Resources
Explore a wide range of valuable resources on GCED to deepen your understanding and enhance your research, advocacy, teaching, and learning.
4,172 Results found
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. 
Governing AI for Humanity: Final Report Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: United Nations (UN) The United Nations Secretary-General’s High-level Advisory Body on AI’s Final Report, “Governing AI for Humanity,” builds on months of work, including extensive global consultations, and the publication of an interim report in December 2023. Proposals for Global Governance on AI This report outlines a blueprint for addressing AI-related risks and sharing its transformative potential globally, including by:• Urging the UN to lay the foundations of the first globally inclusive and distributed architecture for AI governance based on international cooperation;• Proposing seven recommendations to address gaps in current AI governance arrangements;• Calling on all governments and stakeholders to work together in governing AI to foster development and protection of all human rights. This includes light institutional mechanisms to complement existing efforts and foster inclusive global AI governance arrangements that are agile, adaptive and effective to keep pace with AI’s evolution. Extensive Global Consultations The report is the product of extensive consultations, involving more than 2,000 participants across all regions of the world, including via: • 18 deep-dive discussions on key issues with top experts• More than 50 consultation sessions across all regions• More than 250 written submissions from over 150 organizations and 100 individuals The Advisory Body also commissioned an AI Risk Global Pulse Check – the most comprehensive global horizon scanning exercise on AI risks to date – and an AI Opportunity Scan to crowdsource expert assessments of emerging AI trends. 
Sub-Regional Study on Transforming TVET in Ensuring Learning and Skills to Support School-to Work Transitions in Southeast Asian Countries Year of publication: 2023 Author: Jann Hidajat Tjakraatmadja | Hary Febriansyah | Yorga Permana | Lala Nurfitria | Farenza Fadil Corporate author: UNESCO Jakarta Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and the transition from school to work are critical for young individuals to be prepared for entering the job market. The school-to-work transition signifies the transition from education to professional work and involves stages such as finding a job, applying theoretical knowledge and adapting to work expectations. In line with SDG-4, there is a need to improve the relevance of TVET systems, equipping individuals with the necessary skills for employment, entrepreneurship and lifelong learning. Three strategic priorities include promoting lifelong learning opportunities, fostering skills for an inclusive and sustainable economy, and ensuring inclusive and resilient communities. UNESCO supports Member States to address current and future challenges in the field of TVET, including the transition from school to work. Recognising the significant role of TVET in achieving SDG-4, UNESCO works closely with countries like Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of their TVET systems. These countries have demonstrated a strong commitment to improving the quality of education and equipping individuals with the necessary skills for employment, entrepreneurship, and lifelong learning. In the discussion of innovations and trends in TVET systems, there is a need to respond to rapidly changing labour markets through leveraging labour market data, tracer studies, and employer insights, expanding work-based learning to support the transition from school to work, modernising TVET curricula with new skills and competencies, strengthening TVET through private sector and community engagement. TVET is important for the transition from school to work in the sub-region of Southeast Asia, in line with SDG-4. Standardised practices are needed for better employability and mobility. Challenges include labour market mismatches and negative perceptions, but there are opportunities to partner with industry, update curricula, promote inclusivity and gender equality, and adapt to changing labour markets. Using labour market data, expanding work-based learning, and engaging the private sector and local communities are critical. TVET can transform individuals and contribute to sustainable development in the subregion of South-East Asia, creating prosperous and inclusive societies. 
Strengthening Social and Emotional Learning in Hybrid Modes of Education: Building Support for Students, Teachers, Schools and Families; A UNESCO-IBE Discussion Paper Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) The COVID-19 pandemic intensified existing educational disparities globally, prompting a reevaluation of school curricula to include Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). This shift recognized the holistic needs of learners, teachers, and families, emphasizing competencies beyond traditional knowledge acquisition. Despite SEL's increasing global recognition, it is often absent from formal curricula, prompting the UNESCO-IBE to address this gap. This Discussion Paper explores the crucial role of SEL in the broader transformation of global education, particularly in the post-COVID-19 era. It highlights six key topics, presenting diverse experiences in integrating SEL into education. Experts from various fields contribute insights, focusing on socio-emotional and hybrid learning advancements worldwide. The report aims to inspire global change-makers, advocating for robust policies aligned with UNESCO's Futures of Education framework. This call to action aligns with the UNESCO-IBE's HELA initiative, promoting flexible hybrid learning models for crisis response and sustainable educational strategies in line with the UN Transforming Education Summit's vision. 
Research Report: A Comparative Study on Hybrid Learning in Schools Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) During the COVID-19 lockdown, policymakers and educators faced an unprecedented challenge disrupting all levels of education. The initial optimism about replacing physical classes with virtual lessons diminished as complex interconnected issues emerged. To address the need for continuous and sustainable learning, school systems implemented variations of hybrid learning during the pandemic, seeking to integrate physical and virtual classes. These approaches prompted this comparative study led by UNESCO-IBE. The initial phase of this study involved collecting and analysing data on hybrid strategies from six countries. The research aimed to examine factors influencing hybrid learning implementation during the lockdown, with a subsequent focus on developing and validating a practical Hybrid Learning Framework for Schools. The cross-case analysis was designed not to rank or compare, but to understand and connect different scenarios and contexts. Phase I focuses on current hybrid learning practices and influencing factors, while Phases II and III will concentrate on using the information gathered to create and validate a Hybrid Learning Framework for Schools. Hybrid learning is not just a response to pandemics but also serves as a viable solution for other scenarios where full school attendance is difficult. Aligned with UNESCO-IBE’s overarching vision of a comprehensive, personalized, and democratized curriculum accessible to all, hybrid learning facilitates inclusive education across diverse regions, overcoming geographical and temporal limitations. The approach aims to unlock the unique potential of every learner, fostering a more flexible educational environment.Published in February 2024 by the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) with support from the European Union. 
