SO 027 285 Nkake, Lucie-Mami Noor Gaining Ground. INSTITUTION · SO 027 285. Nkake, Lucie-Mami Noor Education for International Understanding: An Idea Gaining Ground. International

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SO 027 285

Nkake, Lucie-Mami NoorEducation for International Understanding: An IdeaGaining Ground.International Bureau of Education, Geneva

(Switzerland).96

49p.; Photographs may not reproduce well.International Bureau of Education, P.O. Box 199, 1211Geneva 20, Switzerland.Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.)(120) Reports Descriptive (141)

MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.Adoption (Ideas); *Citizenship Education; Civics;Civil Liberties; Comparative Education; CulturalExchange; Democratic Values; *Educational Philosophy;Educational Principles; Elementary SecondaryEducation; Foreign Countries; Foundations ofEducation; Freedom; Futures (of Society); GlobalApproach; *Global Education; InternationalCooperation; International Education; *InternationalEducational Exchange; International Organizations;Moral Values; *Peace; World Affairs; World History

This brochure is a partial follow-mn t' flihsession of the International Conferer. ê on 1..uucation (ICE),"Appraisal and Penspcctives of Education for InternationalUnderstanding," held in 1994 in Geneva, Switzerland. While borrowingextensively from conference material (such as the speeches by headsof delegations, replies by member states to an International Bureauof Education (IBE) pre-conference survey, national reports, andround-table summaries), this brochure also includes personal ideas,experience, and opinions on important matters in today's countries:human rights, peace, and democracy. Despite the complexity of thechallenges facing a rapidly changing world, the range of actionsdescribed in this work reflect a common will and offer furthersuggestions for a "new philosophy of education," that wouldincorporate some positive moral values common to all countries. Withthe dawning of the 21st century, bringing people closer togetherthrough what they have in common, through the incomparable wealth oftheir diversity, could be one of the keys to the creation of "alifelong school, open to the world, in the service of mankind"(Jacques Muhlethaler, founder of the World Association for the Schoolas an Instrument of Peace). Specific sections of the brochureinclude: "Why this brochure?"; "Foreword: A Common Will"; "Towardsthe New Millennium--An Idea Gaining Ground"; "For a New Philosophy ofEducation"; "A World That Is Many and One: The Other's Viewpoint";"Development and a Culture of Peace"; "From Rhetoric to Practice foran Applied Peace"; and "Conquering New Areas for Education forPeace." Contains sources and several notes. (CB)

AN IDEA GAINING GROUND

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Contents

Why this brochure? p. 3

Foreword: a common will p. 4

Towards the new millenniuman ideagaining ground p. 5

For a new philosophy of education p. 10

A world that is many and one:the other's viewpoint p. 17

Development and a culture of peace p. 24

From rhetoric to practice for anapplied peace p. 29

Conquering new areas foreducation for peace p. 45

The author expresses her gratitude to the UNICEFOffice in Geneva for allowing free access to itsphoto library in order to illustrate this brochure.

Published in 1996by the International Bureau of Education,P.O. Box 199, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland

Printed in France by SADAG, Bellegarde

UNESCO:IBE, 1996

A lifetime to learn

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Why this brochure?

This brochure is part of the follow-upto the forty-fourth session ofthe International Conference onEducation (ICE), which was held in1994 in Geneva on the theme:Àppraisal and perspectives of educa-tion for international understanding'.While borrowing extensively fromconference material, such as thespeeches by heads of delegations,replies by Member States to a pre-Conference survey by the InternationalBureau of Education (IBE), nationalreports, round-table summaries, etc.,the style of the brochure is fairly direct,not restricted by the rules generallyimposed on official documents formajor conferences, thanks to whichthe author has been able to convey awealth and diversity of ideas, expe-rience and opinions on matters of suchimportance for the countries of theworld today as human rights, peaceand democracy. Apart from neatlysumming up the items on the agenda,most of the chapters in this documentcontain boxes giving an 'action spec-trum' or 'viewpoints' based oninnovatory, original experiments, anda selection of extracts taken from thespeeches of ministers present at theICE. The brochure is intended fora broad range of readers, especiallyteachers and students.

It also retraces the developmentof UNESCO's programme and that ofits predecessor, the InternationalBureau of Education, which has beenpart of the organization since 1969.

While the brochure does not attemptto give a systematic, detailed presenta-tion of UNESCO's programme in thearea of international understanding, itdoes recall the most significant eventswhich have occurred along the wayit has been more than seventy yearssince the International Bureau ofEducation was first set up in 1925towards peace and democracy. Afurther source of inspiration hasalso been the philosophy of educa-tion offered in the report ofthe International Commission onEducation for the Twenty-firstCentury, which was published at thebeginning of this year (see Delors inthe references).

The author herself is Lucie-Mami Noor Nkake, our colleaguefrom the World Association for theSchool as an Instrument of Peace.While expressing its gratitude for hercontribution, the International Bureauof Education wishes to remind readersthat she is responsible for the choiceand presentation of the facts containedin this publication and for the opinionsexpressed therein, which are not neces-sarily those of UNESCO:IBE and donot commit the Organization. Thedesignations employed and the presen-tation of the material do not imply theexpression of any opinion whatsoeveron the part of UNESCO:IBE regardingthe legal status of any country, terri-tory, city or area or of its authorities,or concerning the delimitation of itsfrontiers or boundaries.

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Left:James Grant(1922-95);right:Jacques Mithlethaler(1918-94)

Foreword:a common will

The forty-fourth session of theInternational Conference on Edu-cation (ICE), organized by theInternational Bureau of Education(IBE), was held in Geneva from 3 to 8October 1994. It was attended bynearly 800 participants from the worldof education, including 102 ministers.

The major debates on thegeneral theme of the Conference,Àppraisal and perspectives of educa-tion for international understanding',were introduced successively byFederico Mayor, Director-General ofUNESCO, James Grant, Director-General of the United NationsChildrens' Fund (UNICEF), JacquesDelors, Chairman of the InternationalCommission on Education for theTwenty-first Century, and the fivechairpersons of the Conference'spreparatory meetings.

The ministers of education,together with the educators and non-governmental organizations takingpart in the Conference, reviewed the

PHOTO: UNICEF/91 0005/Joe Rubino

achievements of education for inter-national understanding and identifiedthe remaining obstacles in its way.They noted the urgent need to includethe subject in school curricula and inteacher-training courses.

Despite the complexity of thechallenges facing a rapidly changingworld, the range of actions describedin this work reflects a common willand offers further suggestions for a`new philosophy of education', whichwould incorporate some positivemoral values common to all countries.At this dawning of the twenty-firstcentury, which is so often mentioned,bringing people closer togetherthrough what they have in common,through the incomparable wealth oftheir diversity, could be one of thekeys to the creation of 'A lifelongschool, open to the world, in theservice of mankind' (JacquesMahlethaler,1 founder of the WorldAssociation for the School as anInstrument of Peace).

PHOTO: Max Vaterlaus, Geneve

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Towards the new millenniuman idea gaining ground

From 1925 to 1974, the foundersof peace through education

In 1925, at a time when the bittermemories of the First World War andthe destruction it caused still hauntedpeople's minds, the prospect of anotherconflict was already looming on thehorizon. More than ever, the need wasfelt to establish an institution in the ser-vice of education for closer contact andharmony between peoples, the precon-ditions of international understanding.It was against this backdrop, where thehopes of peace were mingled with thefear of war, that the InternationalBureau of Education (IBE) was founded.

Four years later, in response to apressing desire to alleviate the crisiswhich was gradually adding plausibilityto the idea of another war, the foundersof the Bureau changed its status. TheIBE ceased to be a non-governmentalorganization and, in 1929, became anintergovernmental organization. Oneof its priority tasks is defined in thepreamble to its new statutes, whichclearly states its purpose:

Considering that the development of educa-tion is an essential factor in the establishmentof peace and in the moral and material pro-gress of humanity, that the collection of dataon research and application in the field of edu-cation and the assurance of extensiveinterchange of information and data by whicheach country may be stimulated to benefitfrom the experiences of others is important tothis development.'

Ten years later, the scourge of waronce again devastated the world, brin-ging destruction and disillusionin its wake. At the end of this con-flict, which was made even deadlierthan the previous one by scientificadvances, the faith in humankind wasrekindled in those who sought tobuild peace through education. Thenations decided to hold an 'assembly'.It was 1945, in San Francisco, andthe United Nations Organization wasborn. The preamble to its Charter,beginning 'We, the peoples of theUnited Nations', reaffirms its faith inhuman rights, an ideal which takes itssource in the major currents of humanthought which have always nourished

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the scourge of warbringing

destruction anddisillusion in

its wake

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6Towards the new millenniuman idea gaining ground

the quest for liberty and justice. Oneyear later, the 'peacemakers', convin-ced of the essential role played byeducation in the achievement andmaintenance of peace in the world,founded the United NationsEducational, Scientific and CulturalOrganizationUNESCOin London.In 1946, at its first GeneralConference, UNESCO launched anddefended the idea of education forinternational understanding. Theorganization's constitution highlightsits ethical mission in these terms:`Since wars begin in the minds of men,it is in the minds of men that thedefences of peace must be construc-ted'. In its programmes, UNESCOintroduced the foundations of educa-tion for international understanding.The ideal took shape more clearly stillin 1948, when the United NationsGeneral Assembly proclaimed theUniversal Declaration of HumanRights, the first part of the futureÌnternational Bill of Human Rights',which was to be of moral as well as oflegal significance.

In 1953, an experimentalproject was launched by severalcountries, UNESCO's AssociatedSchools Project (ASP). Looked uponas 'navigators', the Associated Schoolsexplore new ways and new means ofadapting education to the needs ofsocieties.

From 1974 to 1994,towards a cultureof peace

Three decades after the appeal forpeace beginning 'We, the peoples ofthe United Nations', the great humanrights movement added a further

stone to its edifice. At the eighteenthsession of UNESCO's GeneralConference, the Member Statesadopted the 'Recommendationconcerning education for internatio-nal understanding, co-operation andpeace and education relating tohuman rights and fundamental free-doms', better known as the '1974Recommendation'. In 1976, theInternational Bill of Human Rightsbrought with it three legal instru-ments of great importance for theStates which ratified them: theInternational Covenant on Economic,Social and Cultural Rights; theInternational Covenant on Civil andPolitical Rights; and the OptionalProtocol to the latter Covenant.Unrestricted respect for the rights ofthe individual was thus instituted asa prerequisite and a sine qua noncondition for the achievement andmaintenance of peace, both withinand between States. Rulers and sub-jects alike were made aware that itwas not sufficient to allude to theideal of peace or to invoke humanrights in order for these to material-ize. The awareness took hold that aform of education was needed toestablish lasting peace and inter-national understanding. In that spirit,UNESCO convened a meeting ofexperts in 1977 with the task ofstudying 'the constituent elements ofpeace founded on respect for humanrights'. The teaching of human rightsbecame one of the organization'spriorities. The first steps were takenin 1978, in Vienna, where theInternational Congress on HumanRights Education firmly recalled thatthose rights were indivisible. In 1987,Malta provided the setting for theInternational Congress on Human

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Rights Teaching, Information andDocumentation, while in 1989, theInternational Congress on Peace inthe Minds of Men, whose titlerecalled the principle of UNESCO'sethical mission, was held inYamoussoukro (Cote d'Ivoire). Thiscongress proposed a new goal,namely the development of a 'cultureof peace', which would be based onvalues recognized as universal by allcultures, in order 'successfully toachieve the transition from a cultureof war to a culture of peace' (FedericoMayor).

