© 2008 Encyclopedia of Peace Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. http://www.tc.edu/centers/epe/ Learning to Live Together Margaret Sinclair UNESCO I NTRODUCTI ON Handling conflict constructively is central to human life. As human beings, we must learn to walk our own walk and talk our own talk, giving rise to skills of cooperation and compromise with others. In stable times, social norms and structures facilitate this, although some people benefit more than others. Nowadays, however, the rapid pace of social change means that social institutions and family traditions may seem out of date, unfair or wrong. Parents worry about whether their children will survive the hazards of peer pressure for risky behaviours during adolescence. At the national level, many countries, especially those with with marked economic disparities between ethnic or religious groups, face tension, political instability or civil war. No wonder then that the Delors Commission on education for the twenty-first century concluded that ‘Learning to live together, learning to live with others. This type of learning is probably one of the major issues in education today.’ 1 2 The theme of learning to live together was taken up by UNESCO and others, as an umbrella title for initiatives designed to lessen the risk of armed conflict and promote non-violent approaches to solving interpersonal, national and international problems. 3 MULTI PLE RESPONSES, OVERLAPPI NG GOALS There have been many educational initiatives with the aim of helping people cooperate and live together in peace. Most deal with a particular goal rather than the whole spectrum of learning to live together. ‘Values education’ offers a basic framework for interpersonal relationships. 4 ‘Education for conflict resolution’ teaches how to deal with disputes at personal or societal level. 5 ‘Education for peace’ aims at building ‘positive peace’, in which people cooperate and negotiate to solve problems. 6 Veteran peace educator Betty Reardon (1995) prepared a teachers’ guide to tolerance education which covered similar ground, in connection with the United Nations Year of Tolerance (see Table 1). 7 Table 1. Tolerance: general learning goals Values Knowledge Capacities and skills Human dignity/ rights Varieties of human, personal and cultural identities, social issues Living with diversity: cross-cultural co-operation; using human rights standards to make judgements Social justice/democracy Multiple forms of democratic processes and governance Exercising responsibility: critical reflection; communication of facts and opinions; political decision-making Co-operative non- violent society/ peace Alternative ways of responding constructively to human differences and conflicts Managing conflict: discussion and debate; conflict resolution; reconciliation; social reconstruction; co-operative problem-solving and task achievement Source: Reardon, 1997:Unit 1, p.53 ‘Education for human rights’ is based on values acknowledged by the international community and their application to civic, social and economic aspects of social organisation, including peace and conflict resolution. 8 The ICRC’s study programme ‘Exploring humanitarian law’ complements human