Motion for a resolution | Doc. 13972 | 03 February 2016

Education and culture: new partnerships to support personal development and cohesion

Signatories: Mr Thomas FEIST, Germany, EPP/CD ; Mr Francesco Maria AMORUSO, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Christian BARILARO, Monaco, EPP/CD ; Mr Guto BEBB, United Kingdom, EC ; Ms Eleonora CIMBRO, Italy, SOC ; Mr Paolo CORSINI, Italy, SOC ; Alexander [The Earl of] DUNDEE, United Kingdom, EC ; Lady Diana ECCLES, United Kingdom, EC ; Mr Markar ESEYAN, Turkey, ALDE ; Mr Carlos Alberto GONÇALVES, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Mr Andries GRYFFROY, Belgium, NR ; Mr John HOWELL, United Kingdom, EC ; Mr Mogens JENSEN, Denmark, SOC ; Ms Lotta JOHNSSON FORNARVE, Sweden, UEL ; Mr Pierre-Yves LE BORGN', France, SOC ; Ms Vesna MARJANOVIĆ, Serbia, SOC ; Baroness Doreen MASSEY, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Georgios MAVROTAS, Greece, NR ; Mr Suat ÖNAL, Turkey, EC ; Ms Carmen QUINTANILLA, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Armen RUSTAMYAN, Armenia, SOC ; Mr André SCHNEIDER, France, EPP/CD ; Lord Patrick WRIGHT, United Kingdom, NR

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

Education and culture have a fundamental, irreplaceable role in building up inclusive societies which value pluralism, respect diversity and human dignity, and are committed to ensuring equal opportunities for all their members. This role is threatened by lack of resources, but also by insufficient consideration of their interconnections: culture and education mutually reinforce each other. True access to culture requires quality education, and there is no quality education without true concern for individual and collective identities and their cultural dimension.

Synergies between the two sectors should be sought, to enable teachers, cultural institutions, artists and other partners to work more closely with each other. Innovative partnerships between the education and cultural sectors should be explored and implemented. Active involvement of young people in cultural activities, within and outside the education system, can be a powerful tool for them to exercise critical thinking, to enter into a constructive dialogue which opposes violence and to strengthen democratic practice. Learning about different cultures and having positive experience of diversity is crucial for building understanding and openness.

The Parliamentary Assembly should therefore call on national parliaments and governments to enhance culture through education and education through culture, in order to prevent fragmentation and dehumanisation of our societies.