 The Global Agenda for Children: Learning for the 21st CenturyWriting team Sheldon Shaeffer 1. Learning: global context, challenges, and needs 1.1 Challenges of the future In order for the world to survive and prosper in the new century, people will need to learn more and learn differently. A child entering the new century will likely face more risks and uncertainties and will need to gain more knowledge and master more skills than any generation before. The challenges the world faces at the onset of the 21st century are an impressive lot: urbanisation and globalisation; population expansion and environmental deterioration; terrorism, sexism, fundamentalism, and authoritarianism -- with the addition of ethnic conflict and political instability, corruption, disease, and poverty. But the end of this century has also brought with it technological and scientific development at a faster rate than at any previous period in human history -- in health, in agriculture, in industrial production, and notably in the fields of communication, mass media, and information. As the 21st century begins, the opportunities to learn have expanded in more ways than most people can imagine. Libraries of information are being transported into homes and schools around the world, making ideas and knowledge available to more people than ever before. Transportation has also improved the access of people to goods and experiences never before possible. In many places, these advances have contributed substantially to economic, social, scientific and cultural development and to the ability of people to create communities where diversity is valued and where a vibrant civil society works with government to solve problems for people. But these same advances have also led to a growing polarisation between societies sufficiently affluent and educated to benefit from the new technologies and those who, through poverty, ignorance and discrimination are denied such benefits. As the Delors report put it in 1996, the world facing the new century is fraught with tensions: between the global and the local; the universal and the individual; tradition and modernity; the spiritual and the material; long-term and short-term considerations; competition and equality of opportunity; and the extraordinary expansion of knowledge and the capacity of human beings to assimilate it (Learning: The Treasure Within, UNESCO, Paris, 1996.) 1.2 The response of education As part of the global rebuilding following this century's two world wars, societies delegated to schools expanded responsibilities for both educating more children and transmitting to them much more than the traditional "basics". Public schools were viewed as the major institution for mass education, leading to gainful employment, and formal education became widely accepted "as one of the principal means available to foster a deeper and more harmonious form of human development and thereby to reduce poverty, exclusion, ignorance, oppression and war" (Learning: The Treasure Within, p.13). More and more over the recent decades, this has been reflected in increased budgetary allocations to basic education, compulsory schooling legislation, and widespread media attention to education and development issues. Thus, as the world has become more complex, school systems have expanded in both size and complexity. The sheer number of children in these systems has grown, probably at a rate faster than the growth of population; net primary enrolment in developing countries grew from 50% in 1970 to 76% in 1990 and 82 per cent in 1995 (SOWC 1999). And most systems have stretched themselves to more systematically cover children of pre-school age, adolescents, and adults; literacy rates in developing countries, for example, grew from 43% in 1970 to 65% in 1990 and more than 70 per cent in 1995 (SOWC 1999). Such expansion is largely the result of improvements in the quality of education, greater attention to schooling by governments and the international community, and the continued value attached to schooling by families both in its own right and as a perceived panacea to the everyday challenges they face (although the stagnation of enrolments in some countries shows contrary evidence). But as the new century approaches, more and more people -- educators, politicians and development workers, community leaders and parents -- are debating about what children should learn, how, and where. It is easy to conclude from this debate that education systems are generally not keeping up with the challenges of today, let alone preparing themselves for the challenges of the new century. In a world characterised by accelerating change, parents and young people are questioning the relevance of what schools teach. In addition, too many schools throughout the world are characterised by high teacher absenteeism, poor use of available instructional time, and negligible attention to the interests and abilities of individual learners -- and often by their relatively high cost. It comes as no surprise that in such schools, where children may be getting little useful knowledge and much of their time is spent in rote learning, many children reject what education systems offer. Among those students