Rethinking Education
Towards a global common good?
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What is UNESCO?
• UNESCO is a major United Nations policy agency founded in
1946 and with headquarters in Paris. The first Director
General was the eminent biologist Sir Julian Huxley.
• Its remit is:
• Education; Science; Culture, together with Social Science and
Communications: www.unesco.org
• It provides the annual Global Monitoring Report on Education
for All: www.efareport.unesco.org
• Some other UN agencies are: United Nations International
Childrens’ Fund or UNICEF; Food and Agricultural Organization
or FAO; International Labour Organization or ILO.
Looking backward to see ahead
• In re-visioning education for the future we must build upon
the legacy of past analyses
• 1972: The Faure Report:
• Established the two interrelated notions of learning society
and lifelong education at a time when traditional education
systems were being challenged e. g. Compulsory
Miseducation, Paul Goodman(1971) and De-Schooling Society,
Ivan Illich (1973).
Looking backward to see ahead
• 1996: The Delors Report:
• Proposed an integrated vision of education based on the two
concepts of learning throughout life and the four pillars of
education (learning to know, to do, to live together, and to
be).
Paradoxes and Tensions
associated with societal development
Poverty reduction
Vulnerability, inequality,
and exclusion
Economic growth
Ecological stress, unsustainable
production/consumption
Interconnected world
Division, intolerance
and conflict
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A central concern for
Sustainable Human and Social Development
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Humanistic Approach to
Development and Education
Fundamental Principles
 Concern for sustainable human and social development
 Recognizing the diversity of lived realities
 Reaffirming a core of ethical values
Fundamental purpose of education:
To enhance and sustain the dignity and capacity of the
human person in relation to others and to nature
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What does a humanistic approach to
education and learning mean?
Contents and methods
An Integrated Approach to Learning
•Independent judgement;
•Sense of personal
responsibility;
•Tapping the buried treasure
of hidden talents
•Learning for work and life;
•Competencies to deal with
unforeseen situations
•Alternating study & work
Learning
to Be
Learning
to Know
Learning
to Do
Learning
to Live
Together
• Foundational skills;
•Presupposes ‘learning to
learn’
•Foundation for lifelong
learning
•Preparation for the learning
society
•Understanding others;
•Respect for human dignity
and diversity;
•Learning for responsible
and active citizenship
Contents and methods
Renewed focus on social and civic learning
SDG 4
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education
and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Target 4.7
By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire knowledge and skills
needed to promote sustainable development, including, among
others, through education for sustainable development and
sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion
of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and
appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to
sustainable development
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Contents and methods
Renewed Focus on Learning to Learn
The illiterate person in the 21st century
is not the person who cannot read –
it is the person who does not know
how to learn, relearn and unlearn
[Alvin Toffler]
Transferable competencies, “soft skills”, or “21st century skills”:
Critical thinking
Problem solving
Independent judgement
Policy
Foundational Importance of Teachers
- Changing role of teachers: Guides/Facilitators of learning.
Guide through the ever-expanding maze of knowledge
- Develop competencies to critically process information:
Social and ethical dimensions of learning
- Reversing the de-professionalization of teachers in both North
and South
- Recognize the importance of educators beyond the formal 12
sector (community learning centers, youth groups…)
Policy
Focus on Equity
- An education that does not marginalize or exclude
- Recognition of open and flexible lifelong learning systems
- Inclusive policy-making
- Protecting the right to basic education
and equal opportunity at post-compulsory levels
- Reduce disparities in educational outcomes among groups.
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Governance
Rethinking Learning in a Complex World
Complexity characterized by blurring of boundaries
between:
 Formal and informal learning
 Global and national policy-making
 Public and private education
Principle of Education as a Public Good
under strain
 Expanded access to education and increasing pressure on
public financing;
 Greater involvement of non-state actors to supplement public
financing and in response to a growing demand for voice in
public affairs;
 Changing scale, scope and penetration of private engagement
into all aspects of the educational endeavour;
 Risks related to commodification, marketization of education.
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Education as a common good
Beyond the dichotomy of the public and the private,
the principle of education as a common good:
 Reaffirms the collective dimension of education as a
shared societal endeavour;
 Integrates an acknowledgment of the diversity of
contexts and conceptions of human well-being while
reaffirming a core of shared values;
 Emphasizes the participatory process of public policy
formulation and implementation.
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Education and knowledge
as common goods
The governance of education can no longer be
separated from the governance of knowledge.
Creation, transmission, acquisition, validation and use
of knowledge common to all people engaged in a
collective societal endeavour.
Knowledge as the common heritage of humanity.
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Some Questions
Are the aspirations set out in Re-thinking
Education utopian or can they be realised in
practice?
What actions would be needed to begin the
process?
What is the role of international policy
agencies?
What is the role of civil society?
Some Further Reading
• UNESCO Report: Re-thinking Education: Towards a global common
good? (2015), UNESCO, Paris,
• http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002325/232555e.pdf
• Morgan, W. J. and I. White, ‘Looking Backward to See Ahead: The
Faure and Delors Reports and the post-2015 development agenda’,
(2013), Weiterbildung, Issue 4, 40-43 (and further articles in this
series).
• Global policy agencies and visions for 21st century lifelong
education. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 34 (5) 2015.
• ‘Rediscovering the Ubuntu paradigm in education’, International
Review of Education, 62 (1) 2016.
Thank You-Diolch yn Fawr!
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Professor W. J. Morgan
Wales Institute of Social and Economic
Research, Data and Methods,
Cardiff University
MorganJ74@cardiff.ac.uk