Times changed, and somemajor events occurred after SanFrancisco, London, Vienna, Maltaand Yamoussoukro. The world wasplunged into upheaval. The BerlinWall fell. Totalitarianism retreated.Geopolitical maps were redrawn.

New technologies emerged. At thesame time, however, the gap betweenrich and poor nations widened,poverty spread in the major cities andthe spectre of war was ever present.Now that world problems areinterrelated, concepts can no longerbe considered in isolation and there isan urgent need to review the objec-tives of education, to heed the newaspirations of peoples and to redirectthe means of action.

In 1991, UNESCO's GeneralConference called for the conveningof an international commission,whose mandate would be to reflect indepth on the challenges facing educa-tion in the twenty-first century and toformulate suggestions for appropriateactions to meet those challenges. InMontreal in 1993, the InternationalCongress on Education for Human

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poverty spread inthe major cities and

the spectre of warwas ever present

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Jan AmosComenius ( I 592-1670),a European writerand humanist

Towards the new millennium

Rights and Democracy devoted alarge part of its discussions to humanrights and democracy and theirrelations with education, develop-ment, cultural diversity and tolerance.It would express the idea of a 'culturaldemocracy'.

One of the founders of modernpedagogy, Jan Amos Comenius(1592-1670), a writer and a huma-nist, already during his lifetimestressed the importance of universalliteracy for the harmonious develop-ment of society. He advocateduniversal education for girls and boysand asserted the principle of equalaccess to instruction, without distinc-tion as to religion, social class andeven ability. Following the fourthcentenary of his birth, the Czechauthorities and UNESCO created theComenius Medal in 1993, to rewardwomen and men who achieve distinc-tion in the field of educationalresearch and innovation. The medalis awarded at sessions of theInternational Conference on Educa-tion.

In this same year, confirmingthe importance it attaches to pedago-gic thought, UNESCO published a

an idea gaining ground

series on 100 'thinkers on education',which appeared in Prospects, its inter-national review of comparativeeducation, now produced by the IBE(see sources). In the series (taking upfour double issues of the review), phi-losophers, politicians, sociologists,scientists, theologians, novelists, his-torians, poets and essay writers of alltimes and all cultures are described inmonographs. There they are free tohold a dialogue, contradict each otherand rebut each other.

Towards thenew millennium:a more holistic view

While it cannot be denied thathuman rights are indivisible andinterdependent, the need for a type ofeducation adapted to present-daycircumstances, marked as they are bythe expression of all forms of intole-rance, violence and inequality,compelled UNESCO recently todevelop an Integrated Framework ofAction on Education for Peace,Human Rights and Democracy.

These concerns lay at the heartof the debates during the forty-fourth session of the InternationalConference on Education (1994), atwhich the ministers of education tooka substantial step forward by adop-ting the Integrated Framework ofAction. This framework, which isboth a legitimate and a logical sequelto the 1974 Recommendation, offersbasic guidelines which can be convert-ed, at institutional and national level,into strategies, policies and actionplans, taking account of all aspects ofculture, such as history, religion and

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custom. In the Declaration which theyadopted at the forty-fourth session,the delegates expressed MemberStates' determination to achieve thechangeover from the twentieth to thetwenty-first century with force anddetermination in the following terms:

Mindful of our responsibility for the educationof citizens committed to the promotion ofpeace, human rights and democracy in accor-dance with the letter and spirit of the Charterof the United Nations [San Francisco, 1945],the Constitution of UNESCO [London, 1946],the Universal Declaration of Human Rights[1948] and other relevant instruments such asthe Convention on the Rights of the Child[1989] and the conventions on the rights ofwomen, and in accordance with theRecommendation concerning Education forInternational Understanding, Co-operationand Peace and Education relating to HumanRights and Fundamental Freedoms,[. . .1 Convinced that education should pro-mote knowledge, values, attitudes and skillsconducive to respect for human rights and toan active commitment to the defense of suchrights and to the building of a culture of peaceand democracy,[. . .1 Consequently, we, the Ministers ofEducation meeting at the 44th session of theInternational Conference on Education, adoptthis Declaration and invite the Director-General to present to the General Conference aFramework of Action that allows MemberStates and UNESCO to integrate, within acoherent policy, education for peace, humanrights and democracy in the perspective of sus-tainable development.

Tirelessly pursuing this ob-jective, the UNESCO GeneralConference, at its twenty-eighth ses-sion (November 1995), adopted theDeclaration of the ICE's forty-fourthsession and the Integrated Frameworkof Action. Taking account of the Rec-ommendations of the conferences

held since 1974, the session paid par-ticular attention to the Culture ofPeace programme and called on theOrganization's sectors (education,science, culture and communication)to introduce this interdisciplinaryapproach into their programmes.

THE FUNDAMENTAL CHALLENGESTO ACHIEVING GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

The General Conference ofUNESCO, in redefining thefoundations of the educa-tional mission, did not hesi-tate to raise the essentialissues which will have to beaddressed in order to arriveat last at a truly globalcitizenship:

cultivating the values onwhich the practical imple-

mentation of peace, humanrights and democracydepend;no longer only empha-sizing cognitive learning,but also affective andbehavioural learning;learning citizenship, basedon universal values andknowledge to be applied inpractice.

UNESCO, celebrating thefiftieth anniversary of its founda-tion (1945-95) at its twenty-eighthGeneral Conference, renewed itscommitment to its Constitution. Thatsolemn gesture should be seen as asymbol of 'beginning again', the beliefthat nothing is ever achieved for goodand that a constant effort of spirit andenergy is needed. The relevance of thisprinciple, which is rooted in themyths and beliefs of all countries,should bring together the countlesssegments of mankind, withoutdiminishing their individuality, inorder to achieve the ideal of peace,which is merely waiting to advanceacross the earth.

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The right toeducation:a human right

For a new philosophyof education

Teaching values forlearning to be

While we witness the triumph ofscience and technology, some effectsof which tend to reify humanity, wehave come to a turning point betweentwo centuries, when our thoughtsmust find inspiration in the ethicalprinciples underlying the world'sphilosophies: 'There is, therefore,every reason to place renewed empha-sis on the moral and cultural dimen-sions of education' (Learning: thetreasure within, UNESCO, 1996). Ashe introduced the debate at the ICE'sforty-fourth session on the themeÈducation for the twenty-first centu-ry', Jacques Delorsmore than twentyyears onrecalled the influence of thereport of the Commission chaired byEdgar Faure in 1972, Learning to be.At that time, the report focused on thediversity of educational situations inthe world. Faced with the problem ofconducting an overall analysis andputting forward recommendations

acceptable to all at the political andphilosophical levels, Delors refers tothe principal changes that have takenplace in the world since Learning to bewas written, such as the nature andnew forms of relations between Northand South, the emergence of 'severalSouths', and the growing importanceof information: 'anything that takesplace in one place [for better or forworse and in all areas] cannot beignored by the remainder of human-ity.' The changes which have occurredin the major political blocs, whoseprevailing ideologies infiltrated thewhole world for several decades,have resulted in a 'major ideologicalvacuum'. Jacques Delors offeredparticipants his vision of a new philos-ophy of education through what hereferred to as his double faith: 'myfaith in education as a factor ofimprovement, to varying degrees, ininterpersonal relations, relationshipswithin societies, relationships betweennations; and my second faith [. . .] inthe role of international organizations

SHOULD VIRTUE BE TAUGHT?THE POINT OF VIEW OF LUXEMBOURG

Should virtue be taught? According toSocrates, there is no need to teach virtue, sincegood is derived directly from a knowledge oftruth. Protagoras, on the other hand, believesthat there is a need to teach virtue (Plato).

On this philosophical issue,Luxembourg sides with Protagoras. Since theschool cannot provide all the answers,Luxembourg advocates devising a new philo-sophy of education which is adapted to thespecific requirements of our time and whichwould sacrifice neither society nor the indi-vidual. The aim would be to 'train respon-sible, useful citizens, but at the same time freeand as far as possible happy individuals', tooffer education which would strike a balance

between a scientific culture 'without whichwe would feel inevitably alienated frommodern times', and a literary humanisticculture, 'without which we would forfeit thewisdom of our ancestors'.

Ìf the sciences cannot provideanswers to ethical problems, they have to besought elsewhere. If ethical values are notderived from a truth which is recognized byall, as in Christian civilization, then they haveto be constructed on the basis of a consensusamong men who are living henceforth as partof a global community. All hope of universalethical values is therefore not lost. Thistheoretical universality can and must give wayto practical universality.'

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11For a new philosophy of education

ÙBUSHINGANTAHE': IN BURUNDI

Despite the tragic events that have takenplace in the country, the educational author-ities have for years been introducing valuestaken from a deep-seated cultureto whichoutside contributions are added whererelevantinto their education system. TheFaculty of Letters and Human Sciences hasstarted research into the concept ofUbushingantahe, which means 'a personable to settle differences impartially'. Theprinciple therefore incorporates the notionsof probity, impartiality and justice. If it is

properly understood and then assimilatedby the population as a whole (at all levels ofeducation, whether formal or informal), thisconcept should in the long run instil andstrengthen national understanding throughthe peaceful settlement of social and politi-cal conflicts. The aim of this research is tointroduce the values of Ubushingantahe ineducational programmes, in the first placethrough the families, in order to createan environment which is propitious to aculture of peace.

to convey into a universal consciencethe most commendable ideas, whichwill be increasingly oriented towardsthe understanding of others.'

The initial teaching of values,the initiation to 'peaceful' attitudes,should logically be the responsibilityof the family, as the first link betweena young person and society. Owingto the resignation, shortcomingsor inability of parents, however,which may be ascribed to manyorigins (or causes) and situations, theresponsibility for education some-times rests entirely on the teacher,who, whether disillusioned or mili-tant, has to replace the first link in thechain of the educational process. Onthe other hand, parents never, or veryrarely, replace the teacher. Somecountries have made an effort toimprove this situation with pro-

grammes to educate parents, whichinclude methods of inculcating anearly sense of democracy in the fam-ily. The International Commissionon Education for the Twenty-firstCentury quite rightly recalls thehuman dimension of those who havethe task of transmitting values, andmore particularly the inescapableneed to upgrade the role of theteacher.