who continue in school, many do not acquire elementary skills in analysing and applying school learning to life-relevant tasks. In many parts of the world, the result of these conditions is increasing skepticism and frustration with formal, uniform systems of education. People see growing disparities and gaps -- in costs, quality, achievement, and certification -- and this has led to a 'crisis of confidence' in public schooling throughout much of the world. There are many reasons, however, why education systems and individual schools have not met many of the expectations placed upon by them. In most countries of the world, these systems and institutions have long been -- and remain -- underfunded. Facilities, materials, and books are often in short supply, teachers are often undertrained and underpaid, and curricula are outdated. Also, education systems are often designed to maintain the status quo -- for example, of social and economic inequality -- rather than promote change. And expectations, reflected in inflated targets for enrolment and overly ambitious mandates for schools, have often been unrealistic. Despite this fact -- and often against great odds -- there are many more schools and students in the world now than 10 years ago, and everywhere there are innovations and reforms, promoted by parents and teachers, that have succeeded in making schools better places to learn. Schools will remain the most effective and efficient way to transmit the knowledge and skills, and promote the values, needed for the future. As a major part of what should be a unified system of diversified approaches to education (including alternative forms of basic education for those unable to go to school), they must continue to be expanded in quantity and improved in quality. UNICEF must continue to help in this task. But given the increasing complexity of the world, and the increasing amount of learning that takes place outside of the classroom, a single focus on schools and even on the basic education system is no longer enough. Strengthening the other critical environments in which children learn -- the family, the community, even the workplace -- must also become a major and more explicit focus of development. 2. The conceptual framework of learning 2.1 The expanded vision of education Filling the gap between the kind of education now being provided by most school systems and the kind needed for the 21st century requires significant changes in the way policy-makers make policies, planners plan systems, teachers teach, communities participate, learners learn -- and development agencies function. It requires, most of all, a broadening of thinking and attention away from an almost exclusive focus on the more formal structure and output orientation of 'schooling' to greater concern for the more broadly defined process of 'learning'. A new approach is needed where it is recognised:
Such a shift can come about by taking more seriously two important documents written at the beginning of this decade: the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Jomtien Declaration on Education For All (EFA). (See Appendix I for relevant parts of their texts.) A very significant development for UNICEF has been the worldwide consensus, through ratification of the CRC, that every child, regardless of resources and circumstances, has the right to basic education of quality and relevance. But the CRC has it only partly right. The basic right of the child is not only to education as in Article 28, but to learning and to the opportunity to learn -- to have access to enabling and supportive learning environments -- which will help children gain both access to other rights and to the knowledge, skills, competencies, attitudes, and values needed for continuing lifelong learning. Some of the current impetus for renewed interest in education can be traced to the World Conference on Education For All held at Jomtien, Thailand, in March 1990. An expanded vision and a renewed commitment to basic education for all were articulated, and delegates from 155 countries endorsed a plan of action. The 'expanded vision' of basic education which the Jomtien Declaration promotes includes universalising access and promoting equity; focussing on learning acquisition; broadening the means and scope of basic education; enhancing the environment for learning; and strengthening partnerships within a supportive policy context, through mobilising resources and strengthening international solidarity. As part of the ultimate goal of meeting the basic learning needs of all children, youth and adults, the Conference proposed that countries set their own targets within the framework of:
The World Declaration on Education For All approved in Jomtien has many insightful and future-oriented analyses and recommendations which, when articulated within the context of the CRC, results in a very powerful tool for advocacy and programming. The importance of meeting basic learning needs — following the CRC, the right of ALL children to gain access to the opportunities and environments required to meet these needs -- is at the heart of EFA. 2.2 What learning is: the five pillars The UNESCO study, Learning: The Treasure Within, introduces four 'pillars' or categories of learning, summarised and slightly amended here:
