Ethics Education for Children

An Intercultural and Interfaith Programme for Ethics Education
 

Learning to Live Together is an interfaith and intercultural programme for ethics education which contributes to nurturing ethical values in children and young people. The manual was developed by the Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children in close collaboration with UNESCO and UNICEF, to contribute to the realization of the Right of the Child to full and healthy physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development, and to education as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in article 26.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), in the World Declaration on Education for all and in the Millennium Development Goals. This programme is an outcome of a worldwide initiative of Arigatou International to promote ethics education. The launch of the manual was held in Hiroshima, on the 24-26 May in 2008, during the GNRC Third Forum, and the publication of the manual took place the same year.

The objectives of the Learning to Live Together programme are

1. To strengthen the capacity of children and young people to make well-grounded ethical decisions based on values that promote respect for other cultures and beliefs.
2. To empower children and young people to engage in dialogue – to listen and to talk – as a means of developing greater sensitivity to differences and an understanding of others.
3. To nurture children’s and young people’s ability to respond to the needs of their societies with an attitude of reconciliation and respect for diversity and to contribute, in this manner, to a culture of peace.
4. To allow children and young people to appreciate and nurture their spirituality.
5. To affirm human dignity as expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the CRC and in the teachings of all religious traditions.
6. To affirm the possibility of living together, respecting one another in a world of different religious, ethnic and cultural traditions.
7. To provide tools for educators to work with intercultural and interfaith learning in different regions and in diverse settings.
8. To develop and promote successful practices for living together with people of different cultures, ethnicities, beliefs and religions.
 

Learning to Live Together can be used for children and young people from 12 to 18, coming from different religions and cultures. The users can adapt it according to the context, the needs, the maturity of the children, and other aspects. It can be implemented in various contexts in formal, non formal or informal settings.

The aim is to give  space for enhacing children innate potential for spirituality and hope for a better world, as a contribution to changing the situation for children worldwide.

Learning to Live Together is built in two modules, “Understanding Self and Others” and “Transforming the World together”. It is based on four ethical values: respect, empathy, responsibility and reconciliation. The learning process focuses on methodologies based on experience, cooperation, problem solving, discussions and introspection.

The manual has been translated in several languages: Arabic, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and it will soon be available in Swahili.  Others translations can be done contacting Arigatou International.


You can download the Learning to Live Together manual using the links below as well as a brochure about Arigatou International's Learning To Live Together. An Executive Summary is also available here. Some videos of the Learning To Live Together are available here.

 

English version and posters French version and posters Spanish version and posters Portuguese version and posters Arabic version and posters Japanese version Brochure on Learning To Live Together in English and Japanese.