1. Purposes of the Document

The document aims to;

· clarify the combination of ideas of which the notions of peace, human rights, ethical and cultural values, and the ideal of international understanding are a part’⁵.

⁵ BEST Francine UNESCO paper

· provide guidelines and principles for the development of education systems, formal and non-formal, that promote the importance of the values dimension as a means of fostering humanistic and international understanding.

The main audiences for this document are:

· curriculum developers and syllabus writers

· national commissions and agencies concerned with educational development.

· school administrators

· teachers

· authors and publishers of educational resources

It is hoped that these guidelines will be helpful in addressing a particularly complex and delicate intellectual and cultural area; that of values in education. There are many philosophies of education, theories of curriculum development and education systems within Europe. These guidelines therefore do not commend one particular approach to values education, in the belief that the particular circumstances of an education system, school or classroom will require that the most suitable approach is one tailored to suit these circumstances. The guidelines are designed to address all types of educational setting, formal and non-formal, and all subjects within the curriculum.

The guidelines draw, inter alia, on a number of values education projects developing in a number of European countries. Whilst these do not represent all the projects active in Europe they illustrate a wide range of approaches and positions. From them the document attempts to draw out the common threads and to clarify the essentially straightforward ideas which underpin the clarification and communication of values for the enhancement of the humanistic and international dimension of education.

It is not legitimate for international projects or organisations to suggest to individual states or education systems what the particular components of their curricula should be. The range of approaches to values education set out in the associated survey of approaches to values education in Europe⁶ and the bibliography of values education materials in Europe⁷ makes it obvious that any one set of specific content proposals would not only be impossible but would work against the importance of diversity and plurality. Nevertheless, in an interdependent world striving for peace, tolerance and compassion it is reasonable to argue that there must be certain principles that should underpin any education system that claims to be committed to the promotion of international and inter cultural understanding.

⁶ TAYLOR, Monica - Values Education in Europe - A Survey. CIDREE 1994

⁷ TAYLOR, Monica - Values Education in Europe: A Select Annotated Bibliography of Published Work in 27 Countries 1985-1992. CIDREE 1994

Therefore, it is on this basis that these guidelines commend not a particular set of values but rather a set of underlying principles, qualities and key ideas which the authors believe should inform and enhance any education system intent on developing the humanistic and international dimension of education.