To these a fifth is added, to make more explicit the need for:
2.3 How people learn Just as there are different categories of learning, there are also different ways of learning. How people learn is a process that differs greatly by age, culture, context, and individual preference. People learn at different stages of their development, across cycles of their life, formally and informally, alone and in interaction with others. There are many theories that try to explain how people learn. Behavioural learning theory focuses on how people learn through demonstrating appropriate responses to stimuli. Cognitive learning emphasises more exploratory learning derived from mental processes and structures operating within the learner. Constructivist learning occurs when the learner interacts with the message in a more active and participatory way and constructs a personal and unique interpretation of it. And socio-cognitive learning stresses the learning that occurs in the company of others. A relatively recent and promising approach to learning is one provided by Howard Gardner in his approach to learning styles or 'multiple intelligences' (a concept which forms an important basis of UNICEF's education work in Bangladesh). This approach outlines seven different ways in which people learn:
Children have different learning styles that correspond to their particular type of intelligence. Some children learn best through reading and taking notes, others through visual stimulation, still others through the rhythms and tempos of body movement or musical activities. Some like to work on problems individually while others like to interact with others to find a solution. And boys learn differently from girls. The issue for educators is to ensure that children are taught and are allowed to learn according both to their individual stage of physical and mental development and to their preferred learning style. 2.4 Learning, schooling, and education Learning is not the same as schooling and education. The concepts, of course, are inter-related, but their differences are significant, both in themselves and for UNICEF. Schools are organisations that provide structured learning experiences associated with formal, organised, usually time-bound and graded activities designed to instruct learners in defined content, skills, values, and behaviours. Education is the explicit process of being taught something (not necessarily in a formal situation such as a school) and results in some clear evidence (and often certification) that something has been learned. A focus on education more often puts the educator -- the teacher -- as the centre of, and principal actor in, the learning process. Learning is the more inclusive concept -- the act or experience of increasing mental capacity, of gaining knowledge, understanding, and skills by study, instruction, or experience. Thus, it does not require formal, organised activities to occur -- although it often does so (e.g., learning to read) -- and it does not necessarily require any evidence of change. Learning occurs almost all of the time; people learn through everyday observation, interaction, and practice. A focus on learning puts the learner as the centre of, and principal actor in, the process. All the environments in which children (and adults) find themselves are essentially learning environments. Learners learn both positive and negative things and may or may not manifest what they have learned immediately. Learning of many kinds, of course, does occur in schools (though not necessarily in ways intended by the teacher, curriculum, and system), but schooling may not result in much explicit education if the teaching-learning process is of poor quality or if there is no evidence that something intended has been learned. It is the differences among these concepts that make learning and learning environments so important for UNICEF's work. As an organisation, UNICEF is committed to the right to education for all children. It has largely operationalized this commitment through support to the expansion and improvement of primary schooling. It has also understood (and occasionally programmed for) the fact that education of good quality can take place in alternative basic education programmes. It must now work to ensure that its efforts focus as well on expanding the opportunity to learn and on improving the quality of the many environments in which children learn. 3. UNICEF and learning: opportunities, experiences, and comparative advantages Building schools, providing textbooks and other materials, and getting more children to enrol in school are programmable activities which most governments and development agencies can readily understand. Reforming education systems, promoting stronger school-community linkages, and improving the quality of school curricula and teachers are somewhat more complex processes that most, if not all, UNICEF offices are prepared to encourage. Promoting learning is a greater challenge because it is above all a process which is not easily amenable to quantitative goals or even observable, let alone measurable, impact. So why 'learning' for UNICEF?
