Resources
Explore a wide range of valuable resources on GCED to deepen your understanding and enhance your research, advocacy, teaching, and learning.
686 Results found
A Post-GAP (Global Action Programme for ESD) Position Paper Year of publication: 2018 Corporate author: UNESCO The 5-year cycle of the GAP is due to end in 2019. To build a post-GAP position, this draft position paper has been prepared. Once revised through the consultation processes planned in 2018, the final draft will be submitted in 2019 to the Governing Bodies of UNESCO and the UN for their respective approval processes. Once the position is approved, it will be summarised into a post-GAP programme and launched in 2020 for implementation onwards to 2030. 
Education: Still Searching for Utopia? (The UNESCO Courier no. 1, January-March 2018) Year of publication: 2018 Corporate author: UNESCO At a time of heightened global tension, when human rights, freedom of speech, peace and the future of the planet itself may seem challenged as never before, the transformational power of education is of critical importance.In Learning: The Treasure Within, the landmark Report to UNESCO by the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century in 1996, Jacques Delors, then Chairman of the Commission (1992 to 1996), spoke of education as “the necessary Utopia” and “an indispensable asset in its attempt to attain the ideals of peace, freedom and social justice.”Education was held up as neither miracle nor magic, but rather the best means to foster a climate where humanity would be improved −. and where the rich potential for learning, inherent in every individual, would be tapped. Our humanity is confronted with a very strange paradox: the world’s population has never been better educated, and yet, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 263 million children and young people are out of school, 617 million children and adolescents worldwide do not meet the minimum threshold for literacy and mathematics, at least 750 million adults are illiterate, and girls remain more likely than boys to never set foot in a classroom. Yet education is still called upon to address inequalities, poverty, terrorism and conflict. It is seen as one of the keys to global citizenship and sustainable development, two of UNESCO’s fields of action. The Organization is also mandated to lead the Education 2030 global agenda with a special focus on ensuring that no one is left behind. Under the title, “Education: Still searching for Utopia?”, the UNESCO Courier evaluates the state of global education and explores how it responds to some of the main challenges we face. 
Global Citizenship Education: A Guide for Policymakers Year of publication: 2017 Author: Swee-Hin Toh | Gary Shaw | Danilo Padilla Corporate author: APCEIU In order to assist UNESCO Member States to integrate and strengthen Global Citizenship Education (GCED) in national education policies, strategies and plans to achieve SDG Target 4.7 effectively, the Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU) has developed and published Global Citizenship Education: A Guide for Policymakers (hereafter referred to as the Guide).The Guide is mainly divided into two parts. Part 1 provides an overview of GCED, including the following three sections: the background to GCED; the rationale for GCED; and the concept of GCED. In Part 2, various selection strategies which allow each country to incorporate GCED into its current education system aligned with its own priorities and context, were divided and suggested into five major policy areas as follow: policy review and development; curriculum review and development; capacity building; knowledge creation; sharing and dissemination; and monitoring and assessment.The Guide was first published in English and Korean and additional translations will be available in the future in other languages, including French and Arabic to provide access to more readers worldwide. We hope that the Guide will provide an opportunity for policymakers and practitioners to share their experiences and insights. 
Quick Guide to Education Indicators for SDG 4 Year of publication: 2018 Corporate author: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) This guide serves as a quick reference on how to monitor progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on quality education. It provides basic explanations of SDG 4 targets, their indicators, how they are created and where to find the information needed for these indicators. 
United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014): Education for Sustainable Development Year of publication: 2005 Corporate author: UNESCO The Declaration of the International Conference on Ecology and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, begins with the following words: "People are the main concern for sustainable development. They have the right to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature. "The Declaration adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in 2002, reflected the commitment of world leaders to "create a humane, equitable and attentive to civil society, recognizing that each member of this society has its own human dignity". Education is the foundation of sustainable development, as discussed in chapter 36 of the Program-21 of the summit that was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. This idea was reiterated at the Johannesburg summit. The implementation plan foresees a link between the Millennium Development Goals for universal primary education for both boys and girls, with special attention paid to girls, and the Dakar Plan of Action on Education for All. The creation of a gender-sensitive educational system at all levels and in all types of education - formal, informal and informal - to reach those who are not involved in the educational process is an essential component of education for sustainable development. Education is considered a tool to address such important issues as rural development, health, the prevention of the spread of HIV / AIDS, the environment, as well as broader ethical and legal issues (for example, human values and human rights).There is no universal model of education for sustainable development. Despite the countries' agreement on the overall concept, the approaches to education in each country will differ due to local characteristics and priorities. Each country should define its priorities and actions, as well as goals, accents and processes, based on environmental, social, economic conditions and appropriate ways of solving the problem. Education for sustainable development is equally critical for both developed and developing countries. 
