Motion for a resolution | Doc. 13972 | 03 February 2016
Education and culture: new partnerships to support personal development and cohesion
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.