Learning: the treasure within: report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century

Jacques Delors is the chairman of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century. This report to UNESCO is the result of a worldwide process of consultation and analysis over a period of three years. Education has a fundamental role to play in personal and social development. It is one of the principal means available to foster a deeper and more harmonious form of human development and thereby to reduce poverty, exclusion, ignorance, oppression and war. The coming century, dominated by globalisation, will bring with it enduring tensions to overcome. Whatever the...  [+] Show more

Jacques Delors is the chairman of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century. This report to UNESCO is the result of a worldwide process of consultation and analysis over a period of three years.

Education has a fundamental role to play in personal and social development. It is one of the principal means available to foster a deeper and more harmonious form of human development and thereby to reduce poverty, exclusion, ignorance, oppression and war. The coming century, dominated by globalisation, will bring with it enduring tensions to overcome. Whatever the diversity of cultures and systems of social organisation, there is a universal challenge to reinventing the democratic ideal to create or maintain social cohesion.

In this context, learning throughout life will be one of the keys to meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century. The International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century proposes in this report that, building on the four pillars that are the foundations of education - learning to be, learning to know, learning to do and learning to live together - all societies aim to move towards a necessary Utopia in which none of the talents hidden like buried treasure in every person are left untapped.

A fresh approach is proposed to the stages and bridges of learning, whereby the paths through education systems become more varied and the value of each is enhanced. While universal basic education is an absolute priority, secondary education has a pivotal role to play in the individual learning paths of young people and in the development of societies. Higher education institutions should be diversified so as to take into account their functions and duties as centres of knowledge, as places of professional training, as the crossroads for learning throughout life and as partners in international cooperation.

The central role of teachers, and the need to improve their training, status and conditions of work are stressed. And, in a world increasingly dominated by technology, emphasis must be placed on ways both to use technology in the service of education and to prepare people to master it for living and working. Getting the reform strategies right, by a broad-based dialogue, and by increasing responsibility and involvement of stakeholders at every level, will be a crucial element of educational renewal.

The report closes with a plea for more resources to be devoted to education, nationally and internationally, and for invigorating international cooperation in education with UNESCO as a key player.