Confirmation of education'srole in development and, for thispurpose, the fundamental missionof the teacher have determinedthe theme of the next session ofthe International Conference onEducation (1996): 'Strengthening ofthe role of teachers in a changingworld.'

Ìn this disturbed world inwhich higher values seem to be re-

THE MOST VALUABLE ASSET: IN VIETNAM

At the top of the scale of values inVietnamese tradition, man is the mostvaluable of assets, the measure of all things.For a country with such a vivid experienceof conflict, as the delegate recalled in his

address, the three ancient aspirations whichunderlie all thinkingnamely happiness,prosperity and longevitycan only bepropitious to education for internationalunderstanding.

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12For a new philosophy of education

the inescapableneed to upgradethe role ofthe teacher

ceding in both individual and nationalpriorities, there is no doubt that it isonly education that may graduallyreplace the growing void in spiritualand moral values, and help us to facethe new threats and challenges of thepresent as well as of the near future',according to Ivan Pi lip, Chairman ofthe forty-fourth session.

Culture and thought,and culture of peace

Some of the national reports on thedevelopment of education presentedby Member States recall that lifestylesto some extent resemble identity cardsbearing the characteristics of theculture concerned and are derivedfrom people's perception of them-selves and their surroundings, from

their attitude towards their originsand their future, and from theirability to anticipate. According to thedelegates at the forty-fourth sessionof the ICE, these notions maybe expressed in different ways indifferent cultures, and are part of thethought system typical of each.

The replies to the IBE's surveyof education policies in the area ofinternational understanding and thework of the five regional meetingspreceding the forty-fourth sessionoutline specific aspirations and ob-stacles which arise in differentcultural areas. The Ministers ofEducation, gathering at the Con-ference, without overlooking the criti-cal aspect of current economic,political and social situations, consid-ered that one possibility would be totake greater advantage of individual

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For a new philosophy of education

KOMO AND DOMO: IN MALI

Komo and Domo are initiation societieswhich are responsible for teaching andprotecting perennial values, such as courage,responsibility, respect, honour, open-mind-edness and the understanding of othercultures. The ordeal which every initiate hasto overcome solely by peaceful means, forinstance, serves to perpetuate this ethic,

on the basis of which Mali, calling on itscultural heritage, can look upon the forth-coming twenty-first century 'as an era whichwill be propitious to building bridgesbetween the education system (ranging frombasic to higher education) and endogenousexperience with a view to promoting genuinedevelopment'.

cultural heritages. For instance, somecountries describe how their moralityimposes the obligation to seek aconsensus before resorting to openconflict or taking up arms, or theprinciple of calling truces and obser-ving them; these are 'modes of life'that enshrine practices such as thenon-violent resolution of conflictsand the principle of 'keeping one'sword', attitudes which are presumedto be favourable in keeping the peace.Thus, centuries-old and even some-times thousand-year-old traditionsadvocate values and attitudes whichdo not appear to have been harmed,at least not irremediably, by the tur-bulence of modern times; such valuesinclude honesty, respect for oth-ers, pacifism, citizenship, sincerity,responsibility, sharing, solidarity,consensus and justice. And yet theresurgence of all kinds of violence andconflicts appears to indicate thatthese values, which exist in the collec-tive memory of peoples, have becomeincreasingly inoperative. One is eventempted to refer to them as passivevirtues, when one thinks of the fact,as one delegate pointed out, that sincethe last world war, which killed over50 million people between 1939 and1945, conflicts of all kinds have cau-sed almost 200 other wars.

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it is always the thinkerswho have actuallychanged the world

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BUILDING THE MIND: IN MEXICO

It is never too early to inculcate positivevalues which preserve a person's humanqualities. These concepts are introduced inearly childhood, at the pre-school stage, assupport for the learning received within thefamily unit. In the course of game activity,infants learn autonomy, to perceive theirphysical and mental identity, and theirrelation with nature and the elements.

Children gain social awareness throughgroup activities, where they take their firststeps in learning to agree and to co-operatewith others. An early initiation to theprinciples of tolerance, understanding andrespect for others and shared activities willhelp to prepare fertile ground, on whichfuture students will be able to plant theseeds of peace.

The threats and obstacles toworld peace do not arise only fromarmed conflicts. The tendency todepreciate the human person, partlydue to excessive individualism,produces mentalities leading tomodern forms of slavery, such as for-ced labour, forced prostitution,trafficking in human beings, childlabour or the recruitment of childrenin armed conflicts.' This erosion ofvalues, aggravated by a loss of bench

marks, encourages states of mind andbehaviours that are opposed to anyefforts undertaken in the area ofeducation for international under-standing. The participants at theforty-fourth session expressed thesame acute awareness of the urgentneed to teach the sort of values andattitudes that can give human rightstheir universal dimension.

The Conference emphasizedthe perennial nature of values and the

THE EARTH SCIENCES,AN OVERALL PERSPECTIVE: IN INDIA

In secondary school, young people attendnatural science courses, where the sciencesare presented as a discipline which pro-gresses through an exchange of knowledgeand experiments between researchers in allcountries and which is a true part of inter-national co-operation and understanding.The courses show young schoolchildren thatall human beings belong to the same species;they are taught that all people, regardlessof colour or race, have the same biologicalmake-up, at all levels, even molecular(genetic grouping, blood groups, etc.). Allhuman beings, who are subject to the same

biological and psychological developmentprocess, are therefore concerned in the sameway by the changes occurring in the world.This holistic approach is deep-rooted inIndian lifestyles, according to which individ-uals are never dissociated from either theirimmediate or their distant environment. Thecourses describe the earth, whose resourcesare not unlimited, as a whole incorporatingall forms of life, including human life.Science and thought come together, as theyoung people are taught that man cannotchange the laws of nature without affectinghis own ability to survive.

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VALUES, RATIONALITY AND EDUCATION: IN CAMEROON

The National Centre for Education inYaounde refers to a study made on thetheme 'Values, rationality and education inpresent-day society'. The aim of the study isto consider the relations in modernCameroonian society between traditionalvalues and the rational requirements impliedin theory by all societies' desire for modern-ity. The study notes that the absence ofethical standards in the beliefs andimmediate concerns of individuals leads toirrational behaviour, which gravely detracts

from the efforts to develop and build anation where citizens live in harmony. Hesuggests that the education system shouldbe reconsidered in the light of a tripleobjective, training to live, training to partici-pate and training to act. This national goal,which requires substantial material andhuman resources, should provide thefoundation of a reform of the educationsystem. Only if this goal is achieved can aninternationally oriented education be addedas well.

need for thought to recover its fullimportance. The solutions invokedincluded ethics, morality, civic duty,conscience, humanism and philoso-phy and, finally, resorting to thinkers:

We sometimes forget all those people whosecreative capacity became a turning-point fortheir countries: the writers, artists and philoso-phers. In retrospective, we see that it is alwaysthe thinkers who have actually changed theworld.

These words of Federico Mayor addfurther emphasis to the call to restore

the influence of thinkers, who canhelp forge a universal culture of peace.

This search for meaning, whichruns through the IBE's survey, reposi-tions man, the measure of all things,at the heart of the educationaldynamic, and with this return tohumanism, education for all emergesas a priority. Some countries decided awhile agoand others are now takingthe necessary measuresto introducemore justice in their societies byproviding free education, free schoolmaterials and textbooks, and contin-

A POSITIVE IMAGE OF THE SELF: IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Trinidad and Tobago, like most countriesin the Caribbean, is a multi-ethnic society.The country favours the harmonious devel-opment of all its cultures and interculturalunderstanding. The guidelines of the coun-try's education policy, which take theirinspiration from the principles of the 1974Recommendation, advocating the holisticdevelopment of the individual and of societyas a whole, amount to a real philosophy of

education. The objective, for the period1993-2003, is to place the emphasis on theself-fulfilment of the individual at all levelsof his/her developmentspiritual, intel-lectual, creative, emotional and socialbyencouraging a person to learn attitudes andacquire abilities which will generate a posi-tive image of the self, confidence in one'sown creative abilities and, hence, the wish toshare them with others.

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The right toeducation:

a human right

16

to introduce positiveancestral values,attitudes andpractices in thecontent of curriculaand textbooks,as a means ofinculcatingknowledge beyondmere academic facts


FOR A NEW PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION: IN NORWAY

The end of the century is witnessing arenewed belief in the power of educationfor the development of the individual andsociety. Fully endorsing the view ofUNESCO's Director-General that 'it is

always the thinkers who have actuallychanged the world', Norway has opted fora new philosophy of education, wherebyeducation and knowledge are considered to

lie at the basis of all change, all innovationand all prosperity in society. The countryis meeting the educational challenges ofthe twenty-first century by introducingsound education policies aimed atacquiring a store of knowledge and talent.The improvement of education has beco-me the focus of the country's politicalagenda.

uous in-service training. Elsewhere,efforts are being made to introducepositive ancestral values, attitudes andpractices in the content of curriculaand textbooks, as a means of incul-cating knowledge beyond mere aca-demic facts, such as learning to be andlearning to participate.

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Insofar as it remains attached topositive moral values, this outlookcould give rise to a universal ethic,which teachers could then use as alever in the area of education for inter-national understanding, transcendingwithout difficulty the specific charac-ter of national education systems.

AO

A world that is many and one:the other's viewpoint

The cultural dimensionof education

Broadly speaking, the replies to theIBE's survey call for a recognitionof the specific nature of differentcultures. In the field of education,universal concepts are not alwaysapplicable everywhere and in thesame way. The countries point outthat an effective strategy must be ableto learn from the lessons of the past,either distant or recent, and to takeinto consideration as many of theexisting socio-cultural parameters aspossible. Present-day societies, owingto the mobility of individuals andgroups, are increasingly characterizedby a great diversity of micro-cultures.Some studies show that enhancingthese cultures is a way of instillingcoherence into the education systemand of strengthening national bonds.The survey sheds a new light on cul-tural differences, in the sense thatthese are not seen as hermetic divi-sions preventing the peoples of theworld from communicating, but, onthe contrary, as expressing the wealthof diversity:

We have forgotten the cultural dimensionof personal and collective development.Instead of believing that wealth lay indiversity, we imagined that it was unifor-mity which, at least in economic terms,ought to prevail, forgetting that differ-ence is wealthas long as it unites us(Federico Mayor, The UNESCO Courier,February 1996).

There is a noticeable tendency tostress the link which must be es-tablished between the universal andthe local dimension, and that betweenthe common good and the individual.

