On 7 July 2026, the open consultation on the Guiding Principles on Educational Pluralism at UNESCO headquarters in Paris took place. The ‘Guiding Principles on Educational Pluralism’ project was launched by our strong and reliable partner, OIDEL. The consultation took place with the support of Chile’s Permanent Delegation to UNESCO.
GPEN was represented at the consultation by Rev Dr Mimii Brown and Timm Wünsch.
During the consultation, the central role of families in the educational process was discussed, as was the importance of values reflected, amongst other things, in curricula and pedagogical approaches, but also in the ethos of educational institutions. At the same time, the role of the state was emphasised, as it must guarantee the right to education.
GPEN expressly welcomed the draft ‘Guiding Principles on Educational Pluralism’, which was drawn up by an advisory board of experts, as a valuable contribution to the debate on educational pluralism and the right to education. GPEN advocated for educational pluralism to be recognised as a fundamental component of the right to education and for the role of non-state educational providers – including, in particular, religious and Protestant schools – to be explicitly strengthened, e.g. on the issue of funding. GPEN also emphasised the importance of religion as a formative force in education and called for greater emphasis to be placed on this in the profile of the educational institution, as well as for the wording in the draft to be clarified.
