Wednesday 5 September 2001

Mr Pablo LATAPI ORTEGA, Journalist, TV Azteca, México Key

• H.E. Dr Mohammed J.K. AL GHATAM, Minister of Education, Bahrain
• H.E. Prof. Abraham BORISHADE, Minister of Education, Nigeria
• H.E. Mr Burchell WHITEMAN, Minister of Education, Youth and Culture, Jamaica
• H.E. Dr Sirikorn MANEERIN, Deputy Minister of Education, Thailand
• Mr Aaron BENAVOT, Professor, European University Institute San Domenico di Fiesole (Italy)
• Mr Alejandro TIANA, Professor, Faculty of Education, UNED, Madrid (Spain)

WORKSHOP 1 :
Citizenship education: learning at school and in society

• H.E. Ms Mariana AYLWIN OYARZÚN, Minister of Education, Chile
• H.E. Ms Margrethe VESTAGER, Minister of Education, Denmark
• Mr. Benali BENZAGHOU, Recteur de l'Université des Sciences et de Technologie, Alger
• Mr. Samuel LEE, Director, Asian-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding, Seoul (Republic of Korea)
• Mr. Cliff OLIVIER, Co-ordinator, The Life Science Project, Namibia

Citizenship practices : school and social learning (Geneva)

Participants at this workshop focused on four main issues, including the relationship between citizenship education and the learning to live together, the question of how to implement citizenship education in a variety of social and economic contexts, citizenship education as a challenge for the educational community as well as education for global citizenship.

Some participants considered that learning to live together is a societal project to which contribute different types of education such as peace education, human rights education, citizenship education and values education. However, participants think that the links between citizenship education and learning together remain to be explored. They pointed out that learning to live together is more clear and accessible for all societies than citizenship education for which the content has to be described according to the « variable geometric principle ».

Participants raised specific challenges such as new roles and assignments of teachers, participation and direct practice of citizenship in various educational environments, a convergence of educational messages and values between school and societies as a whole, and particularly the media as well as how to use constructively and critically ICTs and how to provide access and build networks of citizenship.

They stressed that global citizenship goes beyond the narrow, national perspective of membership. It implies shared responsibilities and the idea of belonging to the same global entity.

They recommend that, the school should:

• Encourage the participation of pupils in internal school decisions and student associations ;
• Create an institutional ethos encouraging dialogue, co-operation and democratic relations ;
• Establish co-operation with families, communities and that social environment,
• Promote a whole school approach to citizenship education

• S.E. M. Pierre NZILA, Ministre de l'enseignement primaire, secondaire et supérieur de la Rép. du Congo
• Sr. Antanas MOCKUS, Alcalde de Bogotá (Colombia)
• Excma. Sra. Isabel COUSO TAPIA, Secretaria General de Educación y Formación Profesional, Ministerio de Educación, España
• M. Ivan IVIC, Professeur Universitaire, Filozofski fakultet, Belgrade (Yougoslavie)
• Mme Pari ZARRABI, Sociologue, Genève

The workshop was organized around the question of how the content ad processes of formal education relates to process of social exclusion and to patterns of violence associated with the breakdown of social cohesion. The discussion focused on three main questions including what the consequences does societal violence have on education? how does formal education related to wider processes of social exclusion? and how can education contribute to strengthening or rebuilding social cohesion ?

Many delegations expressed the view that social cohesion presupposes peace, and that peace must be based on justice. Participants noted that the family, the home and the immediate community have a central place in informal political socialisation initiated from an early age. They pointed out that the media and (Satellite) television in particular, has an increasing weight in the education of young people in an increasing globalized world. They analysed the limit of schooling and highlighted the lack of conclusive evidence relative to the way in which individual and interpersonal skills and attitudes that are transmitted through formal or non formal education transfer to group behaviour, particularly in settings of acute social and political tensions.

Participants provided some examples of successful initiatives based on a combination of complementary strategies that includes economic and political components. These experiences were developed which a civic culture through an awareness of the need for minimal rules to live together. They also presented many examples of formal and non formal approaches including schooling, adult literacy, alternative accelerated primary education for out-of- youth, and psycho-social support in post-conflict settings.

They concluded that, the importance of networking, sharing of experiences and dialogue at different levels between educational institutions, teachers, teachers and parents, school and community-based organisations, as well as between agencies will create a partnership for education to promote social cohesion and will prevent /reduce social exclusion.