The development of more effective learning processes in a larger variety of learning environments increases the likelihood that the various groups at which the principal messages of UNICEF, are aimed, will hear and actually internalise them. Thus, because schools represent only one place in which learning occurs, UNICEF must address the quality of learning environments and the outcomes of learning in all of the various behaviour-change activities it supports -- not only those of its education programmes. 3.1. Opportunities The time is opportune for such a re-focusing of effort. The United Nations as a whole is returning to its original focus on peace, justice, and human rights. Within this context, child rights and human rights -- at least their rhetoric, if not their internalization -- are important issues again, on the development agenda. The importance of partners and the practice of partnerships -- across nations, within communities, between institutions of civil society and governments, across sectors -- are now better understood. Such partnerships, although often difficult to put in place, are vital for the new focus on learning. Likewise, the process of decentralization -- the re-balancing of centre and peripheral power, the transfer of authority down the system and out to civil society -- is growing apace (though often for the wrong reasons and with inadequate preparation). But when combined with the notion of providing greater autonomy to local communities and the social sector agencies which serve them, this process offers an opportunity for creative approaches to learning. 3.2. Validated programme approaches and key lessons Through years of experience, UNICEF has learned lessons and validated programme approaches which should facilitate the promotion of better learning and more supportive learning environments. These include: Education goals are often elusive and difficult to measure. The Mid-Decade review of Education For All in Amman showed that even progress in primary school access and adult literacy were shadowed by doubts about the quality of data and the failure to document within-country variability; by the elusiveness of the more challenging goals of appropriate education for adolescents and behaviour changes related to life skills; and by the lack of information about learning achievement. More care and attention need to be paid to clarifying and measuring indicators of learning. Development takes time. Schools may be built and textbooks printed and distributed in a few months, and curricula revised in the life of a country programme, but improving the actual quality of what goes on in a classroom and enriching the environments for learning in families, schools, and communities, require sustained commitment beyond the life of a five-year programme or the tenure of its senior management. Process is often as important as product. The organization of training courses and the provision of books and resource centres are often essential elements in educational innovations, but they are not sufficient for the innovation to be sustained. They must be accompanied by a process that ensures the internalization of the innovation in the minds and actions of decision-makers and programme implementers. Decentralisation and autonomy are important tools in the promotion of community-centred solutions to the problems of women and children -- but they are not panaceas for underdevelopment even where seriously implemented -- and require both some kind of central oversight and a continuing focus by UNICEF on building capacity and on helping central governments to define their new roles and to improve national policies, structures, and standards. Many countries have moved to a greater or lesser extent to some form of decentralisation in governance. This has been reflected in the decentralisation of responsibility for schooling to authorities closer to communities. In some instances, this process has not been matched by a transfer of resources and accountability, inevitably leading to confusion and a perception that central authorities seek only to push some of the costs and responsibilities on to communities. For many authorities functioning in a climate that thrives on manipulation, exploitation, and corruption, devolving resources to lower levels of the system also threatens power. Decentralisation, in other words, is a two-edged sword, and UNICEF should work to sharpen the 'good' edge. Perhaps a key lesson from the 1990's is that decentralisation involves some 'letting go' trusting those who will manage community facilities and programmes. Where genuine devolution of responsibility, authority, and resources has taken place in education, there has been an understandable sense of pride and ownership in the vision, the processes, and the environment of schooling. Partnerships and networks are needed at all levels of the system. The promotion of such partnerships at the community level often produces little success if the major sectoral and political forces of society do not support them, and likewise, sectoral collaboration at the top of the system does not necessarily translate into easy networking in fractious, heterogeneous communities. Integrated and multi-sectoral approaches to learning are essential. Approaching the rights and needs of children and families separately, through vertical, sectoral services, often means that important aspects of child and family survival, development, and protection get neglected. While often still needing to work functionally and sectorally with existing structures, UNICEF must show greater creativity and skill in working holistically, across sectors. Good practices and examples of 'positive deviance' must be carefully analysed and promoted, and models of good practice must be creatively used. People change their behaviour because they find something immediately and concretely useful and because they actually see change occurring. Diversity, not standard solutions to complex problems, must be the norm. Models of effective learning must be adapted to a large variety of local conditions and needs. Mobilisation and advocacy, at all levels, are essential. Policy-makers, teachers and parents, for example, must all understand the importance of good quality schooling and the indicators of successful learning. 