It is indisputable that education can transform lives; yet, the exacting power of education is not realised without the curriculum. At the IBE we are motivated to harness the still untapped potential of the curriculum in the pursuit of inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all.
The curriculum is one of the most effective tools for bridging the gap between education and development. However, there is little to no normative guidance on what constitutes a well-balanced responsive curriculum at different levels of education.
Education systems and by implication curricula are under relentless pressure to demonstrate relevance and responsiveness to national, regional, and global development challenges.
Research evidence on the nature of learning is impressively accumulating and at a fast pace. However, this impressively accumulating wealth of knowledge is not being effectively applied to improve practice in the facilitation of learning.
While indispensable to quality improvement efforts, curriculum and learning depend on the effective and efficient functioning of other elements of an education system. A systemic approach is therefore required to analyse critical impediments and implement responsive interventions.
There is a need to deepen the understanding of curriculum and to reconceptualise it as a tool to enhance and democratize learning opportunities within a lifelong learning perspective.
In order to effectively carry out our core mandate and progressively become the UNESCO Centre of Excellence in Curriculum and related matters, we aim at constantly strengthening our delivery capacity.