Ag_

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The reforms which have been under-taken in education systems sincethe 1974 Recommendation, and theoriginality of the approaches andinteractive methods employed toachieve their objectives, are the reflec-

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A world that is many and one: the other's viewpoint

IMAGES AND RESEARCH: IN BELARUS

The Minsk Institute of Education forForeign Language has undertaken researchto identify the psychological and socialobstacles to pupils acquiring an appropriateperception of the world and internationalunderstanding. Among the many psycho-logical obstacles, researchers have found atendency to evolve a simplified, 'black-and-

white' image of the world and to dividepeople and nations into 'good' and `bad';and a tendency to idealize one's own be-haviour and reject the positive elements inother people's. The aim of the MinskInstitute's research is to train future teachersto inculcate in pupils the spirit of peace andco-operation.

tions of a multi-faceted mirror: thecultures of a multiple world. Severalcountries have pointed out that theaims of education for internationalunderstanding must be realistic ifthey are to achieve its objectives ofdefining clear guidelines for teachersand encouraging the evaluation ofresults.

In countries which have beenundergoing upheavals in their politi-cal systems, the 'accelerated' changesin structures have not yet had time toimpregnate the cultural fabric indepth. This delay can produce a stateof uncertainty which is conducive toconflicts of different kinds. It isnot easy to promote the cultures ofdifferent peoples within the samecountry while opposing the nation-alistic ideologies conveyed by xeno-phobic movements. This kind ofproblem again illustrates the fact thatinternalizing systems of values andknowledge on which to build a cul-ture of peace is a complex process,which must be based on practice andliving experience.

With regard to democracy, theministers of education attending theforty-fourth session all agreed on theneed to strengthen the gains alreadymade in this respect and to spread

democracy further through educationwherever it still meets with obstacles.Some delegates referred to the specificdifficulties encountered by theircountries in the transition from totali-tarian regimes to a pluralist society.It was also pointed out that demo-cratic values can take on differentforms in practice. In its report,the International Commission onEducation for the Twenty-firstCentury, endorsing the views ofUNESCO's World Commission onCulture and Development, raisedsome questions regarding a worldwhich is both many and one:

How can we learn to live together in the`global village' if we cannot manage to livetogether in the communities to which wenaturally belongthe nation, the region,the city, the village, the neighbourhood?Do we want to make a contribution topublic life and can we do so? The willto participate, it should be remembered,must come from each person's sense ofresponsibility; but whereas democracy hasconquered new territory in lands formerlyin the grip of totalitarianism and despoticrule, it is showing signs of languishingin countries which have had democraticinstitutions for many decades, as if therewere a constant need for new beginningsand as if everything has to be renewed orreinvented (Delors et al.).

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The media andthe promotionof peace

At the round-table on 'The media andinternational understanding: infor-ming ourselves in order to understand(ourselves) better', attended by educa-tors and journalists, the participantsraised the issue of the role and re-sponsibility of the media in educationfor international understanding: 'Arethe media a unifying mortar on thesocial level? Are they the most appro-priate means for inculcating values?If this is the case, what can be saidabout their social responsibility?' Theeducators present called for moreethics in journalism. In this respect,training to inform oneself through themedia could be a means of broad-ening attitudes which may be narrow-ed by the influence of certain images

or terms. The importance of themedia nowadays in our daily lives andespecially their influence on themanagement of international affairsalso raises the question of theirresponsibility in promoting inter-national understanding. This wasalso one of the factors whichthe International Commission onEducation for the Twenty-firstCentury and the World Commissionon Culture and Development bothtook into account. In the discussion,the journalists described the pressuresto which they were sometimes sub-jected (such as restrictions on the freecirculation of information, censorshipor violence) and which constituteboth a denial of freedom of expres-sion and a denial of the right to beinformed.

In a world where the new tech-nologies manage to reconcile the real

IMAGE OF THE SELFIMAGE OF THE OTHER:IN AUSTRIA AND IN HUNGARY

The underlying idea of the bilateral projectfor a film with the significant title: 'Image ofthe selfimage of the other', was to investi-gate the image which each country makes ofitself and of others, from the viewpoint ofchildren and young people. The images,opinions and prejudices portrayed in the filmwere identified by the young people and thendiscussed. The project was carried out in twophases. The youngsters selected items fromtheir own personal experience, collecting ormaking up documents, objects, drawings,stories, personal experiences, reports fromthe media, etc. These comments and docu-ments were then used as the raw materialsfor two films, in which the young Austriansand young Hungarians, acting both asperformers and co-producers, each gave theirviews of the other country. The first phase

ended with a filmed discussion on thework produced in Vienna by the youngHungarians. In phase two, video correspon-dence was exchanged, and both groups wereable to criticize, analyse, correct or revisetheir partners' viewpoint in the light of theirown self-image. The themes suggested by theyoung people ranged from the artistic andcultural (architecture, music and dancing), tolandscapes, business (e.g. second-handarticles, luxury goods), town traffic (road-way design, the way to school), housing,the world of work, etc. Different forms ofpresentation, such as the filming of authenticscenes and situations, interviews, games,video extracts and television programmes,were used to complete the second phase. Thefilm produced will then be used in teachingand teacher training.

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The right toeducation:

a human right

20A world that is many and one: the other's viewpoint

Armed, sometimesto the teeth, withrealisticreproductions ofweapons of war

Nr11407"--

and virtual, there must be affinitiesbetween the technical and the ethical.Stereotypes, we find, induce univocalperception and reductive interpreta-tions, which produce distortions inthe mental representation of values byindividuals or peoples. From one cul-ture to another, as one participantpointed out, opinions, insofar as theyreproduce clichés, may be condi-tioned or predisposed to developing aspirit of intolerance. For some minis-ters of education, the clearestexpression of the rejection of others isthe growth of xenophobia, exclusionand, more cruelly still, the massacreswhich have bereaved the end of this

century. Some delegates urged jour-nalists to stimulate communicationbetween individuals and amongpeoples, and pointed out that, inorder to achieve a balance, thesources of information had to bediversified and it had to be acceptedthat one could look with differenteyes at any phenomenon or event,situation or story, and at other cul-tures coming from elsewhere.

Aggressive charactersin literature,films andgames

Information and communication arenot the only sectors concerned byethics. In connection with the promo-tion of peace, ministers drewattention to the fact that fiction films,cartoons, comic strips and worksof literature sometimes containedaggressive characters, who bran-dished weapons of a new age, capableof exterminating the whole of hu-manity at the push of a button.Warlike toys and games are equally toblame in this respect. Armed, some-times to the teeth, with realisticreproductions of weapons of war, orpromoted pilot for a day of an inter-galactic spaceship which is capable ofannihilating planets by the dozen,children sitting before a video screen,whose sense of perception is in fulldevelopment, may be surreptitiouslyinitiated to hatred and a wish todestroy others. They are the mostvulnerable targets, since more oftenthan not they reproduce first whatthey see and what they hear. There isthus a danger, as one minister re-called, that the younger generations

21


may be prepared to accept the fatalityof violence as the one and only wayof resolving conflicts.

Faced with this problem, somecountries have begun to react. Somedelegates reported that an educa-tion-for-peace day had been held intheir countries in recent years, atwhich there was a symbolic destruc-tion of warlike toys. In othercountries, it is forbidden to displaysuch toys in shop windows. Quiterecently, new electronic chips havebeen developed which can detectscenes of violence in television pro-grammes. According to one delegate,this new product, which is currentlybeing experimented in Canada, canreduce the consumption of suchscenes by young children. The respon-sibility of adults who either purchasedsuch toys or allowed children towatch television without any controlwas again called into question. In theDeclaration they adopted at the forty-fourth session, the ministers ofeducation undertook to give priorityto children who were exposed to thesereal or fictional war scenes: 'We aredetermined to increase our efforts togive a major priority to children andyoung people who are particularlyvulnerable to incitements to intole-rance, racism and xenophobia.'

Some countries have alreadytaken action and make use of films,books and art to circulate materialwhich can combat prejudice. Othershave launched research programmeswith a view to identifying psycho-logical and social obstacles exertinga negative influence on the perceptionof the world and hampering theconstruction of a global society. Inseveral regions it is reported thatnew technologies (such as television

or more recently the Internet net-work) are being used for the exchangeand transfer of knowledge.

The other's viewpointin historytextbooks

The effect of history books andtextbooks on mentalities is even moresubtle and pernicious. History, per-ceived as the mirror and guardian ofmemory, embodies cultural ref-erents. Its content is therefore, bydefinition, likely to induce an opinion

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History, perceivedas the mirror and

guardian ofmemory, embodies

cultural referents

22A world that is many and one: the other's viewpoint

HISTORY SEEN FROM THE SOUTH:UGANDA'S POINT OF VIEW

Real goals, such as the promotion oftolerance, consensus-building, or respect forhuman rights as a prelude to democracy,have in practice been almost totally ne-glected in most countries of the South. Thechallenges which these peoples should havemet have at times been granted a subsidiaryranking in decision-making and the allo-cation of resources. Owing to limitedattitudes, these countries have been seenoverwhelmingly through the rhetoric of theirideological dependence on the major geo-political areas, combined with an image of

poverty, to the detriment of a properappreciation of the cultural wealth ofpeoples living in that part of the world. Asfar as international understanding is con-cerned, 'the only concern of those countrieswas supposed to be fighting other people'swars'. While expressing this opinion of theviews long held of the South and, implicitly,of the way the South might have seen itself,the delegate of Uganda expressed the wishthat such attitudes might be changed by thenew education for international under-standing and peace.

on differences, which can be eitherobjective and peaceful or subjectiveand aggressive. It may be worth recal-ling that the first World Conferenceon the Teaching of History was heldin The Hague in 1932, with the aim ofèncouraging discussion on the idea ofcloser contact and better understan-ding among peoples'.

Some history textbooks all toooften convey a negative image of 'theforeigner', predisposing students toperceive him/her as a 'natural enemy'.The 1974 Recommendation, whichthe ministers of education once againendorse, clearly stipulates the need torevise school textbooks:

Member States should encourage widerexchanges of textbooks, especially history andgeography textbooks, and should, whereappropriate, take measures, by concluding ifpossible bilateral and multilateral agreements,for the reciprocal study and revision of text-books and other educational materials inorder to ensure that they are accurate, balan-ced, up to date and unprejudiced and willenhance mutual knowledge and understandingbetween different peoples.4

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Research has been started, in con-junction with higher educationestablishments and specialized non-governmental organizations, toidentify the referents, images, termsand illustrations in history textbookswhich are conducive to the devel-opment of prejudice and suggest anegative representation of particularindividuals or groups. History pro-grammes are being restructured,placing more emphasis on comple-mentarity. Courses about the historyof humankind are started muchearlier on in the curricula, simulta-neously with national histories.