3.3 Comparative advantages The comparative advantage of UNICEF in helping to realise the right of all children and families to life-long learning stems from our organizational mandate and commitment to children, their well-being, and their development. This mandate is unique among UN agencies and is based on a history of work within the framework provided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. UNICEF has a broad knowledge of and practical experience with families and communities around the world and has gained non-partisan credibility with a global constituency of governments and non-governmental organisations to act on behalf of children at all levels in policy formation and reform, programme planning and implementation, advocacy, and social mobilisation. This success is increased by taking a holistic view of children (of their care, survival, development, protection, and participation), promoting inter-sectoral approaches and using our considerable experience in educational innovations and in affecting behaviour change. For both children who are born and raised in small, poor villages and the increasing number brought up in large, poor, urban areas, UNICEF's field advantage can help assure that new learning processes are concrete and practical so that children acquire all of the necessary enabling skills of language and numeracy, critical thinking, and psycho-social and life skills both to protect themselves and to continue to learn throughout life. 4. Recommended results for children and specific priority areas for UNICEF The above discussion of learning needs and environments leads to two major priority areas for UNICEF in regard to children: 4.1 What children should learn: the definition of needed information and skills for living Given the growing interdependence of the world's societies and peoples, more and more attention is now being given to the set of minimal, essential, core 'information and skills for living' which all children in the world should learn and understand, internalize and practice, so that they are able to respond appropriately to the most critical economic, environmental, and social challenges of the modern world. The learning of the fundamental skills and underlying concepts of literacy and numeracy -- of reading, writing, speaking, and arithmetic -- must come first. Without these enabling skills, the more complex, advanced set of knowledge and skills for living cannot be attained. This more complex set includes both the essential facts and information needed for survival (such as those found in Facts For Life) and life skills broadly defined. Life skills enable children and young people to translate knowledge (what one knows) and attitudes and values (what one feels and believes) into action (what to do and how to do it). Life skills help people interact appropriately with other people and situations to achieve positive outcomes. These skills may include developing critical understanding, controlling one's own behaviour, acquiring further knowledge and skills, establishing mutually rewarding relationships, and modifying one's own physical and social environment. Life skills most commonly included in education programmes are co-operative teamwork, negotiation and communication, decision-making, non-violent problem-solving and conflict resolution, resisting peer pressure, work and entrepreneurial skills, critical and creative thinking, coping with emotion and stress, assertiveness, recognition of risk, self-awareness, and empathy. Related to these are values and competencies focusing on non-discrimination and respect for diversity, equity, democracy, social inclusion, solidarity, and internationalism ('Integrating Life Skills into the Primary Curriculum,' Mariella Baldo and Elaine Furniss, UNICEF, 1998). 4.2 Where children learn: the development of enabling learning environments Learning in ways which will have a more likely chance of producing positive outcomes (e.g., of gaining needed information and skills for living) requires the development of positive and supportive learning environments both formal (e.g., within public and private education systems and other basic education programmes) and informal (e.g., within the home, community, and society as a whole). Such environments should respect what children already know and how they perceive the world around them; they should also prepare children not only for the future -- for school, to be adults -- but also for the present -- to be children. Supportive, enabling learning environments not only promote positive learning, they themselves are learning entities, seeking new information and experience, observing and listening to others, developing the capacities of their members. The three most important such environments for the child are the family, the neighbourhood/ community, and the school. For many children, the workplace, for good or bad, is another learning environment, and the media present another alternative which can facilitate, or hinder, a child's opportunity to learn. 