ABSTRACT
The formal status of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as the lead agency in multilateral education has never been disputed. Since its establishment in 1945, UNESCO has been the natural base for inter-governmental deliberations on the future of education. Much more difficult to achieve has been clarity and consensus on UNESCO’s actual purposes and role: from day one there has been divisive debate about the translation of UNESCO’s lofty ideals into practical strategies for the advancement of education. The story of UNESCO, in so many ways, is a story of how transcendent values touching the human spirit are inevitably politicised when invoked by governments as a basis for multilateral programming.
