In order to highlight the important role of arts education within and outside schools, leading experts from around the world are exchanging (25 to 28 May) their views on the subject of arts and education, thus promoting the importance of arts education in the international community. This is the second global meeting after the one held in 2006 in Lisbon.
The aim is to establish a field of common understanding on the important role that arts education plays within the international community, and facilitate the exchange of ideas, knowledge and good practices.
Much remains to be done in the field of art education at all levels, whether it be raising awareness about its introduction and implementation in various educational and social contexts, or linking up different actors and communities in order to lay the foundations for international cooperation.
The Education: a hidden treasure report places emphasis on the urgent need to reform and strengthen school systems in developing countries, especially primary education, and stresses the importance of education through art and creativity.
It cannot be denied that education is the instrument that best opens the doors to development. However, considering the global challenges we face and the diversity of opinions, cultures and situations that we must accept in contemporary society, the effectiveness of an education rooted in traditional objectives, such as the mere transmission knowledge, is questionable. From this perspective, UNESCO acknowledges the importance of creativity and the arts, and learning from them, as crucial elements for the coming together and the ongoing development of societies and individuals.
To anticipate changing needs, giving a special place to the teaching of artistic values and subjects in order to foster and encourage creativity, which is a distinctive attribute of the human species – therein lies our hope.
The aim is to establish a field of common understanding on the important role that arts education plays within the international community, and facilitate the exchange of ideas, knowledge and good practices.
Much remains to be done in the field of art education at all levels, whether it be raising awareness about its introduction and implementation in various educational and social contexts, or linking up different actors and communities in order to lay the foundations for international cooperation.
The Education: a hidden treasure report places emphasis on the urgent need to reform and strengthen school systems in developing countries, especially primary education, and stresses the importance of education through art and creativity.
It cannot be denied that education is the instrument that best opens the doors to development. However, considering the global challenges we face and the diversity of opinions, cultures and situations that we must accept in contemporary society, the effectiveness of an education rooted in traditional objectives, such as the mere transmission knowledge, is questionable. From this perspective, UNESCO acknowledges the importance of creativity and the arts, and learning from them, as crucial elements for the coming together and the ongoing development of societies and individuals.
To anticipate changing needs, giving a special place to the teaching of artistic values and subjects in order to foster and encourage creativity, which is a distinctive attribute of the human species – therein lies our hope.
Photographs: Creative Workshops at the Day Care Centers, Pune.Fundación Asha-Kiran
