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Expanding synergies between culture and education through curriculum adaptation and holistic approaches across Europe and North America
Chaired by Spain and Lithuania, this Regional Consultation is part of the inclusive preparatory process to inform the development of the upcoming Framework on Culture and Arts Education. In the face of an increasingly interconnected world, ensuring that learners and educators are provided with the necessary skillsets and pedagogical tools was profiled as particularly critical to pave the way for more agile and resilient knowledge societies. The Framework is expected to provide policy guidance and recommendations to Member States, but also to educators and culture professionals, as well as the broader international community, by encompassing gaps and needs towards making quality education more relevant by integrating culture in all its dimensions, from heritage to creativity, in both formal and non-formal education settings.
[鈥 a new global framework is necessary to encompass various dimensions of culture, promote greater social inclusion, and expand on ways in which education can be delivered, as well as strengthened in quality and impact.鈥
The process aims to expand [the] existing UNESCO frameworks [鈥 in light of the progressive growth of the creative economy and contemporary developments, in particular digital technology and artificial intelligence, and to advance with Member States educational and learning programmes in relation to culture and the arts while expanding employment opportunities.
While most of the countries of the region have included culture and arts education into policies particularly those that pertain to formal education, many of them underlined that policies often experience challenges in their execution as well as in broadening the spectrum to informal and non-formal education settings. More participatory approaches and synergies, across ministries and various stakeholders, including civil society organizations as well as marginalized and vulnerable groups, have been identified as a key priority to enhance those synergies towards a more holistic approach to human development.
The digital transformation has brought multiple opportunities as well as challenges. Although access has broadened in pedagogical content on arts and culture, it has also widened the digital divide particularly in the case of artists and creators. Access to digital infrastructure remains uneven in disadvantaged and remote areas, widening the access gap to cultural diversity.
Participants also recalled that arts education, as well as education on cultural heritage, are integral part of fostering global citizenship education and its close interconnection with human rights protection and peace education. The role and benefits of artistic and cultural education for health and well-being, as well as social cohesion, was also stressed as a priority area for which research on the social impact of arts and culture education should be better supported and invested upon. Integrating the arts and culture in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) was proven as particularly critical to the region, notably the need for the definition of a comprehensive set of culture-related skills and competences which TVET should provide and make accessible to all learners.
Overall, the need to better valorize the role of cultural institutions in formal and non-formal education was underscored as vital in strengthening cultural diversity as a positive and transformative force in the region. Therefore, training and capacity-building of cultural practitioners, including museum professionals and cultural heritage bearers, should be given more attention and investment.
Following the inclusive and participatory process for the elaboration of the UNESCO Framework on Culture and Arts Education throughout 2023, the Framework is expected to be endorsed at ministerial level during the World Conference on Culture and Arts Education, to be convened by UNESCO and hosted by the Government of the United Arab Emirates, in December 2023.