WORKSHOP 3 :
Common values, cultural diversity and education : what and how to teach  

• H.E. Ms Lucija COK, Minister of Education & Sport, Slovenia
• Mr. Bodo RICHTER, Secretary of State, Kultusministerium des Landes Sachsen-anhalt, Magdeburg (Germany)
• M. Abdeljalil AKKARI SCKELL, Professeur, Université de Fribourg (Suisse)
• Dr Geraldine CASTLETON, Research Fellow, Griffith University, Brisbane (Australia)
• Mr. Tesfamichael GERAHTU, Director-General, Department of Education, Ministry of Education, Eritrea

• H.E. Mr Jeff LANTZ, Minister of Education, Prince Edward Island (Canada)
• Mr Abbas SADRI, Consultant to the Minister and Director General for the Office of Higher Technical-Vocational Schools, Islamic Republic of Iran
• M. Gabor BOLDISZAR, Conseiller général d'administration, Ministère de l'Education, Hongrie
• Mrs. Blanca Estela COLOP ALVARADO, Co-ordinator, Mayan Education Unit, UNESCO/PROMEM, Guatemala
• M. Abou DIARRA, Directeur général, Centre national de l'Education, Bamako (Mali)

The workshop was organised around the question of the role that language and language communication plays in "learning to live together". The discussion focused on three main themes including:

(1) Linguistic diversity: the different 'status' of languages, nationally and internationally,
(2) The importance of language(s) of instruction,
(3) foreign language(s) instruction,

In the frame of the discussion of the last two themes participants made some contributions about language learning and teaching strategies.

Many participants expressed that they belong to multilingual countries. Participants noticed that mother tongue instruction is fundamental, taking into account pedagogical, social and cultural reasons.

They analysed the arguments and consequences of the monopoly position that a language or a restricted number of languages may be accorded in international and global communication. Some participants expressed that the monopoly position of "global languages" holds a threat of both linguistic and cultural uniformity and discourage the learning of other languages that are not one of the "global languages". Other participants expressed that the monopoly position of "global language" accorded in international and global communication, may not be overrated, because 'global' languages are normally used for specific purposes only, in a restricted number of language use situations.

Participants noted the importance of language learning, mother tongues as well as foreign languages, to understand and appreciate oneself, to be opened to others, to communicate and dialogue, as a significant way of promoting conflict solution in a peaceful way.

They provided some examples of successful initiatives about foreign language learning and teaching strategies. Participants expressed that it is highly recommended that this knowledge should be systematically organised and be disseminated. Participants discussed about the question of, which is the proper age to start with the learning of foreign languages at school. They pointed out that more research should be made in order to have evidence about the results of starting of early learning of foreign languages, in particular also of its consequences for the learning of their own language. They agreed that it is also necessary in general to promote research about different language learning and teaching strategies.

• S.E. Dr. Samuel C. MUMBENGEGWI, Minister of Higher Education and Technology (Zimbabwe)
• Prof. Jaak AAVIKSOO, Rector, Professor, University of Tartu (Estonia)
• Dr Pablo LATAPI SARRE, Profesor, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México D.F. (México)
• Mr. Shigeo YOSHIKAWA, Senior Curriculum Specialist, Ministry of Education, Japan
• Mme Doris JORDE, Senior Lecturer, Oslo University, (Norway)

• H.E. Mr. Louis Steven OBEEGADOO, Minister of Education and Scientific Research, Mauritius
• Dr. Johanna LASONEN, Professor, Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyvaskyla (Finland)
• Mrs Heba RAMZY, Director, Regional Information Technology & Software Engineering Center (RITSEC), Cairo (Egypt)
• Prof. Alexey SEMENOV, Rector, Moscow Institute of Teacher Development, Moscow (Russian Federation)
• M. Siva SUBRAMANIAN, Education International, Kuala Lumpur (Indonesia)

There is a growing concern about the emerging exclusion of many communities from the benefits of ITCs. This workshop was an in-depth discussion about the role of new technologies in facilitating access to "education for all" within the context of globalization. Despite improvement, traditional illiteracy remains a reality in many parts of the world and resources are lacking just to address education matters. Participants analysed some of the fundamental issues that deserve critical attention as both the possibilities and the risks intrinsic to establishment of new technologies as a fixture of the educational landscape. They pointed out the imbalance of access fosters inequities among and within countries, localities and workplaces which give rise to the "digital divide" between the knows and the knows nots, a phenomenon which is not unlike the other divide between the haves and the have-nots. Access to information worldwide today entails having and using ICT. All societies can be said to have a wealth of information and a rich knowledge base, but who structures technologically-transmitted information, who owns it, who decides how it ought to be used and circulated. Access to infrastructures is determined by availability of economic means and divided long economic, gender, ethnic, and linguistic lines.

