UNESCO IN THE WORLD — INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION
 1976-1988Pan-European Conferences on Educational Research (in co-operation with the Council of Europe)
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THE 1960s AND 1970s, EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
The Institute, which had launched the International Review of Education as early as
1955 with an Editorial Board composed of the most distinguished European experts in
educational research, (6) gradually began to devote more of its time to research on
comparative education. One of the first themes was an international study of
educational achievement (1959-1962) in which twelve
countries from the Europe region participated, including Poland and ex-Yugoslavia. (7)
This project lead to the creation of the International Association for the Evaluation
of Educational Achievement. (8) From 1968 to 1972, the Institute organized a series of
seminars, (9) better known as the SOLEP seminars, which were of a very high level and
meant for young educational researchers.
From the beginning of the 1970s, much attention was also given to secondary
education. (10) From 1972 onwards, and following the publication of Learning to Be, the Report of the
Faure Commission, the Institute organized its activities around the concept of
lifelong education, as the guiding principle for the renovation of structures,
contents and processes of education. From 1976 to 1988, the Institute and the
Council of Europe - the latter having already launched sub-regional seminars -
co-operated in the organization of Pan-European Conferences for Directors of
National Research Institutes. (11)
THE 1980s, LIFELONG EDUCATION
As of 1981, because of the needs of developing countries, the Institute initiated a
vast programme of co-operative research and training in the fields of non-formal basic
education and post-literacy work, in particular, by organizing a series of regional
research seminars (12) and residential training programmes for researchers from
developing countries. This led to the constitution of worldwide networks of researchers
and practitioners active in post-literacy work, especially for women and, for the
industrialized countries, the creation of a Literacy Exchange Network.
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THE 1990s,
WORLD FOCAL POINT FOR ADULT EDUCATION Today, the Institute is at the heart of a network conducting research on adult education (13) seen from the standpoint of lifelong education. One of UIE’s current main tasks is to prepare (and ensure the follow-up) the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (14), (Hamburg, 1997) on the theme: ‘Adult Learning: a Key for the Twenty-first Century’.
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what transition, what direction?
In a world in which social, political and economic conditions are changing
significantly, where infor-mation technology is evolving with ever-increasing speed,
and at a time when the role of civil society is being rediscovered, organized learning
throughout the life span is taking on a new urgency. Non-formal basic education,
vocational and non-work-related adult education and retraining programmes, distance
learning and similar developments are part of a vast and diversified learning effort
that is changing the face of education throughout the globe.
Paul Bélanger, Director of UIE, 1996. |
Paulo FreireEducator, former Secretary of Education, São Paulo, Brazil There are no paths made without questions being asked, since, to build a path means to ask where it leads. When the Institute was created I was already 30 years old, but we are still all young, do not doubt it. Suchodolski, Hausmann and I are still exercising what curiosity has induced us to do, which is, curiously, never to let curiosity die in ourselves, in spite of our being 70 and 80 years old. The Purpose of Education, Speech on the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the Institute, Hamburg, 1991
Jurgen Meissner Worlds of Words, Literacy Posters, 1992. UIE, Hamburg, and Ernst Klett Verlag für Wissen und Bildung, Stuttgart-Dresden
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Their names bear witness to its international nature. Walter MERCK (FRG) 1951-1955 A.S. LANGELAND (Norway) 1955-1958 Hans WENKE (FRG) 1958-1959 Saul B. ROBINSOHN (Israel) 1959-1964 Gustaf ÖGREN (Sweden) 1964-1967 Paul LENGRAND (France) intérim 1967-1968 Tetsuya KOBAYASHI (Japan) 1968-1972 Dino CARELLI (Argentina) 1972-1979 Ravindra DAVE (India) 1979-1989 Paul BÉLANGER (Canada) since 1989 |
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FOOTNOTES:
(6) Pr Schneider (Federal Republic of Germany),
Roger Gal (France),
Carl Bigelon (United States),
Pr Langareld (Netherlands), Pr Merck (Federal Republic of Germany).
(7) On the level of educational achievements of 13-year-olds, in mathematics, sciences, geography and reading comprehension.
(9) Seminar on Learning and the Educational Process which took place in Sweden (Skepparholmen), France (Pont-à-Mousson), Federal Republic of Germany (Leoni am Starnbergsee) and Thailand (Bangkok).
(10) Decision of the Governing Board of the UIE, 1971.
(11) Five Conferences were organized attended by Directors from the West, invited by the Council of Europe, and from the East invited by the UIE. The Proceedings were published by the Institute.
(12) Organized in Hamburg, then in Caracas, Nairobi and New Delhi.
(13) Since 1994, the Institute has published Adult Education Information Notes in collaboration with UNESCO Headquarters.
(14) The Honorary President of the Conference is Paul Lengrand, former Director of the Institute and author of numerous works on adult and lifelong education.
The more specific objectives of the Conference are:
TO KNOW MORE (see also CD-ROM, Vol. I)