ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the continuity and the shifts in the meaning of United Nations Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) educational concepts, as an intellectual and conceptual history of UNESCO's humanistic approach to education, with a focus on the concept of lifelong learning. It aims to clarify intellectual and conceptual history as theoretical and methodological approaches. The humanistic approach to education has marked the identity of UNESCO's educational work, provides a sense of continuity and builds a bridge throughout time. But the context in which it is being applied has shifted throughout the decades in accordance with changing ideologies and practices in global politics. UNESCO stayed faithful to its universal humanism and opened its doors to the newly independent countries of the South. But the "technical turn" and the constant challenge to its educational authority seriously undermined the organization's capacity to assert its educational ideas.
