On 8 September 2025 in Paris, NALA was awarded the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy for its eLearning website, Learn with NALA.

As a result of the win, we were invited by the sponsors of the prize, the National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO to attend the International Confucius Culture Festival in Qufu, China on 27-28 September 2025. Our Innovation Manager, Elaine Cohalan, took part in the event on behalf of NALA (National Adult Literacy Agency).

The other prize winners, Solar-powered Floating Schools programme in Bangladesh and the Second Chance School and Inclusive Education programme from Morocco also took part in the visit. The visit was hosted by the Shandong Province.

The visit included:

• A tour of the Confucius Museum
• A banquet hosted by the Governor of Shandong Province (photo below)

• The opening ceremony of the International Confucius Culture Festival with performances and re-enactments of historic Confucius scenes (photo below)

• An award ceremony of the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy (watch the video below)

• A visit to the Confucius Temple and the Grand Ceremony of Worship of Confucius (photo below)

• A visit to the Qufu Normal University and a tour of their museum dedicated to educators (photo below)

Visit to the Qufu Normal University, China

The visit was an opportunity to meet with dignitaries and educators from China and across the world who share our vision that literacy is a human right.

The visit also provided an opportunity to learn about how Confucius informed and shaped the culture and educational landscape in China. His teachings’ emphasise:

• equity of access to education
• active engagement in learning
• the integration of knowledge with practical action
• a commitment to life-long learning and
• the importance of education for social engagement and harmony.

Learn with NALA informed by our Guidelines for Good Adult Literacy Work and Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. There are similarities between Confucius and Freire’s approaches as both emphasise:

• critical thinking
• active participation
• autonomy and agency
• equity of access and
• the importance of the relationship between the tutor and the learner.

However, Freire’s emphasised critical consciousness to support people to be capable of social change whereas Confucius prioritised ethical self-improvement and alignment with societal norms (Tan, C. 2017).

We are grateful to our hosts, the Shandong Province, the National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO and UNESCO for the award and for this unique and culturally rich opportunity.

Reference

Tan, C. (2017). To be more fully human: Freire and Confucius. Oxford Review of Education, 44(3), 370–382. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2017.1391763