Resources
Explore a wide range of valuable resources on GCED to deepen your understanding and enhance your research, advocacy, teaching, and learning.
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Building Strong Foundations: How to Put Foundational Education for Health and Well-being into Practice (Building Strong Foundations Brief; 4) Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: UNESCO | United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) The African Union’s designation of 2024 as the Year of Education highlights the critical importance of education for equipping young Africans with the skills essential for their own and for the continent’s development. It is also a recognition of the multiple challenges ahead before every child can complete primary school having acquire the foundational skills that open the door for lifelong learning. Currently the out-of-school population is rising, one in five children do not complete primary school and, of those who do, only about one in five achieve minimum proficiency in reading and mathematics. African countries have set targets on primary completion and foundational learning but to effectively translate their ambitions into results, the 2024 Spotlight continental report emphasizes the importance of coherence between their curricula, textbooks, teacher guides and assessments. It evaluates the alignment of these policy documents with each other but also with a global standard of what students are expected to know and by when. It also assesses how these key documents are used in classrooms and what the implications are for children’s opportunities to learn. This report is the second in a series of three envisaged between 2022 and 2025, each covering some 12 countries of which a selection is examined in depth, in dialogue with education ministries and national stakeholders. The focus countries for this second Spotlight report cycle were Mauritania, Niger, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia. The statistics and analysis presented in this publication aim to feed into the policy dialogue mechanism under the auspices of the African Union and its Continental Education Strategy for Africa. In particular, the Spotlight series aims to spark debate on foundational learning among African countries and encourage them to identify areas for joined action, given that they share a lot of policy challenges. 
Mainstreaming Social and Emotional Learning in Education Systems: Policy Guide; Highlights Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: UNESCO UNESCO’s policy guide unpacks social and emotional learning (SEL) as a broadening of the educational process, from a focus on cognitive aspects to a balance between cognitive, social and emotional, and behavioural dimensions of learning, putting forward initial action ideas to guide its systematic mainstreaming in education. It builds on and extends previous work undertaken by UNESCO on SEL from the perspective of Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), Building Strong Foundations for Health and Well-being Education, the Happy Schools Framework, and in multiple UNESCO Offices and Institutes. 
3rd Global Forum Against Racism and Discrimination: Final Document Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: UNESCO The third edition of the Global Forum against Racism and Discrimination with the theme “Race to the top: putting racial equity and justice at the forefront of development agendas” was held in São Paulo, Brazil, on 29 November 2023 and 1 December 2023. At the invitation of Brazil, in partnership with the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, the Mover Foundation, Instituto Ibirapitanga, the Global Forum highlighted the importance of placing racial issues at the core of development and implementation strategies, with a view to socioeconomic development. The Global Forum welcomed Ministers, high-ranking officials of national bodies responsible for combating discrimination and promoting equality, mayors of the International Coalition of Inclusive and Sustainable Cities - ICCAR, academics, scientists, civil society actors, NGOs, artists and digital influencers to share good practices, strengthen commitments and discuss effective strategies to combat racism and various forms of discriminations, including recommendations on how to proceed. The Global Forum’s agenda covered several topics, such as co-creating inclusive policies with impacted communities’ inputs; increasing awareness-raising on historical systems such as transatlantic enslavement to better comprehend and dismantle their contemporary legacies such as racism; progress towards gender equality; enhancing the capacities of civil society to be an agent of change; addressing artificial intelligence and its role in perpetuating racism; protecting the rights of indigenous peoples; establishing legal and policy frameworks prioritizing anti-racism and anti-discrimination on a local and global scale; strengthening the roles of cities, civic spaces, artistic and academic communities; enhancing the importance of informed data baseline on equality for governments; and promoting social philanthropy to address racial inequality. The 2023 edition was also marked by the launch of new initiatives. One of the main outcomes of the Global Forum is the establishment of the UNESCO Network of Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination Officials aiming to strengthen the development of innovative and inclusive policy solutions for peace, equity and non-discrimination. UNESCO has launched the new UNESCO Anti-Racism Toolkit, the Gender-Based Resilience Framework, the ‘Let’s Talk‘ project with Harvard University to combat prejudice against migrants, and the development of a new joint OECD-UNESCO briefing on combating discrimination against migrants. Volume X of the UNESCO General History of Africa, entitled Africa and its Diasporas, was also launched during the Global Forum. The publication offers a mapping of African diasporas throughout the world, valorizing their contributions to modern societies. 