4.2.1 The family The home and family -- particularly the mother-child dyad -- are the first environment of learning for the young child -- where the acquisition of knowledge, competencies, attitudes, and values first begins. A child's ability to learn through direct interaction with people and through the manipulation of objects and the testing of cause and effect begins at birth and is developed within the family. Children learn best in secure, stable, loving families which can guarantee a child proper care -- adequate nutrition, good health and hygiene, appropriate psycho-social stimulation -- all leading to better growth and more holistic development: physical, cognitive, social, and emotional. Children learn best in strong, resilient families where parents, especially mothers, are healthy, literate, free of exhausting physical labour, economically self-sufficient, no longer exploited because of gender, and fully participating members of the community. Children learn best in educated families where parents and grandparents, siblings and other caregivers, across generations, have enough knowledge and skill to feed their inquisitive minds; to laugh and explore new ideas with them; to help them develop all manner of skills and loving, inquisitive, open, and joyful attitudes; and to encourage them to attend and do well in school. But families -- both extended and nuclear -- are under increasing stress at the end of the century. Poverty, migration, conflict, disease, and many other threats make it difficult for many families to provide the supportive environments their children require, let alone to become educated (and empowered) beings in themselves. UNICEF must recognise families as the major caregivers and teachers of children; work with governments and communities to support them with information, facilities, and resources for better child care and learning; and help to strengthen families as positive, inter-generational learning environments. 4.2.2 The community The immediate neighbourhood and larger community surrounding the child are natural environments for learning physical, cognitive, and social skills. It is here where play with peers and the child's first experiences outside of the home take place. Communities provide the collective experience and social milieu that welcome the child into the use of language and the world of tradition, values, prejudices and myths, the roles and functions of men and women as community members. It is here that children begin to compare their family and themselves to others and to learn about their natural and economic environments, the division of labour and property, the distribution of power, fairness (or the lack of it), and rights. Children learn best in communities that encourage openness and mutual help -- that are equitable and free of prejudice, governed transparently, and open to guidance by those governed; where the exchange of information and ideas, including those of children, is encouraged; where people learn together and solve problems through mediation and consultation; and where all community members have enough resources to be safe, housed, and healthy. Communities that value children allow them enough time to learn through play and to contribute to family welfare through tasks that help them learn and are in keeping with their physical and mental development. They also set up mechanisms to track children and families at risk -- the poor and the ill, the abused and the exploited. Communities that value children also support early childhood care programmes, especially for those children who need them most, which are integrated and comprehensive in nature, focus on the needs of the whole child, and result in better child growth and development. Such programmes place a heavy emphasis on supporting families and also on identifying and assisting children with disabilities. Communities that encourage learning are also likely to value, plan for, and support quality basic education and schooling for children and adults. Members of these communities pay attention to the development of school-aged children and assist in the delivery, supervision, and maintenance of basic education programmes. This helps children develop their innate capacity to learn their language and the needed range of life skills and mathematical and scientific concepts; to adapt and apply these concepts to their everyday life; and to use these new skills and concepts to go on learning on their own from books and by exploration. In addition to factual knowledge, members of the community help children use their new-found skills to learn from the collective wisdom of their culture. The supportive community also encourages and supports adolescents to build on their basic knowledge to acquire and use specialised knowledge in science and technology, as well as the life skills needed to face the particular challenges and risks of this age group. It also encourages Artistic ability. As biological and emotional maturing begins, social sanctions keep children safe but allow them the necessary freedom to interact with each other, to learn about their bodies and the expected responsibilities that come with the growing ability to love another. Peer learning is especially important at this stage of development. The diversity and conflict often found in communities sometimes make difficult the development of common efforts in such areas as child care and schooling. And many communities, like families, are facing increasing stress arising from social and economic changes happening around them. In this context, UNICEF, with its partners, has several important tasks in the new century:
