The Four Pillars of Education

• Leaning to know, that is acquiring the instruments of understanding;
• Learning to do, so as to be able to act creatively in one's environment;
• Learning to live together, so as to participate in and cooperate with other people in all human activities; and
• Learning to be, so as to better develop one's personality and to act with ever greater autonomy, judgment and personal responsibility.

Learning to know implies learning how to learn by developing one's concentration, memory skills, and ability to think. From infancy, young people must learn how to concentrate - on objects and on other people. This time of learning is concerned less with the acquisition of structured knowledge but more with the mastery of learning tools.

If, as a teacher you have been helping students to develop their skills that would make them independent learners, you are doing well on the first pillar of education because you have prepared them for life in the knowledge society in which we all now live.

A truly educated person nowadays needs a broad general education and the opportunity to study a small number of subjects in depth.

Learn-to-learn skills:

• learning to read with comprehension
• listening
• observing
• asking questions
• data gathering
• note taking
• accessing, processing and selecting information.

The role of teacher then is a facilitator(to support everyone to their best teaching and practice), catalyst(change), monitor(synchronize) and evaluator( examine and judge carefully) of learning because the process of learning to think is a life long one and can be enhanced by every kind of human experience. In this respect, as people's work becomes less routine, they will find that their thinking skills are increasingly being challenged at their place of work.

Instruments of Learning
concentration - focus on one thing at a time
memory skills - skill needs practice
ability to think
logic - science of correct thinking

It is clear that technical and vocational education and training need to encompass all four pillars of learning in order to prepare the individual with the knowledge, skills, qualities, values, attitudes and abilities to communicate effectively and work together productively with others.

Faure - foresaw the need to adapt education and training.

Education must contribute to the all round development of each individual mind and body, intelligence, sesitibity aesthetic sense, personal responsibility and spiritual values - Delors Report

Education means reaching out to embrace the whole of society and the entire lifespan of the individual. -edgar faure.

Learning throughout life is the key to the 21 century essential for adapting to the evolving requirements of the labor market, and for better mastery of the changing time frame and rhythms of individual existence. delors commission.

Learning to do represents the skilful, creative and discerning application of knowledge. One must learn how to think creatively. critically and holistically and how to deeply understand the information that is presented.

Learning to live together is the one most vital to building a genuine and lasting culture of peace in both the Asia-pacific region and throughout the world. one of the major issues in education today, since the contemporary world is too often a world of violence. 

Peace must begin with each one of us. Through quiet and serious reflection on its meaning, new and creative ways can be found to foster undestanding, friendship and cooperation among all people. Javier Perez de cuellar UN secretary General.

Learning to be refers to the role of education in develiing al the dimensions of the complete person: the physical, intellectual, emotional and ethical integration of the individual into a complete man. -hollistic integrated approach to educating the human person as an individual and as a member of society

APNIEVE's definition of learning to be is founded on a humanistic philosophy of education which aims at the overall development of the human person as an individual and as a member of society.

Conscientization - is the process of becoming aware of the contradictions existing within oneself and in society and of gradually being able to bring about persnal and social transformation.

Universal Aims of education
towards a scientific humanism - based on scientific and technological training.
creativity - preserving each individuals originality and creative ingenuity, along with realism; transmitting culture without stifling the individual; encouraging the use of one;s gifts, aptitudes and personal forms of expression without cultivating egoism, and paying attention to the individual's specifi traits without overlooking collective activity and welfare.
Towards social commitment - preparing the individual for life in society, moving him/her into a coherent moral, intellectual and affective universe composed of sets of values, interpretations of the past and conceptions of the future; a fundamental store of ideas and information, a common inheritance.
Towards the complete man - respects the many sidedness of personality as essential in education if the individual is to develop for himself as well as for others.

The four pillars of education stresed in the report of the international commission on education for the 21st century are: they emphasize the value of education as a manifestation of the spirit of unity. this stems from the will to live together as active members of global village and contribute to attainment of a culture of peace.