`We should disarm history',Federico Mayor urges, and he adds:`There are too many battles in history,too much power, generals and sol-diers. We must therefore provide ourchildren and peoples with a differentvision of history.' For countries whichhave begun to revise history text-books, the aim is to bring up to datethe contribution of all peoples to thedevelopment of humankind and their


DIVERSITY IN UNITY: IN AUSTRIA

An effort is currently being made to writeand publish texts studying the historicaland cultural parallels and differences in thedevelopment of Czechoslovakia (now theCzech Republic and Slovakia), Austria andHungary. Teachers and teacher trainers areto be supplied with teaching material, in apractical and accessible form, containingnew information concerning the historicchanges which occurred in that part ofEurope. Through co-ordinated extracts, thesimilarities, differences and diversity ofdevelopment of the three nations are showncomparatively, thus filling in the gaps in thecultural exchanges between these countries:

the development of myths, legends ororigins, genealogy, national cults;

treatment of minorities, anti-Semitism;ecology, nature, territory, landscape;secularization, religion, popular beliefs;pathos, passion, heroism, war (armedforces), death;forms of socialization, education sys-tems, methods of upbringing;crime, prison systems;literary and artistic culture and itssignificance: music, theatre, literature,fine arts;sport, popular culture, the process oftransnational communication;cleanliness, health, civilization, thedomestication of violence;political culture: political systems, par-ties, groups, clubs; business and politics.

participation in that development,and to identify the cultural inter-actions which have resulted and resultfrom exchanges between them. If thisuniversal history can ever be final-ized, it will enable a turning point

between two eras to be marked: theera of dominations and that of cre-ative interdependence, and it will giveexpression to the truth that: 'It is inthe minds of men that the defences ofpeace must be constructed.'

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`We should disarmhistory [...] there

are too manybattles in history,too much power,

generals and soldiers'

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Development anda culture of peace

The nature of educationversus the challengeof globalization

Reminding the participants of theforty-fourth session of the ICE ofUNESCO's mission, Federico Mayoremphasized the urgent need for 'theintellectual and moral solidarity ofmankind' and access to education forall, everywhere in the world. Thedemocratization of education shouldnot be restricted merely to universalaccess to learning, but should also bereflected in the content of education,which should transmit universalvalues at all stages of the learningprocess. He also drew attention toeconomic and social development as aprecondition for the construction of areal culture of peace, and recalled theterms of article one of the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights:

All human beings are born free and equalin dignity and rights. They are endowedwith reason and conscience and shouldact towards one another in a spirit ofbrotherhood.

The Conference described the featuresof the new political, economic, socialand cultural situation which it con-sidered to constitute a general ob-

stacle for peace. There are clear signsthat violence is slowly but surelyeroding the fragile gains achieved interms of understanding betweenpeoples; the major ills of our time arerooted in segregation (ethnic, cul-tural, religious, linguistic, social,sexist, etc.) and economic inequali-ties. The current trend towards a`global economy' is not new; it is thethird stage of a process that beganwith the internationalization of eco-nomies following the expansion ofexports, and continued with theirtransnationalization and the increasein foreign production and investmentsites . The round-table discussions onÈconomic globalization and educa-tional policies' showed that the verynature of education was challenged,to the extent that it was often pres-ented in economic terms, while thehuman and cultural dimensions of theeducational process became obscured.Education International (EI), a non-governmental organization, did notlose sight of the essential nature ofeducation:

Investment in educationnot just narrow,production-oriented training, but educationin its broader sense, education which is thesubject of this Conference, the education ofthe founder of this Conference, JeanPiagetis an investment not only in the

EQUAL CHANCES: FRANCE'S VIEW

A nation is not only a group of citizensholding individual rights. It also constitutesa shared destiny, an ideal which is foundedin the first place in the school, the ideal placefor education and integration, where youngpeople learn to live together and respecteach other. Our difference, provided that it

respects the other's difference, offers anopportunity for real universality based onmutual recognition and respect for people.This sort of difference is quite the oppositeto exclusion, and far from producinginequality, it will encourage us to fight forequal chances for all children.

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Development and a culture of peace

economic development of each society,worthy as that objective might be, but in itsvery survival.

Another issue which was much de-bated at the session was thenoticeable effects of the economicsituation of parents on the quality of

.4i

family life and on the education of thechild. More and more children nowa-days live in family units which aredeeply upset and where differentforms of violence often prevail;whether the violence be moral, af-fective or physical, personal or col-lective, the inescapable fact is the

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the noticeableeffects of the

economic situationof parents on the

quality of family lifeand on the

education of thechild

26Development and a culture of peace

EQUAL CHANCES: THE AFRICAN VIEW

Several African delegates expressed the sameconcerns regarding education in their coun-tries. They said that the implementation ofeducation for peace, human rights anddemocracy faced many constraints. Themost striking of these was undoubtedlypoverty, which was spreading and in someplaces worsening, and for which the Africancountries had no ready solution. Thestructural adjustment programme, which for

years had been cutting back on publicexpenditure budgets, had obviously beenaffecting the education sector. Factors, suchas unfavourable terms of trade, the debtburden and the devaluation of their cur-rency, had made the limitation and reduc-tion of their countries' basic resourcesempirical, with significant repercussions onthe rate of school attendance and the educa-tion system as a whole.

violence itself. Injuries, such as hu-miliation, a feeling of abandonment,or the loss of corporal integritythrough physical ill-treatment, con-stitute serious attacks on the rights ofthe person. Violence tends to be aggra-vated in periods of upheaval and itsareas of choice may be said to lie in asuccession of concentric circles, star-ting with the family and extendingoutwards to the school, the neigh-bourhood, the town, the country andthe world itself. Being both individualand collective, it is awesomely uni-versal in its effects. Economic andsocial inequalities, especially at a timewhen peoples are stressing their cul-tural individuality, favour violenceand are likely to engender risingtension both within societies andbetween them. The World Summit onDevelopment, organized by the UnitedNations in Copenhagen in 1994,referred specifically to this link bet-ween education, progress, peace andthe maintenance of peace. Educatingchildren when they are still young toresolve conflicts without violence isone objective which several ministersof education are determined to intro-duce in educational programmes.

The right to education,a human right

Among those excluded from educa-tion, considering that professionalrequirements increasingly includeboth general culture and specializedskills, a person suffering from ill-iteracy, or even functional illiteracy,will inevitably be more exposed tothe effects of recession in the jobmarket. Joblessness and its corollary,the lack of income, sooner or laterinitiate the chain of social exclusion;first the loss of independence and lossof dignity, and later non-participa-tion in communal progress. How canindividuals who have been excludedfrom society, and relieved of theirrights, responsibilities and dignity,have a conscience and a commitmentto a principle of which they are aliving denial? How can they bepersuaded to act as a fully fledgedcitizen, for instance, by taking part indemocratic elections, when in factthey have become a fully excludedcitizen and the living expression of acontradiction in that democracy?Being left out of the res publica or

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EQUAL CHANCES: ISRAEL'S POINT OF VIEW

Since computers and technical equipmenthave become part of the classroom andschool laboratory, the cost of educationhas continued to rise. The gap betweenthe 'haves' and the 'have nots', betweenthe rich, industrialized world and thedeveloping countries is likely to increaseand to aggravate the vicious circle of pov-erty-ignorance-poverty. For this reason, oneof the most obvious ideas which shouldcome to mind is that the developing coun-tries, which place education as a top

priority above all others and are increasingtheir educational budgets by delving intoother resourcesespecially their armamentbudgetsneed support and deserve everykind of backing by the industrialized world.Undoubtedly, education is a great equalizer,according to the Israeli delegate, not onlybetween nations but in the first place withinsocieties, since at the same time as teacherschange the mentality of their students,they also change that of the society in whichthey live.

commonweal, by what wave of amagic wand can they be persuadedvirtuously to accept differences whenit is on account of their own differ-ence that they are in danger of beingcrushed by the economic juggernaut?

Some parts of the IBE surveydwell on the eradication of illiteracy,as so fervently promoted in 1990 atthe Jomtien Conference on Educationfor All. The Declaration issued bythat Conference, which was referredto by some of the ministers of educa-

tion at the forty-fourth session of theICE, is still a development priority inmany countries. Clearly educating forpeace, human rights, democracy andfundamental freedoms presupposes apolitical will, backed up by the com-mitment and responsibility of allplayers in society, and remains strong-ly dependent on the degree of accessto basic education and on its quality,as well as on the human and materialresources allocated to the task, interms of continuous teacher training,

EQUAL CHANCES: FINLAND'S POINT OF VIEW

Very often, especially in the industrializedcountries, the emphasis has been placed onthe acquisition of knowledge as a factorof production. On the other hand, less at-tention has been given to the fact that theinformation society has made substantialchanges in the prevailing division of power.Knowledge is the most democratic and eventhe most variable source of power for allcitizens. And yet the gap between the poorlyeducated and the well educated is much

wider than that between the rich and thepoor. This is why the power struggle hence-forth is likely to centre increasingly on thedistribution of knowledge and who hasaccess to that knowledge. Soon the acqui-sition of knowledge in all structures ofsociety will have to be looked upon as thecentral, long-term objective in the fightagainst poverty in the world; it might be saidthat 'education provides the weapons todefend the future'.


the publication and distribution ofteaching material, the creation ofareas suitable for education for peace,and the dissemination and promotionof human rights in their entirety.

The ministers of education hadno doubts regarding the importanceof access to knowledge and reaf-firmed that education for all, the rightto development, freedom of expres-sion, movement and informationallthese human rights precede andunderlie the objectives of educationfor international understanding,peace, human rights and democracy.Making these rights part of normalsociety, with no exclusions, as ameans of diminishing differences andinequalities and halting the advanceof intolerance is a goal to which edu-cation must contribute.

The Declaration on SocialProgress and Development, pro-claimed by the United Nations in1969, already stipulated in itsArticle 1 that:

All peoples and human beings, withoutdistinction as to race, colour, sex, language,religion, nationality, ethnic origin, family orsocial status, or political or other con-viction, shall have the right to live in dignityand freedom and to enjoy the fruits of socialprogress and should, on their part, con-tribute to it.

Since that time, however, as thedelegates from many regions ob-served, poverty, illiteracy, nationalismand other 'isms', through their jointinteraction, have proved a consid-erable obstacle to understandingbetween communities. They warnedabout the growing gap between richand poor nations, a disparity no lon-ger on a microcosmic scale, i.e. that ofa society, but worldwide. While onedelegate referred to the burden placedby indebtedness on budgets, whichaffected education in the first place,another delegate suggested thatresources should be transferred fromarmament budgets to the educationalsector.

EDUCATION FOR ALL: THAILAND'S POINT OF VIEW

Thailand, which hosted the WorldConference on Education for All in Jomtienin 1990, reiterated its profound convictionthat education was the key to development.Its commitment is reflected in its policy ofimplementing basic education for all.

Referring more specifically to article 10 ofthe Jomtien Declaration, the Thai dele-gate said that unifying all basic educationrequirements had become a human, com-mon and universal responsibility.

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From rhetoric to practicefor an applied peace

Obstacles andhindrances to peace

James Grant, Director-General ofUNICEF, reminded participants atthe forty-fourth session of theInternational Conference on Educa-tion, with the same conviction thathe had expressed throughout hiscareer in the service of the childrenof the world, that still today abouta fifth of the world's populationover a billion peopleare illiterate;of whom two-thirds are women.About 130 million school-age chil-dren are not in school, of whomagain two-thirds are girls. In thelight of those facts, literacy for alland schooling for the greatestnumber of children possible shouldbe the first priority when it comes to

education for mutual understandingand tolerance.