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. 
Building Strong Foundations: How to Include the Whole School in Foundational Education for Health and Well-being (Building Strong Foundations Brief; 3) Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: UNESCO | United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) In a rapidly changing world, establishing strong foundations for children is vital for their well-being and resilience. Quality education is central to this endeavour and is the key to lifelong health and success. Recognizing that children thrive in the classroom when they are in good health, it is crucial to learn about health and well-being early on in primary schools. The Building Strong Foundations briefs, developed jointly by UNESCO and UNICEF, provide evidence-based guidance to support primary school-aged children to thrive through foundational education for health and well-being. Drawing from extensive research and consultations with leading experts from various fields and across the world, these briefs serve as a roadmap for education stakeholders to equip learners with the requisite knowledge and skills to navigate their current and future health and well-being needs. The present document is the third of four briefs. It explores how a whole-school approach to health and well-being in primary schools generates significant impacts on learners’ health, well-being and education. The brief shares practical guidance and case studies to distill six essential elements for an effective whole-school approach to health and well-being. 
Building Strong Foundations: What to Teach for Foundational Education for Health and Well-being (Building Strong Foundations Brief; 2) Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: UNESCO | United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) In a rapidly changing world, establishing strong foundations for children is vital for their well-being and resilience. Quality education is central to this endeavour and is the key to lifelong health and success. Recognizing that children thrive in the classroom when they are in good health, it is crucial to learn about health and well-being early on in primary schools. The Building strong foundations briefs, developed jointly by UNESCO and UNICEF, provide evidence-based guidance to support primary school-aged children to thrive through foundational education for health and well-being. Drawing from extensive research and consultations with leading experts from various fields and across the world, these briefs serve as a roadmap for education stakeholders to equip learners with the requisite knowledge and skills to navigate their current and future health and well-being needs. The present document is the second of four briefs. It is a go-to resource to better understand what makes a primary school curriculum effective in supporting health, well-being and learning. The brief provides practical tips and insights on integrating core thematic concepts for health and well-being into the curriculum, including concrete examples of learning objectives for lower primary and upper primary curricula. Whether a seasoned curriculum designer, a passionate educator or an individual involved in primary school curriculum processes, this brief equips readers with the tools to design impactful curricula for transformative learning, health and well-being. 
All In: Towards Tangible Solutions for Equity and Inclusion in Education Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) All In: Towards Tangible Solutions for Equity and Inclusion in Education showcases promising practices that were successfully implemented to ensure that inclusive education really does include all children, so that the most marginalized learners – including children with disabilities, children who are out of school, children living in poverty, marginalized girls, and refugee children – have access to quality education. While many of the promising practices were initiated in response to the COVID-19 crisis, or draw upon the pandemic experience, they go beyond the immediate focus of pre- or post-COVID-19 education systems to an overall view of child well-being and the need to focus on skills for the 21st century. Many of these practices have the potential to be applied more widely within education systems and can be adapted and replicated by stakeholders in any context where innovative and inclusive approaches are needed to protect and promote children’s right to education. Ingenuity, flexibility and a commitment to true inclusion and forward-looking policies are the common thread of promising practices in this document. This publication is a complementary resource to the 2021 report: Reimagining Girls’ Education: Solutions to Keep Girls Learning in Emergencies. 
Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context Year of publication: 2022 Author: Sarah Court | Eugene Jo | Richard Mackay | Mizuki Murai | Riki Therivel Corporate author: UNESCO | International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) | International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) | International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) | Korea R. Cultural Heritage Administration As the World Heritage Convention celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2022, over 1100 sites around the world are recognized as World Heritage - places that are so valuable to humanity that there conservation has been deemed our collective responsibility. Yet many of these exceptional places face increasing pressure from diverse types of development projects within and around the sites. Assessing the impacts of such projects – before deciding to proceed with their implementation – is essential to both prevent damage to World Heritage and identify sustainable options.The Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context is the go-to reference that explains the process for achieving these goals. Offering practical tips and tools including checklists and a glossary, it provides a framework for conducting impact assessments for cultural and natural heritage sites.Developed by UNESCO and the Advisory Bodies to the World Heritage Committee, ICCROM, ICOMOS and IUCN, this Guidance and Toolkit fosters cross-sectoral, multidisciplinary collaboration to identify solutions for both protecting World Heritage sites and supporting good quality and appropriate development . States Parties to the World Heritage Convention, heritage managers, decision-makers, planners and developers are invited to use it to help realise our collective commitment to passing on our precious heritage to future generations.