Participants concluded that, the impact of ICTs have to be judged on the basis of how effectively it will contribute to the expansion of humanity's knowledge base all over the world.

UNESCO Press

John Daniel, head of UNESCO's Education Sector, and Pieter de Meijer, president of the International Bureau of Education (IBE) Council, presented the medals to eight laureates and institutions in a ceremony at the 46th International Conference on Education, a four-day meeting attended by 80 Ministers of Education and some 800 teachers and delegates from 180 countries.

The 2001 Comenius Medal went to the following laureates:

• Founded in 1923, Bulgaria's Atanas Bourov machine-building vocational school
• The Comunidade Solidária project of Brazil
• The Life Science Project 1990-2000 of the Namibian Ministry of Basic Education and Culture
• Sook Jong Lee of the Republic of Korea
• Mohammed Abdul Kader Ahmed of Bahrain
• Thomas Ango Bediako of Ghana
• Dr Pablo Latapí Sarre of Mexico
• A posthumous medal was awarded to Yves Brunsvick of France

More information in UNESCO Press Release No. 2001-94 2001

Key Speakers

• H.E. M. Edmund WITTBRODT, Minister of Education, Poland
• H.E. M. Najib ZEROUAZLI OUARITI, Ministre de l'enseignement supérieur et de la formation des cadres et de la recherche scientifique, Maroc
• Sr. Ricardo SANTOS, Senador, Brazil
• Mr Thomas BEDIAKO, Chief Regional Co-ordinator of Educational International, Ghana
• M. Moncef GUITOUNI, Président de la Fédération internationale pour l'éducation des parents, Montréal
• Mrs Michèle RIBOUD, Manager, Human Development Division; World Bank, Washington
• M. Pierre THENARD, Conseiller technique au Cabinet du Ministre délégué à la Coopération et à la Francophonie, Ministère des Affaires étrangères, France
• Dr. Ella YULAELAWATI, Head, Curriculum Division of Primary School, Ministry of Education, Indonesia

SPECIAL MEETING
The Involvement of Civil Society in Education for All

Convenor and Chair:
Koïchiro Matsuura Director-General of UNESCO

The theme for the Special Meeting, The Involvement of Civil Society in Education for All, reflects the overriding importance which the Director-General of UNESCO attaches to the role of non-governmental and other civil society organizations in the Education for All processes and movement. Education for All will not be successful unless all EFA partners and actors are mobilized and empowered to play their role in a movement that rests on a solid democratic foundation.

The 46th Session of the International Conference on Education (ICE) on the theme Education for All for Learning to Live Together: Contents and Learning Strategies, Problems and Solutions, explores this fundamental notion through its two core axes related to education, democracy and social cohesion (citizenship and identity/diversity) and to education, the distribution of knowledge and the future of schools (languages, scientific knowledge/ethics and the digital divide), respectively. The debate on mobilizing the actors and partnerships constitutes the bridge to the Special Meeting which will discuss three country cases of government-civil society co-operation which can be claimed to provide good practices that have not been otherwise highlighted in the ICE Conference. The Special Meeting focuses on the involvement of civil society in policy formation processes understood more broadly than the development of specific (EFA) plans. This is discussed through country experiences from sub-Saharan Africa (Ghana), South Asia (Nepal) and a least developed country (Yemen).

Each country delegation, which consists of a high-level government representative and a high-level NGO representative, will address the same question: Based on the experiences in your country, what are the preconditions for the successful inclusion of civil society in policy formulation, planning and action related to Education for All? The three keynote addresses will be followed by a response by Fred van Leeuwen, General Secretary of Education International, the world's largest federation of educators. The meeting is chaired, opened and closed by the Director-General of UNESCO.

Address pronounced by Mr Koïchiro Matsuura Director-General of UNESCO at the opening of the session