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Revisiting UNESCO Four Pillars of Education and its Implications for the 21st
Century Teaching and Learning

Conference Paper · May 2016

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Sunday Olawale Olaniran

University of Zululand
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1st Teaching and Learning Conference
18, 19 & 20 May 2016
‘‘Students eat the bread and butter of the
peasants because they have promised a
service in the future. If they are unable or
unwilling to provide that service when the
time comes, then the students have stolen
from the peasants as surely as if they had
carried off their sacks of wheat in the night’’
- Julius Nyerere
(In ‘Freedom and Development’ pg. 135)
INTRODUCTION

 Over the last half-century, new pressures have challenged the

traditional purpose of higher education as well as the goal of
school-based teaching and learning activities

 Every nation today is in one form of competition or the other with

the rest of the world, and one of the key indicators of a country’s
capacity to compete is found in the knowledge, skills, and
competencies possessed by the citizenry.

 Today’s knowledge economy requires highly skilled personnel at

all levels to deal with rapid technological changes. To meet
current societal needs
INTRODUCTION (CONT’D)
 However, if today’s knowledge economy requires
highly skilled personnel to drive it, there must be a
shift in teaching and learning activities in today’s schools.

 It has been argued by Arum and Roksa (2011) that four

years of undergraduate education make little difference in
students’ ability to synthesize knowledge and put complex
ideas in writing
 Chan et al (2014) suggested critical examination and
restructuring of teaching and learning activities in today’s
schools for them to produce competent and 21st century
ready graduates
Teaching and Learning Overview

 An array of studies (Kennedy, 1997; Burns, 2011) assume that good

teaching depends largely on the teachers' ability to correctly present
the content. The studies notes that good teaching depends largely on
the ability to keep students orderly and attentive, and that the
method by which one teaches a subject itself conveys important
information to students about the subject matter.

 However, Blaschke (2012) notes that Educators today should be

more concerned about developing lifelong learners who can survive
and thrive in a global knowledge economy. learners who have the
capability to effectively and creatively apply skills and
competencies to new situations in an ever-changing, complex
world.
UNESCO Four Pillars of Learning

In 1996, UNESCO declared that meaningful

educational/learning engagements should rest on these four
pillars:

-Learning to know
-Learning to do
-Learning to live together
-Learning to be

See: http://www.unesco.org/delors/fourpil.htm
1. Learning to Know

Concerned less with the acquisition of structured knowledge

than with the mastery of learning tools”

“A truly educated person in the 21st Century needs a broad

general education and the opportunity to study a small
number of subjects in depth”

“Learning to Learn, to teach and to know”

Learning to think (comprehend) is a lifelong one and can be

enhanced by every kind of human experience”
2. Learning to do

This is a compass to be entrepreneurial in this 21st Century

- Qualities needed in the World of Work

- Self Management – Know how to manage oneself

- Co-Management – Set up teams with and groups

with common work
- Group Management – Ability to manage the work of
others when leading a group –
develop the potentials of
collaborators
3. Learning to live together

This is a compass with which to find others

A total shift from self-centeredness ( I, me and myself )

i.e.

“ Ability understand other people’s reactions by looking

at things from their own point of view”
4. Learning to be

This is a compass with which to find oneself

“Self-evaluation – Acceptance”

As one evaluates himself, he should accept whatever results that

may be. For the unfavorable one, one should take them as
constructive “criticism” to improve or get a better result.

The challenge will be to ensure that everyone always has the

personal resources and intellectual tools needed to understand the
world and behave as a fair-minded, responsible human being”
4. Summary and Conclusion

• Emphasis should shift from certificate acquisition to skill

building

• Societal re-engineering to fit-in into the 21st century

realities

• Less of classroom learning, more of out-door-learning

• Revisiting indigenous education that promotes

partnership and strategic alliances over isolation and
individualism
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