UNESCO Recommendations on the teaching of philosophy in Europe and North America In the framework of the high-level Regional Meeting on the teaching of philosophy in Europe and North America 14-16 February 2011, Milan, Italy Referring to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to the International Convention on Children's Rights, Bearing in mind the Paris Declaration for Philosophy , which declares that philosophy teaching should be maintained or expanded where it exists and introduced where it does not yet exist, on the understanding by training independently minded, thoughtful people, capable of resisting various forms of propaganda, philosophy teaching prepares everyone to shoulder their responsibilities in regard to the great questions of the contemporary world, Convinced that the contemporary complex challenges related to globalisation and induced social changes, the multifaceted crises facing human societies, an the new ethical paradigm that is emerging in relation with the balance between our way of life and the ecological concerns, require that youth are equipped with solid conceptual tools that enable them to question the existing models, to search for meaning and to imagine new possibilities, Considering that, as an exercise of rational and critical reflection which takes universally comprehensible concepts as its starting point, philosophy offers valuable instruments conducive to the construction of rationally and calmly argued dialogues, especially in increasingly multicultural societies, Acknowledging that the very goal of education is not to train exclusively measurable and expectable competences, and being aware of the threat that such an approach would present for collective and individual fulfilment, Believing that philosophy teaching can also strongly develop imagination and creativity which are indispensable, for youth to be proactive in engender social, political and scientific innovations, Taking reference from the results of the Study published by UNESCO in 2007, Philosophy, a school of Freedom – teaching philosophy and learning to philosophize: Status and prospects, Building upon the recent Italian initiative in organizing a national meeting to examine the challenges facing philosophy teaching in curricula, as well as the French education reform announced on 18 November 2010 in favour of introducing philosophy class in the 10th grade of secondary education, We, participants in the High-Level Regional Meeting on the Teaching of Philosophy Europe and North America, jointly organized by UNESCO and the Italian National Commission for UNESCO on 14-16 february 2011 in Milan, Italy, highly welcome this initiative which has allowed us to exchange ideas and experiences, as well as to unify efforts in favour of philosophy teaching in our respective region. We recommend: 1. The Member States of the region to National education policy, planning and administration: · Encourage education policies that accord a full, complete and autonomous place to philosophy in curriculum at secondary and higher education; · Work with the relevant stakeholders towards reintroducing philosophy where it has disappeared from curricula, and strengthening it where it already exists; · Reaffirm that education contributes to build the intellectual autonomy of individuals, and refuse to reduce the education process to a training of instrumental techniques and competences; Engagement in innovations: · Promote research, pilot experience and practices in the field of philosophy with children in pre-school and primary education, and when possible, institutionalize this approach in the education system; · Foster academic and pedagogical debates on the specific nature of and relation between philosophy class, civic or moral education, and religious education, so as to draw maximum benefits from each of the specific learning · Take initiatives to introduce philosophical practices into existing subject matters in primary schools Teacher training · Provide systematic academic and pedagogical training – initial, in-service and distance-learning – to all philosophy teachers; · Introduce philosophy courses in teacher training in general, with the support of philosophy departments, with the aim of making philosophizing a principle of primary and secondary school education in general; · Encourage philosophy with children practitioners to have courses in philosophy, in order to be able to do philosophy in primary schools; 2, UNESCO to: International cooperation in the field of philosophy teaching · Pursue its strategy in promoting and advocating philosophy teaching at all levels of formal and informal education, and in fostering intercultural dialogue in this field; · Recognise the and fundamental and essential opacity of the pedagogical action, while endorsing the competence-based approach to teaching in general and reducing it to and confounding it with the objective-based and know-how approach; · Support philosophical and pedagogical research on the conditions of possibilities for children to do philosophy, and on the relationship between the philosophical traditions and philosophy with children, notably in collaborating with the International Council of Philosophy and Humanistic Studies (CIPSH), and by creating a working group on this matter; · Intensify its initiatives aiming at establishing links and creating, one the hand, networks between philosophers, teachers, and students, from different regions of the world; and on the other hand, an international network for development and support of philosophy with children practices; · Encourage UNESCO Associated schools to experiment philosophy with children 3, UNESCO's National Commissions to: Technical educational support to Member States · Advice the member states to elaborate national policies in favour of the introduction of philosophy in curricula and to strengthen it where it already exists; · Support initiatives in the field of philosophy with children at the national level, and liaise with UNESCO for international coordination; · Encourage Member States to address the diversity of philosophical traditions, by assisting them to publish research findings, philosophical texts and anthologies, notably through translations of texts from authors of other regions of the world, in order to foster and facilitate intercultural dialogues; 4, The European Commission – Directorate- General for Education and Culture to Strategic Orientations · Make necessary efforts to permit spaces of dialogue and questioning on the sense of education, and to ensure that the practical application of the competence-based approach does not feed an illusion of transparency in education and impede on philosophy teaching on the ground that this discipline does not develop "key competences"; · Take into due account the various valuable inputs of philosophy teaching at all level of education in the intellectual training of all individuals; · Give an equal place and importance to science education or technical disciplines on the one hand, and to philosophy and the humanities on the other hand when elaborating European strategic orientations in the field of education. 