4.2.3 The school and alternative basic education programmes The primary school is meant to provide structured, systematic learning for several hours a day and for several years of a child's life. As such, it can have profound consequences on how and what children actually learn. Many schools do this well, but there are also schools which, while teaching reading, writing and other aspects of the formal curriculum, actually inhibit the kinds of learning needed to gain the information and skills for living. The challenge for UNICEF is to be concerned both with getting more children into school and with developing schools which, in fact, are friendly to children and offer an education of good quality. These two parts of the challenge are not a choice or a dichotomy -- an either/or. Children won't gain the benefits of education if a school (or an equivalent programme ) is not accessible or if they do not enrol in it. But they will also not gain its benefits if the education provided is of such poor quality that they leave the programme or learn nothing from it. The Jomtien 'principles of action' encouraged countries to innovate, share experiences, and document lessons learned. Perhaps one of the most exciting features of the 1990's has been experimentation with new approaches to basic education both inside and outside the context of formal schooling. Results of these innovations and the accumulated knowledge gained from the experience of the last decade and longer has led to quite concrete knowledge about what works and why with regard to educational quality. There are now some common elements that are seen as reflecting quality education and positive learning and come together in what can be called 'child-friendly' schools. A child-friendly education system Meeting this challenge requires the development of child-friendly, child-centred systems and schools which are effective vehicles of learning, provide a healthy environment (physically and psychologically), and are based on the principles of the CRC. Child-friendly education systems recognise and respect children's rights and responsibilities, provide the enabling environment to realise these rights, and help ensure such an environment in the community and household. More specifically, a child-friendly education system:
It is within the context of such a system that child-friendly schools must be established in order to progressively achieve the following objectives:
Making schools and other basic education programmes available to more children must remain an important objective for UNICEF in the new century -- but UNICEF must also ensure that the education provided in these programmes is of good quality and that they have an environment both friendly to children and supportive of learning. 4.2.4 The workplace For more and more children pushed out of school from sheer boredom and repeated failure, or for economic or other reasons, the workplace, formal or otherwise, is another important learning environment. Working children can experience positive learning, gaining work habits and more specialised skills. But the workplace is also often negative and even hazardous in nature -- unsafe, unhealthy, exploitative, psychologically traumatic, and often deeply disruptive of learning. Another objective of UNICEF is to work to eliminate hazardous and exploitative work environments and to ensure that work does not hamper learning and that workplaces, when children must work, promote useful learning. 4.2.5 The media Finally, the media represent another, very public way of learning. The content and styles of the media, as with other learning environments, can be both negative -- teaching hate and intolerance, making risks appear attractive and violence exciting -- and positive -- providing important information and promoting messages of peace, conflict resolution, healthy living, and self-worth. A further UNICEF objective is to use its traditional links to the media to promote mobilization, advocacy, and information focused on positive learning. In summary, commitment to the CRC and to the Jomtien Declaration means that UNICEF must re-double its commitment to the expansion and improvement of basic education programmes, in and out of school, with an even greater focus on the quality of the learning environments and processes found within them. This commitment, however, also means that UNICEF must now be concerned as well with the broader, more inclusive concept of learning. It must therefore work to ensure that children, especially the most disadvantaged and excluded, have access to, and grow and develop in, positive, supportive, enabling environments -- in families, communities, schools, and the workplace -- so that they can gain the knowledge, skills, competencies, attitudes, and values critical to their own future and to the future of the planet through the next century.. Appendix I The Convention on the Rights of the Child States Parties recognize the right of the child to education, and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular:
(Article 28) States parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:
World Declaration on Education for All "Every person -- child, youth, adult -- shall be able to benefit from educational opportunities designed to meet their basic learning needs. These needs comprise both essential learning tools (such as literacy, oral expression, numeracy, and problem solving) and the basic learning content (such as knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes) required by human beings to be able to survive, to develop their full capacities, to live and work in dignity, to participate fully in development, to improve the quality of their lives, to make informed decisions, and to continue learning." (Article I) "The diversity, complexity, and changing nature of basic learning needs of children, youth, and adults necessitates broadening and constantly redefining the scope of basic education to include the following components: Learning begins at birth....The main delivery system for the basic education of children outside the family is primary schooling....The basic learning needs of youth and adults are diverse and should be met through a variety of delivery systems....All available instruments and channels of information, communications, and social action could be used to help convey essential knowledge and inform and educate people on social issues. (Article 5) "Meeting basic learning needs...involves action to enhance the family and community environments for learning... (Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs: Guidelines for Implementing the World Declaration on Education for All, Paragraph 10)
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