The obstacles to education forpeace, human rights and democracyare also rooted in epistemology,the handling of concepts suchas 'international understanding',ìnternational co-operation', orìnternational peace'. Ninety percent of the replies to the IBE surveystress the need to nurture theseeds of peace first of all internally,that is, at the local level. Thedifficulty of putting the theory ofeducation for international under-standing into practice is franklyrecognized and expressed. Whilethe concept of peace is no longerinterpreted as a mere absence ofconflict or war, the remaining dif-ficulty is being able to implement in

THE YEAR 2000,A FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNING: IN CANADA

The reform of the education system inBritish Columbia has introduced substantialchanges in the Ministry of Education's poli-cies and goals. A new philosophy is con-tained in the plan: 'The year 2000, a frame-work for learning'. Initially, a secondaryschool survey in 1990 showed that 92 percent of students considered that the schoolshould provide instruction in social respon-sibilities, tolerance and respect for others;half of them thought that the school wasable to teach such subjects; 70 per centexpressed the view that school programmesshould include subjects such as the environ-ment, particularly with regard to deforest-ation, industrial waste treatment and globalwarming. In the light of the results of thisimportant survey of learners, the ministryintroduced substantial changes in its

programmes. One of the most significant ofthese was to initiate a human rights policysupported by the development of newteaching material. The latest program-mes emphasize the promotion of multi-culturalism and antiracism, fairness accor-ding to the principle of gender equality, andthe right to education of indigenous peoples.Other objectives in the area of socialsciences, more concerned with universitystudies, have also been added. Act 12, theCurriculum, deals with the Canadian charterof rights and liberties and other humanrights instruments. The Ministry and theCouncil for Human Rights of BritishColumbia have established units of valuesin the social sciences and courses of lawlinking theory and practical exercises basedon case studies.

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It is up to the teacherto pass on to the pupilwhat mankind haslearned about itselfand about nature,and everything ofimportance it hascreated or invented

From rhetoric to practice for an applied peace

practice what is more akin to aninspiration, an ideal, or the finerhetoric which has been heard forso long: 'How can internationalpeace be achieved through educa-tion, at all levels?' The first solutionto this problem lies in teachertraining and the production of tea-ching materials. Other areas inaddition to schools, however, shouldbe opened up to education for peace,through the early learning of humanrights and democratic values.

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Continuous teacher training

According to the InternationalCommission on Education for theTwenty-first Century, all the greatclassical thinkers who have consid-ered the problem of education havesaid it again and again: It is up to theteacher to pass on to the pupil whatmankind has learned about itself andabout nature, and everything ofimportance it has created or inven-ted. Moving away from the world of

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31From rhetoric to practice for an applied peace

philosophy, replies to the IBE surveypoint out that the public authoritiesare aware of the fact that such educa-tion is strongly dependent on thequality and abilities of those respon-sible for inculcating values. Thesubject matter is there, but howshould it be transmitted, and howshould it be taught so that the know-ledge is truly acquired? Trainingcentres specialized in education forhuman rights have developed specificteaching methods, and educators are

experimenting with other methods.When they come back to their classes,their lecture rooms, their laboratoriesand their workshops, they will beready to apply what often seemedto thembefore they receive thistrainingas pure fantasy. Moreattention is being given to trainingteachers in education for humanrights, so that, with the help ofappropriate teaching methods, lear-ners can develop a thirst for learningand a taste for acquiring knowledge.

TEACHER TRAINING: IN SWITZERLAND

The need to promote education forhuman rights and peace by new pedagogicmeans has been a concern of theWorld Association for the School as anInstrument of Peace (EIP) since its foun-dation in 1967. One great innovation, in1978, was to produce a simplified versionof the full text of the Universal Declarationof Human Rights, which was carried outby a mixed team from the University ofGeneva, including educators, psycho-logists, linguists and lawyers. Making theDeclaration accessible to all, however, wasnot sufficient to anchor its principlesfirmly. As teacher training was one of itspriorities, in 1983 the EIP set up theInternational Training Centre for theTeaching of Human Rights and Peace(CIFEDHOP) in 'Geneve internationale'(so called because in 1920 it hostedthe headquarters of the United Nations'predecessor, the League of Nations, andhas hosted many other organizations sincethen).

Every year since its foundation,CIFEDHOP, with the support of the Swissauthorities, the United Nations Centre forHuman Rights, UNESCO and the Councilof Europe, and in conjunction with tradeunions and NGOs, has organized an inter-

national meeting on teacher training.Participants come from all over the world.They normally teach in primary, secondaryand vocational schools and include spe-cialized educators, cultural organizers,social workers and university staff. Thesessions touch on all sectors of formal edu-cation, and take two forms: round-tableson specific themes, which provide anopportunity to exchange information onthe contents and methods applied in dif-ferent countries and provide material fordiscussions on trends in education andmajor social issues; and teaching work-shops (in three language sections, English,French and Spanish), which introduceparticipants to the terminology of inter-national legal instruments, and developand implement active teaching methods,each in relation to a particular socio-cultural environment. The Centre'steaching team, which is made up ofinstructors and researchers specializing ineducation for human rights and peace, ismulticultural, which facilitates the exchan-ge of knowledge between its members.After the sessions, educators are oftenstimulated by the positive results obtainedduring the activities to set up networks forthe exchange of experience.

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REGIONAL TRAINING SESSIONS: IN GUINEA, TOGO AND NIGER

The ministries of education of Guinea,Togo and Niger have asked CIFEDHOP(see page 31) to organize a training sessionin their countries. It may be rememberedthat the Recommendations of theInternational Congress on HumanRights Teaching, Information andDocumentation, organized by UNESCO inMalta in 1987, emphasized that MemberStates had a duty to educate their citizensin human rights and to teach the latter atall academic levels, on an equal footingwith other disciplines. The same intentionis expressed in the African Charter ofHuman and Peoples' Rights' which OAU

member States adopted in 1981. Awarethat recognizing an individual's rights andresponsibilities is not enough, the educa-tion authorities of the three countries had anumber of teachers trained so that thesecould pass on training in human rights andpeace. Apart from learning the terms andconcepts contained in the main inter-national treaties on human rights, theregional meetings adopted a comparativeapproach to studying the universal systemand the regional systems. So far, almost700 teachers have received training combi-ning pedagogy and international law.

Initial democracyin schools

Institutional measures have beentaken. More and more, the ministersare leaving to the local authorities(municipalities) and their educa-tional establishments the responsi-bility of defining and planning theways and means of implementingnational objectives. Teachers arebeing given increased freedom ofaction in the exercise of their duties.One effect of the greater autonomy isto make the school system moredemocratic. Under the new system,the sense of trust and the sharing ofresponsibilities (while ensuring thatcollective responsibility does notdetract from personal responsibility)are transforming formal educa-tion into a laboratory for peace.`Democratizing the school' and 'theclassroom' are terms which recuragain and again in the IBE survey.

Allowing the students themselves toestablish local rules places themdirectly before their responsibilitiesand gives them a feeling of beingreally involved in the problems oftheir class (and their school), insofaras they take an active part in the pro-ceedings. It has been found thatstudents tend to comply with andrespect rules which they have them-selves planned, discussed andformulated. Such experiments createself-discipline, self-management anda respect for the common good. Theshadow of the repressive teacherrecedes as a result, opening the wayto more independence for the stu-dents, stimulating them in theirquest for cognitive, affective andbehavioural knowledge.

Some countries report that theresults achieved so far are quiteconclusive: learning in all disciplinestakes place in a climate based on theexercise of responsibilities and res-pect for the rights of all. As these

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DISCOVERING THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: IN BELGIUMIn its reply to the IBE, Belgium reports onthe experiment of the teaching team of theBelgian section of the World Association forthe School as an Instrument of Peace: theproduction of a strip cartoon and ateaching file, Discovering the Convention on

the Rights of the Child.' This file, which ismade up of five parts so as to allow teachersto take children through the various stepsunhurriedly, can be used with pre-schoolchildren and in primary and secondaryschools.

school rules depend mainly onconsensus, they can be readjustedand provide the students with goodtraining in democracy. The exerciseis extended in practice to the elec-tion of governing bodies among thestudents. This initial form of demo-cracy, with elections, the preparation

of rules for the classroom or theschool (subject to compatibility withthe outside world), discussions aboutproblems that arise, mediation in thecase of open conflicts and anticipa-tion of possible future conflictsallthese features of incipient democracyprepare students through practice for

O

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Election of aschool council


STUDENT GOVERNMENTS: IN COSTA RICA

Each year, the schools in Costa Rica elect agovernment of students. The procedure issimilar to that of national elections, withthe appointment of an electoral tribunal,debates, secret ballots, etc. The aim is to

teach children how one of the tools ofdemocracy works: expressing the voice ofthe majority and ensuring a fair represen-tation of all opinions.

the exercise of a more complex formof democracy awaiting them whenthey leave the school system. Someteachers say that they feel moreavailable mentally to teach whenthey are partly relieved of the burdenof having to impose discipline, andthey say it helps them to establishbetter communication with theirstudents.

Educating to beinformed and to inform

For the young and for the old, forchildren as well as for adults, atschool or at work, informationplays an important role. With theenormous quantity of informationmade available by the new technolo-gies, knowing how to discriminate,analyse and evaluate beyond thepassing circumstance can no longerbe taken for granted. Educatingpeople to be informed and to makeup their own opinions in order toachieve a state of well-thinking andwell-being should be started as soonas possible. Experiments in foundingand managing newspapers, a realschool press, along similar lines tothe rules referred to above, or pro-ducing documentary films for whichthe students themselves imagine andwrite the scripts, shoot the pictures

and edit the film, are all ways of edu-cating young people for democracy.They learn to decode informationreceived in bulk and then to express itfor the benefit of others in termswhich are in conformity with thehumanistic principles of humanrights. For the teachers, such ac-tivities can shed light on the inter-dependence of different events andsometimes critical situations, andprovide a means of apprehending aworld which must be seen nolonger as fragmented but as a wholewith countless components. TheIntegrated Framework of Action, inits section on 'Co-ordination betweenthe education sector and other agentsof socialization', highlights theimportance of training teachers toprepare students for the criticalanalysis and use of the media, and todevelop their ability to profit fromthe media by a selective choice ofprogrammes, 'avoiding programmesand other products that incite hatred,violence, cruelty and disrespect forhuman dignity'.'

Teaching materials,tools for peace

While no one nowadays would rejector oppose the values of the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights and the

35

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CIV I' 1 S I

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4.

