Investing cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue - Business and ...

EDUCATION . 17
‘traditional’ or other forms of knowledge tend to be
reductively compartmentalized. Yet the strategies that
promote recognition of traditional and even tacit forms
of knowledge can open avenues for the preservation of
vulnerable societies while broadening the scope of
‘mainstream’ knowledge.
The international community is increasingly recognizing
that traditional and pragmatic ways of learning can be as
efficient as Western didactic approaches. Storytellers, for
example, contribute to the vitality of oral cultures, while
literacy strategies may involve an unintended devaluation
of those cultures. Among other benefits, informal and
indigenous education may contribute to more partici -
patory forms of learning, which are not so much
analytical as adaptive. Education has much to gain from
such pluralistic approaches to learning, which remind us
that the right to education goes hand-in-hand with the
right of parents to ‘choose the kind of education that
shall be given to their children’ (UDHR, Art. 26).
Participatory learning and intercultural competencies
In multicultural societies, one of the major challenges
facing lifelong education involves our capacities for
learning to live together. Thus, multicultural education
has to be complemented by intercultural education.
Arts and humanities education, multimedia activities,
museums and travel help to develop the critical
capacities indispensable to combating unilateral
viewpoints, adapting to culturally diverse social
environments and responding to the challenges of
intercultural dialogue. Sensitizing people to cultural
diversity is more a matter of approaches, methods and
attitudes than of the assimilation of content. Before
tolerance can become a skill, it must be practised.
promoting mutual understanding and peace, and
practising the arts is a powerful way of socializing with
others. The teaching of arts helps to reconnect scientific
and emotional processes with intuition – a key
component for the cultivation of attitudes favouring
intercultural openness. Arts education can also help to
address ethnocentrism, cultural bias, stereotyping,
prejudice, discrimination and racism.
Thus the development of intercultural competencies
should not be limited to the classroom but must extend
to the ‘university of life’. Inclusiveness must be fostered in
both the classroom and the school environment in
general, as well as through the involvement of parents
and local communities.
L A pupil at Ferdeusi school
in Kabul, Afghanistan
Chapter 4:
Education
The founding principles of UNESCO rest on the
conviction that education is fundamental to addressing
the ignorance and mistrust that are the source of
human conflict. Since prejudice is based on, among
other things, what we do not know or false precon -
ceptions, facilitating cultural openness is key to fostering
intercultural dialogue and forestalling a ‘clash of ignorances’.
The humanities and social sciences encourage learners to
become aware of their own biases and to re-examine
their assumptions. The inclusion of world religions and
faiths in curricula can help to dissipate many of the
misunderstandings that can make living together
problematic. The arts are a strong and universal tool for