International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century Learning was headed by Jaques Delors, the former French Minister of Economy and Finance. The commission aimed at formulating suggestions and recommendations for renewal of education system. It initiated its action in March 1993 and submitted its report in 1996.
Entitled “Learning: the Treasure Within,” the report revolves around six main lines of enquiry which will guide UNESCO’s future education policies and those of its 184 member States. The lines focus on the relationship between education and the six subject areas of development, science, citizenship, culture, social cohesion, and work.
One of the Commission’s principal concerns was to reduce academic failure by alternating school with work experience to enable individuals to correct early errors of direction and continue their education throughout life. “The prospect of being able to go back to education or training would alter the general climate by assuring young people that their fate is not sealed forever between the ages of 14 and 20.” Mr. Delors suggested that this could be done through an allocation of study time to all young persons, entitling them to a certain number of years of education. This would be credited to an account at an educational institution, allowing individuals to use it as they like, including for continuing education during their adult lives.
Among the report’s many recommendations are: strong encouragement for education of girls and women, allocating 25 per cent of development aid to education, introducing new “information society” technologies in all countries, and taking advantage of the educational potential of non-governmental organizations and community initiatives to supplement international co-operation.
Aims of Education: Delors suggested that in 21st century, it is very important that education prepares learners to confront and overcome following tensions.
Tension between global and local; tension between the universal and the individual; tension between tradition and modernity; tension between long-term and short-term gains; tension between competition and equality of opportunity; tension between spirituality and material.
To confront and overcome these tensions, UNESCO’s International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century identified.
According to UNESCO Report, The ‘four pillars of education’ are:
(a) Learning to know: that is, developing the critical faculties and learning skills required to continue learning throughout one’s life.
(b) Learning to do: acquiring productive skills, especially those needed to earn a living.
(c) Learning to live together: developing civic values and the capacity for understanding, teamwork, and respect for others.
(d) Learning to be: the overall development of the human person, both mind and body, intelligence, sensitivity, aesthetic sense, personal responsibility, and spiritual values.
Learning to Know: This type of learning is concerned less with the acquisition of structured knowledge than with the mastery of learning tools. It may be regarded as both a means and an end of human existence. Since knowledge is multifarious and capable of virtually infinite development, any attempt to know everything becomes more and more pointless. In fact, after the basic education stage, the idea of being a multi-subject specialist is simply an illusion. The initial secondary and university curricula are therefore partly designed around scientific disciplines with the aim of giving students the tools, ideas and reference methods which are the product of leading-edge science and the contemporary paradigms. Such specialization must not exclude general education–not even for future researchers who will work in specialized laboratories. A truly educated person nowadays needs a broad general education and the opportunity to study a small number of subjects in depth. This two-pronged approach should be applied right through education.
Learning to Do: Delors report makes a distinction between industrial economies, where most people are wage-earners, and other economies where self-employment or casual work is still the norm.
In societies where most people are in paid employment, which have developed throughout the 20th century based on the industrial model, automation is making this model increasingly “intangible”. It emphasizes the knowledge component of tasks, even in industry, as well as the importance of services in the economy. The future of these economies hinges on their ability to turn advances in knowledge into innovations that will generate new businesses and new jobs. “Learning to do” can no longer mean what it did when people were trained to perform a very specific physical task in a manufacturing process. Skill training therefore has to evolve and become more than just a means of imparting the knowledge needed to do a more or less routine job. It suggests a shift from certified skills to persona competence; and from physical work to service economy.
Learning to Live Together: Education should adopt two complementary approaches. From early childhood, it should focus on the discovery of other people in the first stage of education. In the second stage of education and in life-long education, it should encourage involvement in common projects. This seems to be an effective way of avoiding conflict or resolving latent conflicts. One of education’s tasks is both to teach pupils and students about human diversity and to instill in them an awareness of the similarities and inter-dependence of all people. Moreover, whether education is provided by the family, the community or the school, children should be taught to understand other people’s reactions by looking at things from their point of view. Lastly, recognition of the rights of other people should not be jeopardized by the way children and young people are taught.
Formal education should therefore set aside sufficient time and opportunity in its curricula to introduce young people to collaborative projects from an early age as part of their sports or cultural activities. But this approach should also get them involved in social activities: the renovation of slum areas, help for disadvantaged people, humanitarian action, senior citizen help schemes and so on.
Learning to Be: Ultimate aim of education is learning to be. All others are a preparation for it. Education must help a learner to solve his problems, take his own decisions and bear his responsibilities. An individual must get opportunities for freedom of thought, judgement, feeling and imagination so that the best within him can find his ways. It demands all-round development of the individual– body, mind and spirit.
To achieve this goal we need to provide our learners with every possible opportunity for discovery and experiment. In simple words, education must aim at development of a complete and balanced personality of a human being.