Assessment for Advocacy to Transform Communities, Programmes and Policies in the Global South Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: UNESCO | Global Education Monitoring Report Team | PAL Network This paper was commissioned by the Global Education Monitoring Report as background information to assist in drafting the 2024 Spotlight Report on basic education completion and foundational learning in Africa. It has not been edited by the team. The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and should not be attributed to the Global Education Monitoring Report or to UNESCO. The papers can be cited with the following reference: “Paper commissioned for the 2024 Spotlight Report on basic education completion and foundational learning in Africa”. 
Global Education Monitoring Report 2024, Pacific: Technology in Education; A Tool on Whose Terms? Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: UNESCO | Global Education Monitoring Report Team | Commonwealth of Learning Information transmission and connectivity is crucial in the Pacific, a region characterized by high geographic dispersion. While the application of ICT in education has significant potentials, it is hindered by the region's limited and costly infrastructure. This edition accompanies the 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report, which acknowledges technology as a useful tool but invites the education community to question on whose terms it is deployed. The report considered four key policy areas of the Pacific Regional Education Framework (PacREF) (2018–2030): In terms of quality and relevance, mobile technology has offered an affordable and flexible approach to learning, and social media have improved communication between institutions, parents and learners. Moodle is the most widely used digital platform in the region. Textbooks are being digitalised and digital resources made available. Yet content is not always developed or adapted to local languages and cultural contexts. Open and distance learning has historically expanded learning pathways in the Pacific, specially in higher education and as a response to natural hazards. The University of South Pacific is a leading example of open and distance learning connecting campus across 12 countries. With the aim to enhance student outcomes and well-being, efforts have been made to incorporate digital skills into curricula and initiatives have increased outside formal education. Yet regulations do not adequately address threats from the use of technology to privacy, safety and well-being. With a focus on the teaching profession, countries leverage technology to provide training opportunities and transform the teaching profession. However, ICT training varies greatly across the region and limited digital infrastructure hinders technology integration into classrooms and teacher training. Three conditions need to be met for technology's potential to be fulfilled: equitable access to technology, appropriate governance and regulation, and sufficient teacher capacity. Supporting this publication is seven background thematic studies that provide a comprehensive overview of education technology issues; Commonwealth of Learning’s short case studies on some of its projects; a survey administered to key informed respondents from the region; and a series of country profiles on PEER, a policy dialogue resource describing policies and regulations related to technology in the region’s education systems. 
UNESCO Framework for Culture and Arts Education: Implementation Guidance Year of publication: 2025 Corporate author: UNESCO Culture and the arts are integral to inclusive, equitable and quality education. They nurture creativity, critical thinking, and respect for cultural diversity, empowering learners to engage meaningfully with the world and to build more just, sustainable and peaceful societies. Yet, countries have not systematically incorporated culture and arts education across all levels of education. This Implementation guidance for the UNESCO Framework for Culture and Arts Education is a collective invitation to reimagine education by placing culture and the arts at its heart and advancing a transformative vision of education for all.Through a holistic approach, the Guidance supports the integration of culture and the arts across formal, non-formal and informal education, throughout life. It offers practical orientations to help Member States fulfil the commitment enshrined in the UNESCO Framework for Culture and Arts Education, adopted by Ministers of Culture and Education in 2024. With a global perspective, this Guidance will equip policy-makers, educators and cultural actors in developing inclusive, context-relevant policies, curricula and learning environments.The Guidance is a milestone on a shared journey, inviting countries to harness their cultural strengths, respond to emerging challenges, and work together towards a more inclusive education for all. 
Addressing Violent Pasts through Education: A Policy Guide Year of publication: 2025 Corporate author: UNESCO Teaching about violent pasts and their legacies is a powerful way to foster sustainable peace.Education can build a nuanced understanding of complex histories, raise awareness of the roots and legacies of violence, nationally and internationally, and sensitize learners for their own agency as actors of change for reconciliation and conflict prevention.Educating about violent pasts is a challenging yet critical endeavour for policy-makers globally. It entails tailored approaches and an important support for educators to address traumatic pasts sensitively and to navigate related emotions and narratives successfully.Building on UNESCO’s programme on Global Citizenship Education, this guide offers education policy-makers a set of strategies, principles, and education practices to effectively integrate education about violent pasts into local education systems. It suggests a comprehensive approach that spans formal and informal education and aligns with the 2023 Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development, opening new perspectives on history education, dialogue, and conflict transformation. 
