LECTURE: LESSON 4 - UNESCO’s PILLARS OF EDUCATION

The 21st century brings change in the life of students. The dramatic changes in information
technology, computers, the internet, social networking, mass media and global economic and political
relations among countries are posing enormous pressures and challenges to the youth and to education.

The characteristics of the 21 st century classrooms are very different from those of the past
century because these technological conditions, massive social networking and deluge of information
and misinformation were not felt before.

“Learning the Treasure Within”, the report of the International Commission on Education for the
st
21 century, chaired by Jacques Delors, and published by UNESCO in 1996 provides new insights into
education for the 21st century.

The four pillars of learning are basically the framework that provides a guide to equip the 21 st
century learners with the skills to meaningfully live in the changing, complex and interdependent world.
These pillars are summarized by UNESCO (1996);

 International Commission on Education for the 21 st Century advocates 4 pillars of education

o Learning to know – acquiring the instruments of understanding
o Learning to do – to act creatively in one’s environment
o Learning to be – develop one’s personality and to act with ever greater autonomy,
judgment and personal responsibility
o Learning to live – participate and cooperate with other people in all human activities

 The journey in this regard is done in two stages:

o The individual level - the journey is toward improving oneself to reach one’s full
potential as a human being
o Societal or global level - journey is toward respecting and appreciating individual
differences, groups of people or nations to build a peaceable and caring world

 Developing all these pillars of learning requires that schools must infuse prerequisite knowledge
and skills and these are:
o Knowing oneself
o Discovering others
o Appreciating the diversity of the human race
o Being receptive to others
o Caring and sharing
o Working toward common objectives in cooperative undertakings
o Managing and resolving conflict

 Learning to know
o Development of the head: knowledge
o Chinese proverb: “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today”
o Teach a man how to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime
o This may be related to learning how to learn
 o The instruments of knowing and understanding such as:
 To learn and to discover
 To understand about his/her environment
 To think in a coherent and critical way
 To acquire knowledge of the scientific methods and instruments
 To develop scientific spirit and an inquiring mind
 To acquire independence of judgment
o An example of this is the inundation of information and misinformation that can be read
and downloaded from the internet, with such condition, the need to develop the habit
of questioning and critical thinking among student about the material they read is
imperative

 Learning to do
o Development of the hand: skills and actions
o Implies that students learn best when they do and apply what they know
o Learning under this pillar does not only mean preparing the students for work, but it
must also transform those skills certified by schools into personal competence
throughout life
o Example: in the service sector – occupational knowledge, along with other interpersonal
skills, like communication, team building and problem skills are most demanded
o Learning to do is very much related to learning by doing by John Dewey
o According to Marilyn Lombardi (2007), this is considered the most effective way to learn
o 21st century students prefer “doing” rather than “listening”
o The advent of internet,gadgets and other applications and softwares capacitate the
students to be innovative by experimenting on new things and presenting learning
experience through fun, interactive and more creative ways

 Learning to be
o Development of the heart: awareness and understanding
o As a pillar of learning, this defines the development of competencies, like:
 Development of the mind and body, intelligence and sensitivity, aesthetic sense,
personal responsibility and spiritual values
 Development of the qualities of imagination and creativity
 Full flowering of human potential or the tapping of the hidden treasure within
each individual
o The aim of this pillar is the complete fulfillment of man and his development in a holistic
way as an individual member of a family and community and as a responsible citizen
o Example is: if you believe that he/she can become a teacher or a good singer, because
he/she thinks that he/she has talent and capability to become one, then he is fulfilling
the pillar of learning to be

 Learning to live together

o Development of values: attitudes
 o This requires developing a learning and caring society, characterized by an
understanding of other people and appreciation of interdependence and differences
o The three other pillars – learning to know, learning to do and learning to be – are the
bases for learning to live together
o For instance: in order to live together in a society and global world where human
differences exist, one must know local and world issues, as well as their solutions
(learning to know); one must be able to act creatively in his environment or be actively
involved in one solution building (learning to do); and one must develop an attitude and
commitment to global citizenship (learning to be). When all these pillars are put in
place, then learning to live together is more likely to happen.
o The ultimate end of teaching the four pillar of learning is to fulfill learning to live
together, which will eventually lead to a noble state, that is, learning how to grow
together

 Purposes of the 4 pillars of education

o To promote the formation … - articulates the educational of the 4 pillars as the
development of the complete person, according to Delors, comlete means the full
flowering of human potential and tapping hidden talents, also means nurturing of
learners; capacity for self-direction and fulfillment
o The 2nd purpose is to make each… - expresses the collective goals of the four pillars
which is societal and global developments; implies not only for the personal benefits,
needs, aspirations and fulfillment of an individual but also for the collective and global
good, welfare or progress.
o To sum up, the purpose of the four pillars of learning at the individual level is to ensure
the continuous growth of a person. At the societal and global level, it educates the
individuals as a part of society or global village where they can develop social
responsibility necessary in building a better place to live.

