Günther Portune State Secretary of the Ministry for Education and Cultural Affairs in the Free State of Saxony Since 01.01.1997:State Secretary of the Ministry for Education and Cultural Affairs in the Free State of Saxony. Since 04.1998:Member of the National Advisory Board of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment: development of indicators- - regular assessement of knowledge and skills of students. Since 01.01.2004: Commission for European and International Affairs of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany. Chairman (International Affairs)

In the light of previous debates in UNESCO‘s Executive Board, which had devoted last year a thematic debate to quality education, and the relevant Ministerial Round Table held at last UNESCO General Conference, Germany would like to suggest the following three core elements for a working definition of quality education:

• International orientations for educational outcomes, as elaborated by OECD in partnership with UNESCO;
• Modernization of educational methods, materials, textbook revision and teacher training, as reflected in relevant decisions by UNESCO’s General Conference, and last but not least,
• contents of an education for living together, for democracy, human rights, pluralism and cultural diversity, as outlined in the Delors Report which was the main subject of the last International Conference on Education three years ago. In addition, the objectives of the forthcoming World Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) would also need to be reflected in terms of quality education.