Arts for transformative education: A guide for teachers from the UNESCO Associated Schools Network

The arts offer tremendous potential for enriching, enlivening and propelling learning that transforms individuals and communities. Arts learning fuels transformative education that helps increase students’ capacity and motivation to build a more peaceful and sustainable world. However, to fully realize that potential, teachers must mindfully structure and support educational experiences to optimize what students will take away from them.

UNESCO’s vision of transformative education involves building learners’ capacities and empowering them to take action for a more peaceful and sustainable world. The arts offer tremendous potential for supporting learning that transforms individuals and communities.

To fully realize that potential, teachers need to structure and support educational experiences that optimize what students will take away from them. 

This guide presents and explains the Arts for Transformative Education model – a thinking tool for understanding, planning and supporting transformative arts learning experiences. It also describes a curated collection of arts learning activities and projects from across the globe that may serve as inspiration for arts learning experiences suited to your own context.

This publication provides:

• 12 ‘learning experience descriptions’ illustrating how the Arts for Transformative Education model works in real-world learning.
• 12 ‘learning experience snapshots’ providing shorter additional examples.
• ‘Guidelines for teachers’ outlining a step-by-step process for activating arts learning to empower transformative education.