International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century Learning was headed by Jaques Delors, the former French Minister of Economy and Finance. The commission aimed at formulating suggestions and recommendations for renewal of education system. It initiated its action in March 1993 and submitted its report in 1996.
Entitled “Learning: the Treasure Within,” the report revolves around six main lines of enquiry which will guide UNESCO’s future education policies and those of its 184 member States. The lines focus on the relationship between education and the six subject areas of development, science, citizenship, culture, social cohesion, and work.
One of the Commission’s principal concerns was to reduce academic failure by alternating school with work experience to enable individuals to correct early errors of direction and continue their education throughout life. “The prospect of being able to go back to education or training would alter the general climate by assuring young people that their fate is not sealed forever between the ages of 14 and 20.” Mr. Delors suggested that this could be done through an allocation of study time to all young persons, entitling them to a certain number of years of education. This would be credited to an account at an educational institution, allowing individuals to use it as they like, including for continuing education during their adult lives.
Among the report’s many recommendations are: strong encouragement for education of girls and women, allocating 25 per cent of development aid to education, introducing new “information society” technologies in all countries, and taking advantage of the educational potential of non-governmental organizations and community initiatives to supplement international co-operation.
Aims of Education: Delors suggested that in 21st century, it is very important that education prepares learners to confront and overcome following tensions.
Tension between global and local; tension between the universal and the individual; tension between tradition and modernity; tension between long-term and short-term gains; tension between competition and equality of opportunity; tension between spirituality and material.
To confront and overcome these tensions, UNESCO’s International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century identified.
According to UNESCO Report, The ‘four pillars of education’ are:
(a) Learning to know: that is, developing the critical faculties and learning skills required to continue learning throughout one’s life.
(b) Learning to do: acquiring productive skills, especially those needed to earn a living.
(c) Learning to live together: developing civic values and the capacity for understanding, teamwork, and respect for others.
(d) Learning to be: the overall development of the human person, both mind and body, intelligence, sensitivity, aesthetic sense, personal responsibility, and spiritual values.
Learning to Know: This type of learning is concerned less with the acquisition of structured knowledge than with the mastery of learning tools. It may be regarded as both a means and an end of human existence. Since knowledge is multifarious and capable of virtually infinite development, any attempt to know everything becomes more and more pointless. In fact, after the basic education stage, the idea of being a multi-subject specialist is simply an illusion. The initial secondary and university curricula are therefore partly designed around scientific disciplines with the aim of giving students the tools, ideas and reference methods which are the product of leading-edge science and the contemporary paradigms. Such specialization must not exclude general education–not even for future researchers who will work in specialized laboratories. A truly educated person nowadays needs a broad general education and the opportunity to study a small number of subjects in depth. This two-pronged approach should be applied right through education.
Learning to Do: Delors report makes a distinction between industrial economies, where most people are wage-earners, and other economies where self-employment or casual work is still the norm.
In societies where most people are in paid employment, which have developed throughout the 20th century based on the industrial model, automation is making this model increasingly “intangible”. It emphasizes the knowledge component of tasks, even in industry, as well as the importance of services in the economy. The future of these economies hinges on their ability to turn advances in knowledge into innovations that will generate new businesses and new jobs. “Learning to do” can no longer mean what it did when people were trained to perform a very specific physical task in a manufacturing process. Skill training therefore has to evolve and become more than just a means of imparting the knowledge needed to do a more or less routine job. It suggests a shift from certified skills to persona competence; and from physical work to service economy.
Learning to Live Together: Education should adopt two complementary approaches. From early childhood, it should focus on the discovery of other people in the first stage of education. In the second stage of education and in life-long education, it should encourage involvement in common projects. This seems to be an effective way of avoiding conflict or resolving latent conflicts. One of education’s tasks is both to teach pupils and students about human diversity and to instill in them an awareness of the similarities and inter-dependence of all people. Moreover, whether education is provided by the family, the community or the school, children should be taught to understand other people’s reactions by looking at things from their point of view. Lastly, recognition of the rights of other people should not be jeopardized by the way children and young people are taught.
Formal education should therefore set aside sufficient time and opportunity in its curricula to introduce young people to collaborative projects from an early age as part of their sports or cultural activities. But this approach should also get them involved in social activities: the renovation of slum areas, help for disadvantaged people, humanitarian action, senior citizen help schemes and so on.
Learning to Be: Ultimate aim of education is learning to be. All others are a preparation for it. Education must help a learner to solve his problems, take his own decisions and bear his responsibilities. An individual must get opportunities for freedom of thought, judgement, feeling and imagination so that the best within him can find his ways. It demands all-round development of the individual– body, mind and spirit.
To achieve this goal we need to provide our learners with every possible opportunity for discovery and experiment. In simple words, education must aim at development of a complete and balanced personality of a human being.