Human Development in a Globalized World. Education towards Peace, Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development

Abstract

Human development in a globalized world needs education towards peace (1), cultural diversity (2) and sustainable development (3). First education for peace must draw on central guiding ideas such as organized lack of peace, structural violence and social justice. Second the competence to cope with cultural diversity is has to be developed in the globalized world. The third task that is important for the survival of humankind consists of analyzing and reducing violence exercised against nature and future generations through the consumption of non-renewable resources. Education for sustainable development has come to be recognized as a way of improving individual life chances and of promoting social prosperity, economic growth and ecological safety. Learning is multimodal and takes into account the following dimensions of learning: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live with others, learning to be. The concept of multimodality makes it clear that learning takes place in many modes that must be taken into account. Only when this is successful does learning have lasting effects. Mimetic learning involves the body and the senses. In transcultural learning, mimetic processes are directed at people, objects and facts of foreign cultures. In these processes, a “similarization” to the alterity of these non-self-contained containing cultures takes place. When one speaks about the performativity of learning processes, the emphasis is on their enactment, their performance and their reality-constituting character. The focus is on knowledge of action and therefore an interest in generating practical knowledge as a condition of pedagogic action. Inquiry learning requires time and a thorough examination of material that needs to be discovered, structured and interpreted. This means integrating mimetic, performative and poietic modes of learning in order to create intensive learning experiences. To a great extent, schools are ritually organized institutions. School rituals, therefore, also play an important role in transcultural learning.