,

44,


normative instruments relating tohuman rights in the exercise of civilpeace and peace between States, itmust be admitted that these texts,prepared and drafted in legal lan-guage, can have a dissuasive effect ontraining for international under-standing. One of the first snagsencountered by the teacher or trainerarises from the difficulty inherent ininterpreting, understanding the scopeand measuring the limits of inter-national instruments, includingagreements, conventions or recom-mendations, which make use ofvery specific terminology. Furtherobstacles arise from differing codesof cultural interpretation. Severalministers and observers, as well asrepresentatives of NGOs attendingthe ICE, drew attention to recentlypublished collections of basic texts,which explained what they werein simple language, how they hadbeen drafted, whether they werebinding or not, their scope andtheir limitations.'

Researchers in the educationalsciences, through a network ofspecialized NGOs, have preparedhandbooks on methodologies toguide teachers in their work as educa-tors for peace. Ministers areconsidering releasing substantialfunds to ensure that this new form of

training is available to as manystudents as possible. In the areaof legal science in particular, theconventions, agreements, recom-mendations and declarations of theUnited Nations and its specializedagencies are studied in some lawfaculties. Further training facilitiesare provided by reference centres,databanks and the publication ofspecialized didactic material.

Areas foreducation for peace

According to the results of the IBEsurvey, in some countries educationin human rights, peace, democracyand fundamental freedoms is (orwas until recently) mainly left tothe discretion of teachers, throughprogrammes of civic or religiouseducation, sport, organized travel,extra-curricular activities and schoolcorrespondence. There is no doubtthat overloaded programmes havethe effect of blunting teachers'keenness and enthusiasm. Manycurricula need to be completelyrevised in order to achieve a morebalanced distribution of subjects,allowing for the introduction ofteaching modules such as 'dem-ocracy' and 'fundamental freedoms'.

THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD CLUB: IN SENEGAL

The Ndatte Yalla de Saint-Louis School hasopened a 'rights of the child' club with theobjectives of making human rights knownand applying them in daily life. Games suchas the children's circle and the baobabconvey lessons about rights and responsibi-

lities, stigmatize violations, condemn racismand encourage the defence of human rightsand fundamental freedoms. These activitiesare backed up by correspondence betweenschools, and other facilities, such as asolidarity fund and a school library.

37


A JOINT LANGUAGE SCHOOL:IN FINLAND AND IN SWEDEN

This project was launched in 1987 to pro-mote genuine bilingualism (in Finnish andSwedish), the strengthening of ties offriendship and co-operation, mutualrespect for each other's cultural achieve-ments and a common responsibility onenvironmental matters. The target groupsare children of compulsory school age. The

children are taught the language of theneighbouring country by working in pairs,with one native speaker in each language.According to teachers, this type of ex-change opens the way to genuine bilingual-ism and a new cultural tolerance, so thatthe border between the two countries isturned into a resource.

Increasing attention is being given tothe possibility of introducing educa-tion for international understandingin national programmes as a fully-fledged discipline, as is the case forphilosophy, history, economics andgeography, or foreign languages.Teacher-training colleges, vocationaltraining institutes and faculties ofeducational or human sciences arecurrently including the study ofhuman rights as a separate disciplinein their study programmes. Therecent foundation of UNESCOChairs offers the possibility in thisrespect of opening up areas speciali-zing in research, without which thenew science of peace is bound toremain at an intuitive level.

The replies to the IBE surveyshow a marked tendency towards a

reconciliation of formal and non-formal education. Several countriesstate that formal education coursesare not enough to train young peopleon understanding between peoples.They add that there is an urgent needto ensure that education for peace isextended to all areas of social organi-zation pertaining to the community.

Trade unions and politicalparties, in particular, are expected tointroduce extracts of texts concer-ning fundamental freedoms in thepolitical and corporative training oftheir militants. A form of training forthe non-violent settlement ofconflicts is also desirable for policeforces, who are responsible for en-suring the safety of citizens, and whoare still referred to in some countriesas 'guardians of peace'.

SINHALA, TAMIL AND ENGLISH: IN SRI LANKA

A trilingual language-teaching programmeis designed to teach Tamil to Sinhala pupilsand Sinhala to Tamil pupils. Sinhala andTamil are official languages of Sri Lanka.English is also taught as an optional subjectin years four and five and as a compulsory

subject in years six to ten. Depending ontheir choices, pupils are tested either inSinhala or Tamil at the 'ordinary-level' ex-amination (at the end of year eleven),which qualifies students to proceed tohigher education.

no

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In countries where religionoccupies a dominant position in cul-ture, comparative theological andanthropological studies and inter-disciplinary research are being under-taken in order to list some principleswhich are shared by the differentsystems of belief in the world, with aview to ending the era of so-called`religious' wars, which have left theirmarks throughout human history.Examples given in the nationalreports also point towards a simi-larity of purpose, which seeks,through programmes of ethical orreligious education, to promote arediscovered' understanding betweenpeople. Some courses of religiousinstruction intend to approach edu-cation in human rights by adding totheir ancient teaching (based onconcepts such as 'inner peace') thelanguage of the universal instrumentsof the United Nations. Courses aregiven at which religious precepts arejuxtaposed with articles of theDeclaration of Human Rights, theConvention on the Rights of theChild and other normative texts:tolerance/accepting the beliefs ofothers; respect for human life/notkilling or not harming the phys-ical and moral integrity of others;sharing and equity/charity; sincer-itylrecognizing one's wrongs; under-standing/pardon.

But before going to school,joining a trade union, going aboutthe streets or one's work, most of usbegin life in the home and in thefamily. This is a domain whicheducational thinkers know is unavoi-dable. The role of the familystructure andit should be repea-tedparents' responsibility is neverfar removed from the decision-

39

maker's concerns. In some countries,special attention is given to parentaleducation, especially for women,owing to the very important partthey play in the education of theirchildren and in the development offamily structures. The recent UnitedNations Inter-national Conferenceon Women, which was held in Pekingin 1995, was well aware thatwomen's lack of access to basic edu-cation is one aspect of the manydiscriminations of which they are alltoo often still the victims. It is wellknown that people who are ignorantare inevitably unaware of their mostbasic rights and hence are unable tohave them respected. For women,this denial of the right to educationleads to chain reactions: exclusionfrom paid employment and lack ofincome when they try to shoulderalone the burden of meeting thevital requirements of their families;exclusion from decision-making inpublic affairs; and even sometimesdifficult contacts with their ownchildren when they do managedespite all obstacles to send them toschool. The Peking Conferencenamed women's education as thepriority of priorities.

Languages to learnto dialogue

In some regions where the humanlandscape is made up of a multitudeof microcultures, an effort is beingmade to enhance cultural media, forinstance, by making use of mother-tongues to acquire basic knowledge.According to preliminary assessmentsof these experiments, education hasgained greater coherence and nation-


SCHOOL FOR LIFE: IN BOLIVIA

The name 'School for life' (Escuela para lavida, in Spanish), rich in symbols, has beengiven to an intercultural education program-me based on bilingualism. The objectives ofthe programme are to strengthen the cul-tural identity of the country through thepreservation of indigenous languages, and toencourage greater participation by ethnicgroups in national life and development.This pilot project is designed for pupils inpre-primary and primary education. Based

on the government's plan of action forextending basic educational opportunities toall, the programme's overall objective is togenerate a system of participative educationin the service of the community. The pro-gramme has had considerable success amongthe Guarani, thanks to the active involve-ment of the Asamblea del Pueblo Guarani(APG), which in all phases of the project hashelped by maintaining vital links betweenthe Guarani communities and the State.

al harmony has been strengthenedthanks to respect for other identitiesand linguistic differences.

The accidents of history havesometimes divided peoples speaking acommon language, leaving them oneither side of frontiers separatingdifferent countries. The desire forcloser cultural ties may then providea stronger motivation than a mereconcern for national cohesion;countries may subsequently open uptransfrontier language schools andeven common language schools, in aneffort to strengthen ties with theirneighbours.

There are many programmeswhich give prominence to languagesother than the mother-tongue. Less

and less they are described as foreignlanguages, but rather as 'second' or`third' languages. The methods bywhich they are taught have also beenmaking progress. It is no longerconsidered enough merely to teachgrammar and vocabulary. The scienceof linguistics is called upon to pro-vide access to other cultural referents.The more subtle aspects of differentcultures are studied (for instance,through literature and the history ofcivilization) in order to go beyondthe superficial. Overcoming languagebarriers helps to mitigate the 'cul-tural monologue' and 'talking toone's self' and leads to 'talking toothers'. This dialogue with otherpeoples can also be started by

RAINBOWS OVER THE YUKON: IN CANADA

In the Yukon province, sixteen studentswrote a play together which they called`Rainbows'. This experiment in multiplewriting, in which each student writes a part,expresses the diverse aspects of a multi-cultural society. In order to avoid intro-

ducing 'racial' stereotypes, the studentsused the colours of the rainbow on stage.They are now travelling around to presenttheir play in the schools of the Yukonregion.


teaching second languages in primaryschool, a form of study which is thenfollowed up throughout the student'seducational career. Language lear-ning is, needless to say, a positivefactor when it comes to startingwork, either at national or at trans-national level.

Interculturaleducation

Global citizenship through inter-cultural education is one of theeducational pillars of UNESCO'sinternational network of AssociatedSchools, which have just celebratedthe fortieth anniversary of theirfoundation. The increasing number ofschools throughout the world whichhave joined the network (almost3,000 in over a 100 countries) pro-vides fertile ground for experimentingpilot projects in the area of educationfor international understanding; prac-tically all countries, including thosewhich have been undergoing complextransitions, support the network andwould like it to be extended, especial-ly for the preparation of schoolcurricula, teaching methods, text-books and teacher training. Newdisciplines, such as comparing reali-ties, experience, difficulties andsolutions, as well as environmentalissues, such as global warming orexcessive deforestation, sea-bed pol-lution and wildlife depredation, serveas meeting points, give rise toexchanges and give expression to theAssociated Schools' interculturalapproach.

It is said that travel is a formof teaching. This principle can be putto good use as a real training method.

41


KUKATONON THEATRE OF PEACE: IN LIBERIA

In 1992, the children of Monrovia whoare members of the `Kukatonon Theatre ofPeace' presented their first songs anddances. Through the theatre, workshops fortraining in the techniques of peacefulconflict resolution are being developed. Theworkshops use role-play, in which thechildren in turn either defend or fail to

respect certain human rights, and presentactive listening and reconciliation exercisesto encourage the children to educate eachother. This training in conflict resolution,based on live shows, has attracted the at-tention of the Ministry of Education, whichwants to include the project's activities inthe school system.

Physical mobility could lead to mo-bility of the mind, ideas and behav-iour. Organized travel in school pro-grammes is one of the methods whichteachers are using more and more.The discovery of places outside theirlocal environment helps studentsmove on from cognitive to affectiveexperience, while actually staying ina country other than their own oftenenables them to compare what theysee around them with what theylearned in their textbooks and in theclassroom.

Travel is either preceded or fol-lowed by correspondence. In manycountries, correspondence betweenschools creates relationships from a

very young age. Its impact on inter-nationally oriented education showsthat it is still a useful means for stu-dents to give expression to values,such as friendship, fraternity andsolidarity, at the same time as teach-ing them to develop and deepenhuman relations through a steadyexchange of contacts.