User Empowerment through Media and Information Literacy Responses to the Evolution of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) Year of publication: 2024 Author: Divina Frau-Meigs Corporate author: UNESCO Key messages Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI are having a significant impact on people’s engagement with information, digital technology, and media. This raises concerns about control human agency and autonomy over information, decision making, gender equality, and freedoms in general. User empowerment through Media and Information Literacy (MIL) as a response to GAI, which is still in its infancy, needs to be fully deployed and public policy makers should be concerned in developing it well from the outset. MIL is necessary to build people’s ethical use of synthetic media, i.e. video, text, image or voice content fully or partially generated by AI-systems. The societal opportunities being deepened by GAI include: access to information, participation, employability, creativity, lifelong learning and creative industries. The societal potential risks being deepened by GAI include: disinformation, loss of data privacy, threats to integrity of elections, surveillance, lack of source reliability, discrimination, including gender-based and racial stereotypes, and copyrights violations. Building on familiarity in the face of urgency, AI literacy can be embedded in MIL to teach and train all sorts of communities (educators, librarians, youth workers, women networks, etc.). Ensuring explainable AI is key to both the design of MIL curricula and to the design of policy and governance around GAI. To build trust in information and education, source reliability needs to be revised to encompass the different types of “evidence” provided by GAI. MIL can train informed people from outside the technology industry to participate in the design, implementation and regulation of AI, in a manner that remains human-centered, gender-responsive and mindful of the public interest. Training for MIL is within the remit of governments and institutions of higher education, which have a duty to ensure MIL policy actions are sustained and strengthened over time, to be future-proof, in the face of an ever-evolving AI/GAI. L’autonomisation des utilisateurs grâce aux réponses apportées par l’éducation aux médias et à l’information à l’évolution de l’intelligence artificielle générative (IAG) Year of publication: 2024 Author: Divina Frau-Meigs Corporate author: UNESCO Messages clés L’intelligence artificielle et l’IA générative influent grandement sur les rapports des indivi- dus à l’information, aux technologies numériques et aux médias. Mais cela ne va pas sans inquiétudes quant à leur contrôle, au pouvoir d’action et à l’autonomie dont disposent les utilisateurs vis-à-vis de l’information, à la prise de décisions, à l’égalité des genres et aux libertés en général. . Pour constituer une réponse à l’IAG, technologie qui en est à ses balbutiements, l’autonomisation des utilisateurs grâce à l’éducation aux médias et à l’information (EMI) doit être pleinement déployée, et les autorités publiques doivent s’efforcer de la promouvoir dès le début. L’EMI est indispensable pour garantir une utilisation éthique des médias synthétiques, c’est-à-dire des vidéos, textes, images et sons totalement ou partiellement créés à l’aide de systèmes d’IA. L’IAG offre de nombreuses opportunités sociales dans différents domaines, dont l’accès à l’information, la participation, l’employabilité, la créativité, l’apprentissage tout au long de la vie et les industries créatives, entre autres. Il existe cependant des risques sociaux potentiels aggravés par l’IA générative, dont : la désinformation, la perte de contrôle sur la confidentialité des données, les menaces pour l’intégrité des élections, la surveillance, le manque de fiabilité des sources, la discrimination notamment fondée sur le genre et les stéréotypes raciaux et les violations des droits d’auteur. Pour mettre à profit la familiarité face à l’urgence, la maîtrise de l’IA pourrait être intégrée dans les programmes d’EMI afin d’éduquer et de former des communautés très diverses (éducateurs, bibliothécaires, animateurs pour la jeunesse, réseaux de femmes, etc.). Pour bien concevoir non seulement les programmes d’EMI mais aussi la gouvernance de l’IAG et les politiques connexes, l’IA explicable joue un rôle essentiel. Pour renforcer la confiance dans l’information et l’éducation, la fiabilité des sources doit être réexaminée pour englober tous les différents types de « preuves » fournies par l’IAG. L’EMI peut former des acteurs éclairés n’appartenant pas au secteur de la technologie afin qu’ils contribuent à la conception, à la mise en œuvre et à la réglementation de l’IA d’une manière qui reste centrée sur l’humain, sensible au genre et soucieuse de l’intérêt public. La formation dans le cadre de l’EMI relève des gouvernements et des établissements d’enseignement supérieur, qui doivent veiller à ce que les actions politiques en la matière soient soutenues et renforcées dans la durée, pour s’adapter aux évolutions constantes de l’IA/IAG. 
International Day of Education 2025: Artificial Intelligence and Education: Preserving Human Agency in a World of Automation Year of publication: 2025 Corporate author: UNESCO International Day for Education 2025 aims to: Examine new possibilities offered by AI, especially for teaching, learning, assessment and educational administration. Promote the development of critical AI literacies by equipping educators and learners with the competencies needed to understand, use and influence AI technologies, in line with the UNESCO AI competency frameworks for teachers and students. Ensure that AI complements, rather than replaces, the essential human elements of learning, including the cultivation of in-person relationships and emotional intelligence.