[Video] Education Transforms Lives Year of publication: 2017 Corporate author: UNESCO Education transforms lives every day and in every corner of society. This video explores the power of education and UNESCO’s role in leading and coordinating the Education 2030 Agenda, which is part of a global movement to eradicate poverty through 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.Education is the right of every woman, man and child. Together, we are shaping the global citizens of tomorrow, empowered on the path of education to build a more sustainable future.UNESCO's campaign "Education transforms lives" supports the effort to build peace in the minds of men and women. 
Media Education and Citizenship: An analysis of the Quebec Preschool and Elementary Education Program Year of publication: 2018 Author: Normand Landry | Chantal Roussel Corporate author: Revue Lien social et Politiques In Canada, the limited level of knowledge on media education content that is conveyed by academic curricula hinders its critical evaluation. This article presents the ways in which media education is introduced in the Quebec Education Program (QEP) at the preschool and elementary level. More specifically, it highlights the connections at work between media education, childhood and citizenship in the program. Our method tracks and extracts a set of statements related to information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the media, then conducts their automated classification into four principal categories: speech, verbs used that reflect the actions undertaken by categories of actors (school, pupils, teachers), learning objectives and suggestions. A subsequent classification allows for the emergence of verbs and learning objectives associated to the notion of citizenship. The latter are then subject to speech analysis. Our analysis intends to demonstrate the message conveyed by the QEP on media and ICTs. It highlights the roles, tasks and responsibilities of its various actors in relation to the acquisition of knowledge and skill development. In addition, it features the actions taken by these actors to operationalize the academic goals of the program. Our conclusion indicates a low subject implementation of the statements associated to media education and citizenship, relevant content, although thematically limited, along with the conception of students as capable of a reflection and critical thinking process. 
Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education Year of publication: 2021 Corporate author: International Commission on the Futures of Education | UNESCO Our humanity and planet Earth are under threat. The pandemic has only served to prove our fragility and our interconnectedness. Now urgent action, taken together, is needed to change course and reimagine our futures. This report by the International Commission on the Futures of Education acknowledges the power of education to bring about profound change. We face a dual challenge of making good on the unfulfilled promise to ensure the right to quality education for every child, youth and adult and fully realizing the transformational potential of education as a route for sustainable collective futures. To do this, we need a new social contract for education that can repair injustices while transforming the future.This new social contract must be grounded in human rights and based on principles of non-discrimination, social justice, respect for life, human dignity and cultural diversity. It must encompass an ethic of care, reciprocity, and solidarity. It must strengthen education as a public endeavour and a common good.This report, two years in the making and informed by a global consultation process engaging around one million people, invites governments, institutions, organizations and citizens around the world to forge a new social contract for education that will help us build peaceful, just, and sustainable futures for all.The visions, principles, and proposals presented here are merely a starting point. Translating and contextualizing them is a collective effort. Many bright spots already exist. This report attempts to capture and build on them. It is neither a manual nor a blueprint but the opening up of a vital conversation. 
Challenging Systematic Prejudices: An Investigation into Bias Against Women and Girls in Large Language Models Year of publication: 2024 Author: Daniel Van Niekerk | Maria Peréz Ortiz | John Shaw-Taylor | Davor Orlic | Ivana Drobnjak | Jackie Kay | Noah Siegel | Katherine Evans | Nyalleng Moorosi | Tina Eliassi-Rad | Leone Maria Tanczer | Wayne Holmes | Marc Peter Deisenroth | Isabel Straw | Maria Fasli | Rachel Adams | Nuria Oliver | Dunja Mladenić | Urvashi Aneja | Madeleine Janicky Corporate author: UNESCO | International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI) This study explores biases in three significant large language models (LLMs): OpenAI’s GPT-2 and ChatGPT, along with Meta’s Llama 2, highlighting their role in both advanced decision-making systems and as user-facing conversational agents. Across multiple studies, the brief reveals how biases emerge in the text generated by LLMs, through gendered word associations, positive or negative regard for gendered subjects, or diversity in text generated by gender and culture. The research uncovers persistent social biases within these state-of-the-art language models, despite ongoing efforts to mitigate such issues. The findings underscore the critical need for continuous research and policy intervention to address the biases that exacerbate as these technologies are integrated across diverse societal and cultural landscapes. The emphasis on GPT-2 and Llama 2 being open-source foundational models is particularly noteworthy, as their widespread adoption underlines the urgent need for scalable, objective methods to assess and correct biases, ensuring fairness in AI systems globally. 
“I Don’t Have a Gender, Consciousness, or Emotions. I’m Just a Machine Learning Model” Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: UNESCO | International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI) An introduction to a forthcoming Gender bias in Artificial Intelligence report coming out on March 8, 2024. As we stand on the precipice of a technological revolution driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is imperative to ensure that this future is shaped equitably, representing all genders. With this essay we are excited to announce our forthcoming in-depth report on Gender and Artificial Intelligence in a partnership between IRCAI and UNESCO, set for release on March 8, 2024. As we prepare for this milestone event, we extend an invitation to experts, scholars, and all interested stakeholders to join us in our research.