5, Philosophy teachers, practitioners and civil society actors to : · Develop suitable courses that foster awareness of the new social and ethical challenges that humanity faces nowadays, while making reference to classic texts and authors belonging to the various philosophical corpuses; · Foster critical exploration of the different schools of philosophy belonging to Western traditions and to other cultural and intellectual heritage; · Work with teachers of other disciplines to experiment interdisciplinary approach in philosophy teaching, for instance through introducing philosophical analysis into existing subject matters in primary and secondary schools; · Use new ICTs when available to create interactions, active learning and international communication, while engaging conscious and critical reflection on this issue so as to avoid giving the feeling to youngsters that culture is a mere juxtaposition of fragmented knowledge; · (Alternative A) FISP may consider dedicating a specific session and workshops to practical teaching of philosophy in the plenary session of World Congress of Philosophy · (alternative B) Organize, with the support of the International Federation of Philosophical Sociaties (FISP) specific sessions and workshops dedicated to the issue of philosophy teaching during the World Congress of Philosophy in the plenary session of World Congress of Philosophy HIGHER EDUCATION Considering that, as an exercise of rational and critical reflection that takes universally comprehensible concepts as its starting point, philosophy offers valuable instruments conducive to the construction of rationally and calmly argued dialogues, especially in increasingly multicultural societies, Conscients du rôle de plus en plus envahissant de l'idéologie inspire de la logique de la performativité, des résultats, des indicateurs et des méthodes d'évaluation arbitrairement plaques sur l'enseignement philosophique, We recommend: 1. The member States of the region to : · Reaffirm the essential importance of philosophy teaching in training critical thinking and take action to strenghten it; · Eviter de soumettre le travail philosophique à des pratiques d'évaluation et à des indicateurs de performance qui ne sont pas compatibles avec la spécificité, le sens et l'essence de cette discipline ; · Ensure that academic freedom is fully respected in philosophy teaching, as academic freedom is a "necessary precondition to guarantee the proper fulfilment of the functions entrusted to higher-education teaching personnel and institutions", as stated by UNESCO's "Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel"; · Confier aux enseignants de philosophie la réflexion sur le fait religieux et sur les questions liées à la morale ; · Fortifier l'esprit public à travers l'enseignement philosophique en poursuivant l'approfondissement de thématiques privilégiées tells que les normes, la culture, la justice sociale, la paix, la tolérance. ; 2, UNESCO to · Assist the states that wish to set up a programme of regional exchange between universities and training centres in order to enhance the skills of philosophy teachers at all levels of education; · In the face of the increase of different forms of violence, terrorism and other similar calamities all over the world, recommends UNESCO, in cooperation with strategic partners, namely UNESCO Chairs, CIPSH and other specialized bodies, to promote research on the causes of this increase, and more specifically on the role of the prevailing tendencies in education, ion view of rethinking education from a philosophical-humanistic and human rights viewpoints so as to promote the culture of peace and non-violence; 3, UNESCO's national Commissions to : · Encourage the creation, strengthening and expansion of the UNESCO Chairs in philosophy; · Réserver un budget spécial consacré à l'aide et au soutien financier des événements philosophiques majeurs, à l'une échelle internationale ; · Prévoir l'octroi de bourses spéciales UNESCO sur concours destinés aux doctorants et aux stagiaires post-doctoraux en provenance de l'étranger ; 4, The European Commission – directorate-general for Education and Culture to : · Encourager la création de réseaux de coopération internationale et la rationalisation accrue des modalités d'accréditation et de mobilité étudiante au niveau international, sur le modèle Erasmus Mundus ; 5, Philosophy teachers and practitioners as well as civil society actors to : · Inciter les universités, les départements de philosophie, les centres de recherche en philosophie et sciences humaines, à briser les cloisons qui séparent les disciplines entre elles, à promouvoir davantage d'interdisciplinarité, sur la base de disciplines phares, en vue de combler la brèche entre milieux d'enseignement et grand public. ; · Travailler dans nos forums philosophiques respectifs à élargir la sensibilisation aux problèmes et aux questions que pose la philosophie politique et la réflexion sur le droit, afin d'éclairer pour un plus large éventail de la population les questions théoriques fondamentales qui émergent des mutations actuelles de la société ; · Encourager auprès des organismes subventionnaires nationaux et internationaux la création des programmes de subvention visant à accroître les collaborations, les échanges, les projets de recherche et la mobilité de chercheurs de cultures et nationalités différentes ; Assoc. Professor Dimitar Zashev | 
