Diversity of learning and learners
UNESCO workshop 17 October 2002
Introduction by Bernard LOING, moderator.
Idea n°1. As regards the development of “borderless”, ICT-based education, and of a
knowledge society within the context of globalisation, we are now engaged in a period of
emergence (which could sometimes become an “emergency”!) of new forms, systems and
behaviours reminiscent of the Cambrian period, 500 million years ago, when millions of new
forms of life and species developed, and most often disappeared quite as fast as they had
come.
Idea n°2. There is a similar diversity today in the world of education. This great diversity of
systems and approaches in education (new ways of organising it, new ways of teaching and
learning etc.) is well illustrated in all the papers of this Forum, and particularly in the regional
case studies produced under the auspices of UNESCO.
Idea n°3. It is very difficult to conceive, analyse and rationalise such a turmoil and explosion
of new life forms. The best attitude to adopt is to welcome diversity, try to observe it as
scientifically as possible, sort out and find the main trends. How are we going to do that? Let
us first rely on former experience, and start from simple concepts.
Idea n°4. The main idea is to try to appreciate diversity within a global context rather tending
towards uniformity. In the papers presented at this Forum (for instance Dirk Van Damme’s)
the issues of “borderless education” have been balanced between the poles of: “global v.
local” / “public v. private” / “open v. closed” / “free v. for profit” / In this workshop we are
going to place ourselves between two other poles: “diversity v. uniformity” / “individual v.
collective”/.
Idea n°5 The issues of diversity within globality are not completely new, but they become
more acute today. If the rise of trans-national education is relatively new due to the
development of ICT and the movement of globalisation, the questions of trans-national
qualification are relatively old. They were dealt with in the Regional Conventions passed in
the seventies and the eighties under the umbrella of UNESCO. They remain major texts of
reference, and are consequently being updated.
The question as also more acute today because within the context of globalisation, the
tension is growing between the set of core values of Higher Education at global level
(research, sharing scientific knowledge, building democracy, promoting cultural exchange)
and the temptation of commercialisation on a sort of marketplace of education.
Idea n°6. Here are some questions that we could ask ourselves:
- How far is it possible to share educational goods trans-nationally (cf. the MIT
Open Courseware initiative)?
- What common provisions, rules, standards can be applied to a world of Higher
Education that should at the same time remain diverse?
- How is the diversity of learning and learners going to be preserved within a
common “international policy framework”?
- How to cope with the unequal access to resources and knowledge dissemination
systems?
Bernard LOING for the Global Forum on International Quality Assurance. UNESCO 17 October 2002
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How to regulate the supply side of the educational market with licensing criteria
flexible enough to accommodate the diversity of new providers and delivery
modes, and keep fostering innovation?
How to work for international convergence in policies dealing with access?
How to deal with the diversity of approaches to Quality Assessment and
Accreditation?
Idea n°7. It is a final question for educators, specifically referring to pedagogy:
How to cope with the growing individual requirements (linked to lifelong learning) for
customized pedagogy and comfortable access to learning (made possible by ICT) within a
context of larger, trans-national, borderless, collective (and if possible safe and duly
accredited) learning systems?
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Bernard LOING for the Global Forum on International Quality Assurance. UNESCO 17 October 2002