 Learning to know
o An individual who is knowledgeable is literate.
o Being literate is always being knowledgeable
o Thus the definition of the word literacy evolved through time:
 Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their
goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their
community and wider society
o Miller (1973) divides this conventional concept of literacy into 3 sub-categories:
 Basic – ability to correspond to basic shapes to spoken sounds in order to
decode written materials and translate them to oral language; ability to
recognize letters and words; example “B-A-S-A” forms the word basa in Filipino,
even without understanding what it means

 Comprehension – ability to understand meaning of what is being read; example:

the word “basa” it may mean, to read or to be wet
  Functional or practical – ability to read (decode or comprehend) written
materials needed to perform everydayvocational task; example: ang bata ay
nagbabasa – here it is understand that basa refers to reading and not to being
wet

o Based on this conventional view of literacy – we notice two things:

 Text – symbols and grammar to be read
 Meaning – message being convey or communicated by the text for the reader
to extract. Without a text, there would be nothing to read, without meaning,
the text is reduced to series of incomprehensible doodles

 21st century literacies – the rise of new literacies are due to:
o Increased reach – communicating with more people from diverse cultures
o Increased means of communication – communicating in more ways and at faster speeds
that ever before
o Increased breadth of content – communicating more things than ever before

 7 new literacies:
o The arts and creativity
 Teachers need to be creative by all means because teaching entails critical
thinking and creativity not only in presenting lessons; students creativity should
be honed through various pedagogic techniques, classroom activities and
student engagement

o Eco literacy
 Considers ecological systems and awareness of how society operates within
natural aspects as an educational imperative
 Form of transformative education:
 Perception (seeing)
 Conception (knowing)
 Action (doing)
 Environmental awareness has to be reiterated and strengthened in schools and
integrated in the curriculum, while everyone has to be oriented on taking care
of and sustaining the environment through eco-literacy practices

o Cyberliteracy/digital literacy
 Technology has been part of everyone’s life, be it at home, in school or
anywhere with every facet of our undertaking. However, in many instances we
may not be aware that we have been misuing or abusing it or in another way
around, we may find ourselves being used by other people with their malicious
motives using digital tools. Therefore, we may end up being liable or a victim of
such irresponsible kind of technological processing and utilization. It is in this
case that we must gain further understanding and application of digital/cyber
literacy, be it on personal or professional merit.
  As digital literacy impacts teaching-learning process, its wide dissemination in
schools and integration in the classroom is timely, relevant and necessary.

o Financial literacy
 Financial literacy is a core life skill in an increasingly complex world where
people need to take charge of their own finances, budget, financial choices,
managing risks, saving, credit and financial interactions
 In some instances, teachers are confronted with issues and concerns on
financial debt, being victimized by fraud and other related scams, both personal
and electronic ways. There are also teachers drowned by emergent financial
needs and unexpected debt and calamities. This is the reason why financial
literacy has been a subject in many faculty development programs, seminars
and even becomes a topic for researches, while other schools hve integrated it
in the curriculum

o Media literacy
 Media refers to all electronic or digital means and print or artistic visuals used to
transmit messages through reading (prit media), seeing (visual media), hearing
(audio media), or changing and playing (interactive media0can be a component
of active learning strategies such as group discussions or case studies
 Media are powerful tools of communication
 Considering the role of media literacy, it is necessary to integrate this
meaningfully in class

o Globalization and multicultural literacy

 As schools cater to diverse students in class, be it in terms of gender, color, race,
nationality, religious affiliations, cultural beliefs, ethnic groups, socio-economic
status teachers need to understand the concept of multicultural literacy to
come up with appropriate approaches in class
 In order to attain respect for diversity in the classroom, teachers should
integrate global multiculturalism in the lesson by citing relevant issues to be
addressed

o Social literacy
 Entails the development of social skills, knowledge and positive human values
toward desire and ability in human beings to act and react positively and
responsibly in a wide range of complex social settings
 Social skills are an integral part of functioning in society as they involve good
manners, communicating effectively with others, being considerate of others’
feelings and expressing personal needs
 In school, this can be demonstrated by teachers in dealing with their superiors,
colleagues, paretns, students and others, for students, by way of interaction and
interrelation with the surroundings round them - their peers, the media and
political influencers
 Integrating social literacy into the curriculum would contribute to the holistic
development of learnersh
 Peers and schools play a formative role on the social skill development of
children