Environmentaleducation

Science throughout the ages hastaught us that the earth is part of alarger whole, poetically referred toas 'the Universe'. As we stand on

CIRCUS OF PEACE: IN MOZAMBIQUE

With the support of local government,NGOs, religious groups and the media, atravelling group of teachers, made up of adozen professional artists and educators,has been set up to use theatre, art, dance,puppets and the techniques of radio jour-nalism to help young people staunch thewounds left by two decades of war. Thetraining site is called a 'circus of peace'(circo da paz) because, like a circle, it

symbolizes the community structure anduses the strengths and talents of all itsmembers to create a local production.Various activities introduce conflict resolu-tion techniques emphasizing basic concepts,such as tolerance, self-esteem and non-violence. The youth training takes placeover two months, at the end of which thecircus sets off again on its peace journey forthe next site.

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Street school


the brink of a new millenium, envi-ronmental concerns, which are verymuch in the forefront of UNESCO'sProgramme (exact sciences, socialsciences, education), add a certaintangible quality to the concept of uni-versality.

The earth maintains a delicatebalance (physical, chemical andecological), because it harbours somany different forms of life. Throughits ingenuity and its ability to designtools, as well as through its expres-sive language, mankind has become adominant species in the biosphere. Ithas acquired the ability to modify theenvironment more than any otherorganism. As a result of a short-sighted outlook, mankind's needs andsometimes its greed have damagedthe ecological equilibrium. In somecultures, where man is still consid-

STREET SCHOOL: IN JAMAICA

The Kingstown Half-Way-Tree Programmeis a project for the resettlement of children,aged between 3 and 18, who have beenexcluded from the formal school system andfrom society at large. The originality of themeasure resides in the fact that the projectgoes to the children, who are catered forwhere they actually live, i.e. in the street.Educators and educational counsellors meetyoung boys living in their area and offeradvice. Points for discussion are selected bycommon agreement, such as self-protectionagainst the dangers and abuses inherent instreet life, food, love and respect for othersand how to exist in one's environment.Once a week, the young people are offereda sports programme to play table-tennis,football or basketball. These regular sportssessions train them, while providing amuse-

ment, in a spirit of discipline and co-operation with others, removing from theirminds the hostility often following fromprecarious living conditions and their situa-tion of insecurity. The children acquiresurvival skills and especially self-confi-dence, which help them to settle or inte-grate in the formal system. This schoolset-up in the street is, of course, alwayspreceded by attempts to integrate the chil-dren within a formal structure, where theycan be taught basic reading, writing andarithmetic. The programme is part of amuch broader programme introduced inJamaica to improve the failure rate in theschool system, where approaches havetraditionally tended to be too formal, and toreconcile young people as far as possiblewith education and with society.

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INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT: IN EGYPT

An integrated rural development project hasbeen started in the villages of Atris andEl-Katta to offer basic education, such asreading, writing and arithmetic. By intro-ducing practical learning in daily life, thisactive and participative method provides anunderstanding of health-related and eco-

nomic problems which arise in the villages.Aged between 15 and 35, the inhabitantsinvolved remain in close touch with thesocial and economic priorities of theirenvironment and are equipped througheducation to undertake the most appro-priate forms of action.

ered to be part of a greater whole,natural science courses teach that lifeoriginated and flourished on ourplanet thanks to its environment.Students are reminded of the fact thatman is not the master but only part ofa greater environment. Internationalco-operation, through this 'global'approach, should help man to pre-serve the planet's resources. Showingstudents how man can reach the topsof mountains, dive to the depths ofthe sea or set off to conquer otherplanets, but still remain as dependenton the earth's environment, givesthem a sense of the need to worktogether not only to preserve thediversity and wealth of the biologicalor aesthetic heritage, but also for thesurvival of human kind.

Environmental education is auseful means for teachers in areaswhich are more sensitive to the

effects of any degradation of theecosystem to teach internationalsolidarity and an equitable sharingof natural resources. Elsewhere, itis not forgotten that, since natureknows no frontiers, deforestationdue to the intensive felling of treesand desertification, the pollutionof the oceans through industrialwaste and the disappearance of plantand animal species jeopardize theequilibrium of the whole biosphere,and hence that of mankind as well.These science courses teach that itis essential to develop an envi-ronmental ethic, a tangible form ofinternational co-operation, whichwill ensure not only an equitabledistribution of resources, but alsorespect for ecological equilibrium,which matters henceforth not justto a few countries, but to the wholeworld.

LITERACY IN NATIONAL LANGUAGES: IN BURKINA FASO

UNESCO's Upper Volta Project is centredon teaching literacy in national languages,as well as adult education. In effect,learning in a language which is not familiarand in which the learner does not think canslow down the acquisition of knowledge.

Learning in the communal language, on theother hand, by strengthening self-esteem,provides positive results. The programmesunder this project are designed for the 15 to50 age group, including 50 per cent ofwomen.

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44

freeing the creativepotential which islatent in us all


Artistic disciplines,incentives to create in peace

In some national reports, art and itsmany disciplines are suggested asways of freeing the creative potentialwhich is latent in us all. Insofar asit offers an area of freedom itself,art can induce a state of mindwhich is conducive to learning aboutfundamental freedoms. The coloursand shapes of the plastic arts, thesounds of music, the gestures ofdramatic art and dancing, to namebut a few forms of expression, havealways been propitious to meetingsbetween individuals, who are other-

wise prevented from understandingeach other by differences of culture,language and customs. There is in arta pacifying element, and it is signifi-cant to note that the IBE surveyhighlights the increasing importanceattached to artistic subjects whichused to be considered secondary.Teachers use the open-mindednessinduced by the 'momentary freedomof art' to introduce concepts inherentin human rights. There is great poten-tial in this area which is far fromexhausted. Often associated withnon-profit making objectives, artcan also be a way of teaching theethic of commitment.

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Conquering new areasfor education for peace

The Ministers of Education takingpart in the forty-fourth session ofthe International Conference onEducation discussed the objectivesof international education, its achieve-ments and its problems, which mightbe individual or shared, but which inno way detracted from the tacitunderstanding achieved by the minis-ters. This discipline should aim todevelop independent thought,judgement and a critical mind; itshould awaken the desire to act, toachieve and to seek self-fulfillment;it should create or strengthen allexpressions of solidarity, such asdirect transmission from learner to

learner, and the pleasure of learning.There is no particular age for startingto understand other people, and theclassroom and the lecture room arenot the only places where thisdiscipline can be practised. The newwatchword is educating at home, atwork, in the street or at a distance. Inother words, the aim is to establishlinks between the different stages ofan individual's development.

Education in values, whichwould be unlimited in time andwould be incorporated in all areas ofsocialization, is a clearly markedtrend to emerge from the ICE's recentwork; it consists of a continuous, life-

Air

4.

4,

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'We, the peoples ofthe United Nations',

46Conquering new areas for education for peace

Honouring eachlink in the humanchain, by giving itback its rights andresponsibilities, isanother way ofseeking peace

long educational process, in whichthe alternation of studies with profes-sional activities can lead not onlyto an uninterrupted intellectualdevelopment of the individual, main-taining a constant coherent linkbetween thought and action, but alsoto a sharing of work and resourcesfor more social justice, going beyondmere pious intentions. There isundoubtedly a danger that the endobjective may only be half achievedif no effort is made to reduce in-equalities, a form of social injusticewhich is a real denial of humanrights. Peace should first be practisedon a small (local) scale before ar-riving at a greater (international)peace.

Once the objectives have beendetermined, the obstacles identifiedand the new aspirations expressed,there must be an enthusiastic effort toconquer new areas for lifelong educa-tion. The range of educational

actions, extracted from the IBE'ssurveys and described in this work,shows that the experiments whichobtained the most positive results,over time, were firmly based on thecultural referents of the target popu-lations. In any small- or large-scaledevelopment project, the real drivingforce is taking cultural dimensionsinto account and especially the in-volvement of the project's benefi-ciaries, through which they becomethe thinkers and actors of their owndevelopment. From north to south,from east to west, culture, participa-tion, co-operation, development andpeace must be combined to restorethe prestige of universal humanism,which has been constricted by theerosion of values and tarnished by thesometimes uncontrolled effects ofmodernism.

Honouring each link in thehuman chain, by giving it back itsrights and responsibilities, is anotherway of seeking peace. Major ideas inthe realm of thought sometimes taketime to find shape in practice. This isprobably because they are derivedfrom the events and the changes andupheavals of our societies. In view ofthe seriousness of world problems,however, educators cannot just standby and wait. Our world is shaken byconflicts of all kinds. These can onlybe settled by achieving the ideal ofinternational understanding, whichwe might now refer to, drawing aparallel with scientific theory, asàpplied peace'. The transition fromrhetoric to practice is a challenge foreducation for human rights and peacein the world which the forty-fourth session of the InternationalConference on Education has ac-cepted.

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Notes

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

With the objective of changing schooltextbooks, which perpetuate prejudice,and teaching human rights in schools,Jacques Miihlethaler founded theWorld Association for the School as anInstrument of Peace (EIP) in 1967.UNESCO awarded him the ComeniusMedal in 1993 for his work on educa-tion for peace.Statutes of the International Bureau ofEducation, 25 July 1929.United Nations Organization, Modernforms of slavery, New York, 1992.(Information sheet No. 14).Recommendation concerning educa-tion for international understanding,co-operation and peace and educationrelating to human rights and funda-mental freedoms, chapter X, article 45,Paris, UNESCO, 19 November 1974.(`The 1974 Recommendation')African Charter of Human andPeoples' Rights. The idea of setting upan African Human Rights Commissionoriginated in 1961, at the LagosConference (Nigeria) on the primacy oflaw. The final document, known as theLagos Acts, can be considered as thefirst step towards a regional document,which was to be signed in June 1981in Nairobi (Kenya) by the Conferenceof African Heads of State andGovernment. The Charter entered intoforce on 21 October 1986.Decouvrons les droits de l'enfant: dos-sier d'exploitation pedagogique, jointlyproduced by the teaching team ofEIP-Belgium, Brussels, Editions Labor,1995.Integrated Framework of Action onEducation for Peace, Human Rightsand Democracy, para. 32, Paris,UNESCO, 1995.R. Gilliquet; D. Casten; F. Walthery, Laconvention des droits de l'enfant,Brussels, Editions Lombard, 1993,64 p. Colour illustrations.

Sources

Delors, J., et al. Learning: the treasure within.Report to UNESCO of the InternationalCommission on Education for the Twenty-first Century. Paris, UNESCO, 1996. 266 p.

Integrated framework of action on educationfor peace, human rights and democracy.In: UNESCO. General Conference, twen-ty-eighth session, Paris, 1995. Recordsof the General Conference. Vol. I :

Resolutions. Paris, UNESCO, 1996,p. 63-68.

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