With the lifelong learning paradigm set as a
backdrop, the report is based on four key pillars underlying
education and life; learning to know, learning to do, learning to
be and learning to live together:
→→ Learning to know: Learning to know, includes Learning
to learn, an instrumental learning skill inherent to basic
education, which allows individuals to benefit from educational
opportunities that arise throughout life. “Bearing in mind the
rapid changes brought about by scientific progress and new
forms of economic and social activity”, Learning to know
allows for the combination of a “broad general education with
the possibility of working in depth on a selected number of
subjects”.
→→ Learning to do: Learning to do emphasizes the acquisition
of vocational skills necessary to practice a profession or trade.
Partnerships between the world of education and that of
business and industry are encouraged in view of promoting
a variety of arrangements that allow education and training
to interact with the world of work. In addition to learning to
practice a profession or trade, people need to develop the
ability to adapt to a variety of often unforeseeable situations
and to work in teams – these skills have conventionally not
been given due attention in education.
→→ Learning to be: Learning to be was the central theme
of the Faure Report published by UNESCO in 1972 which
emphasized the development of the human potential to its
fullest. The 1972 recommendations were still considered to be
extremely relevant in the Delors Report “for in the twenty-first
century everyone will need to exercise greater independence
and judgment combined with a stronger sense of personal
responsibility for the attainment of common goals.”
→→ Learning to live together: Learning to live together is seen as
needing to develop an understanding of others, of their history,
their traditions, and their spirituality. Such understanding
“would provide a basis for the creation of a new spirit which,
guided by recognition of our growing interdependence and
a common analysis of the risks and challenges of the future,
would induce people to implement common projects or to
manage the inevitable conflicts in an intelligent and peaceful
way” […] and “to escape from the dangerous cycle sustained
by cynicism and complacency.