Learning to live together

Several key policy documents shape the thoughts and actions of those promoting the concept of Learning to Live Together within the Asia Pacific Region. These document include

While the policy makers and governments of the region may have some capacity to reduce economic challenges within the region, some things are out of their control. In 2011, environmental disasters caused the Asia Pacific region to suffer 80 percent of global economic losses for that year.

While there are many emerging markets in the region, the same are contains 800 million people living below the poverty line. Around 563 million residents of the region are considered under-nourished. The region also contains more than 1 billion who are considered to be working in vulnerable employment.

The region enjoys a rich level of linguist diversity with more than 3,600 languages comprising almost 51 percent of languages worldwide. The speakers of these languages include more than half of the world's population. This population includes 3.7 billion nationals, 31.5 million international migrants and 8.4 million persons of concern, i.e. stateless persons, Internally Displaced Person (IDPs) refugee and IDP returnees.

Learning to live together, involves among other things students developing an understanding of others as they work together to achieve common goals (Delors, 1996) ,while completing projects involving activities for promoting the cognitive, moral and cultural dimensions of learning (Tawil & Cougoureux, 2014). These activities should include opportunities for discovering others and experiencing shared purposes (UNESCO Bangkok , 2014).

Delors, J. (1996). Learning: The Treasure Within. Paris: UNESCO.

IEA. (2014). International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2016. Retrieved from The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA): http://www.iea.nl/iccs_2016.html

UNESCO (2014) identifies several factors contributing to the prioritizing of Learning to Live within the Asia Pacific Region.

Recently UNESCO Bangkok, with the support of UNESCO examined the translation of these to concepts by investigating a range of contexts linked to the following countries in the Asia Pacific Region – Afghanistan, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, The Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand (UNESCO Bangkok , 2014). Further details on the methodology and limitations of the research may be found on pp.8-9 of the report.

James O'Meara | View as single page |