structure and Conferences

Zenhekiren operates as a federation of prefectural research organizations, which are grouped into regional blocks:

• Hokkaido Block (北海道ブロック)
• Tohoku Block (東北ブロック)
• Kanto–Koshinetsu Block (関東甲信越ブロック)
• Tokai–Hokuriku Block (東海北陸ブロック)
• Kinki Block (近畿ブロック)
• Chugoku–Shikoku Block (中・四国ブロック)
• Kyushu Block (九州ブロック)

The organization's main activities take place through research conferences held at multiple levels, which are often run as a single integrated event when schedules overlap:

• National conferences (全国大会)
• Block conferences (ブロック大会)
• Prefectural conferences (県大会)

These conferences typically run over two days and include both central sessions and school-based open classes, often held across multiple rural schools. They include:

• General sessions (全体会) and research presentations
• Open classes (公開授業) at local schools
• Breakout discussions (分科会)

Tohoku Block

The Tohoku Block (東北ブロック) includes the six prefectures of northern Japan, including Akita.

Like other regional education conferences in Japan, the Tohoku Block conference rotates annually between prefectures.

Year	Host Prefecture	No.	Day 1		Day 2		Notes
			Date	Venue	Date	Venue
2022	Yamagata	38th	Sept 29	Yamagata Terrsa Hotel Metropolitan Yamagata Yamagata Kokusai Hotel	Sept 30	Yamadera ES/JHS Osone ES Fukuhara ES Mamurogawa Hokubu ES Okura JHS Tamaniwa ES Nezugaseki ES Atsumi JHS	Combined with the National Conference and Yamagata Prefectural Conference
2024	Miyagi	39th	Oct 3	Kitakami ES/JHS Ayukawa ES / Oshika JHS Togura ES	Oct 4	Kahoku General Center (main venue)	Combined with Miyagi Prefectural Conference and related research meetings
2026	Akita	40th	Oct 1	Akita City (main venue)	Oct 2	Ani Gakuen Kamikoani ES/JHS Iwami Sannai ES/JHS	Combined with Akita Prefectural Conference

Conferences are typically organized jointly by:

• The relevant block research association (e.g. Tohoku Block)
• The host prefecture (e.g. Akita)
• Zenhekiren (national level)

Announcement documents

Official convention announcement documents in PDF format. This document is called the 第二次案内 (dainiji annai; "second announcement") in Japanese; the second announcement is the one that goes out to the general public.

• 2022
• 2024
• 2026

See also

• Zenhekiren Official website (Japanese)
• へき地教育振興法 Law (Japanese)
• へき地教育 (Japanese Wikipedia page)
• Tohoku Six Prefectures English Education Convention