Projects
While the students were working in the workshops, the
teachers spent most of: their time presenting projects and
proposing approaches and didactic materials which would
enable them and their colleagues to promote and
implement World Heritage Education. It was
evident from individual presentations that heritage,
in the minds of most of the participants, covers
a wide range of experiences (including tasty
food such as the Slovenian traditional cake offered to all
participants). It is a fact to be remembered: not all countries
have their heritage inscribed on the World Heritage List;
also, not all schools are close to a World Heritage
site in their own country and can only approach the
Project through their regional heritage. The abundance and
the richness of these projects once again proved how important
and desirable heritage teaching in school really is.
Here are some of the outstanding features which were
more or less common denominators in the discussion:
This represents one of the ongoing dilemmas of every
heritage education approach in the classroom: most
of the countries present at the Forum opted for a
crosscurricular approach instead of simply introducing yet
another topic in the often heavily loaded curricula. Some countries,
indeed seem to have difficulties when implementing
projects that do not correspond to the prescribed national
programmes. Those who, on the other hand, have worked more
extensively on such issues, confirm the benefits of an
interdisdplinary and
cross-curricular approach.
Portugal: "The small actions in the small universe which
is my school have covered a large range of topics
connected with culture and environment, under
standing and peace: the richness of the oceans,
the importance of plants in herbariums and
flower-beds, the variety of cultures in studies of
different peoples. the need to preserve the
Earth with the help of exhibitions about our
planet, reflections on war and peace in our newspaper and in national
contests, the not-to-forget shameful Holocaust, the preservation of our
historical places by studying, visiting, reproducing
them and writing a monography of our
small town. the study of important episodes
from our history by dramatizing them, the international
brotherhood in partnerships and exchanges between our
students and students of European and African countries..."
(Maria de Fatima Goncalves, teacher from Portugal)
Hungary:
In Hungary. World Heritage figures
in the following school programmes:
- Environmental protection (1st semester in the
2nd grade; 1st in the 5th);
- Optional courses on World Heritage ( 3 years - 2
classes/week;
- Aesthetics Education: art galeries in school corridors;
- "Let's bring World Heritage into our Classrooms", a
decoration programme in classrooms displaying
cultural and natural sites from all over the world.
Czech Republic: The content of reaching the subject
History of Civilization is understood in two terms:
- in theoretical terms:
- evolution - setting up the specificity of the
Czech cultural environment and its contribution to
the world culture (architecture, music, art);
- comparison - definition of similarity between the
evolution of individual geographical
and cultural regions,
- in practical terms:
- talks with the humanities specialists,
based on multiregional cooperation (egyptologists,
architects, archaeologists, etc.);
- field trips (excursions): to famous cultural
and historical places in the Czech Republic (historical
towns, World Heritage sites) and thematic trips to other
European countries (following Comenius' or St. Francis' of
Assisi footsteps).
The lessons (thematic units) are designed as a combination
of parts I and II and introduced as a multimedia
reaching method (with the use of different works of art of a
specific style, period and region), followed by field trips
(Auxis Ekologicke Gymnazium, Prague)
It is clear that the results of heritage related activities will be
better if students feel that they are the creative 'owners' of the
project and relevant 'decision-makers' when it comes to its implementation.
Norway: "The Explorer Model"
Based on a World Heritage project in an ASP school in Bergen, Norway,
one of the Norwegian delegates presented a method of teaching which
teachers in Norway have found useful. The objective was to sensitize
young people to (world) heritage through their own discoveries and
then enable them to become actively involved in protecting and
promoting it. Students were asked to pick a road they wanted to
learn more about. Without studying it ahead of time, they each
went out to their 'own' road and explored it using all
their senses. Upon return, they described the road with
words, pictures, drawings. In this process, the students started
asking further questions about 'their' roads and went on to do
an in-depth study and develop a project report. The teachers co-operating
on the project - the Norwegian teacher, the public administration
teacher and information technology teacher - functioned as
facilitators, not lecturers, since much of the information the
students needed had to be obtained outside the school (conservation
authorities, libraries, adults who had lived in the street for
a long time, etc.) The teachers found that their students took
great interest in this project, they took responsibility
for their own learning and that they got genuinely
involved. (Gerd-Hanne Fossen, Norwegian National Commission for UNESCO)
Bulgaria: "The Newsletter Project"
Our school carries the name of Vassil Aprilov and the students
conceived a project concerning his contribution to the world
culture. They gathered data, carried out research work in
history, literature and philosophy, etnology and archaeology then
edited and published the school magazine, supposed to be the
continuation of "Denitza" from the 19th century, all by themselves.
Their magazine aims at promoting multicultural ideas and renewing
the link between the past and the future and includes
students' own artpieces: sketches, comments on certain topics and
their work on UNESCO projects, etc. The students circulate their
product in all schools in the country The magazine is now in
its 5th year of existence and will be continued with the help
of new generations of students. (Anna Gueorguieva, professor at
the National Apriiov School. Gabrovo, Bulgaria)
The interest many students have shown in the Internet workshop and
their call for modern audio-visual educational materials are clear
indications of the need to link the past and the future through everyday
work. We simply cannot talk any longer about promoting the principles
of safeguarding our heritage without taking into account the
possibilities modern communication can offer in this respect
and the role of the media.
Italy: After the meeting on 'Young People's Participation in
the World Heritage Preservation and Promotion' at the Universita
Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy, in February 1996, an
environmental programme contest was announced in some of the
schools in Lombardia. Among the project proposals received, a
project elaborated by the Milanese school "P. Bottoni", has been
selected for implementation. It involves a multidisciplinary and
interdisciplinary approach and represents "a cognitive, historical
and artistical urban itinerary of the architectural complex
of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan". As such, the project is implemented
in Art History, English, Italian and Drawing classes for two years.
After developing particular aspects such as "monuments
in the city of tomorrow", the "oral communication" and "presentation
in a foreign language", the project foresees a multimedia presentation
and video production representing a synthesis of particular experiences.
"... Consequently, international efforts to secure global stability
and peace depend on the development of global identity, i.e. on
awareness of the self: as a member of the world in which natural and
socio-cultural systems are cared for and used interrelatedly and
interdependently not only to preserve the past but to secure the
future. One of the ways to develop loyalty to the world
as part of subjective identity is to know about and to feel
for mankinds heritage as represented by the World
Heritage List." (Vedrana Spajic-Vrkas, lecturing on Heritage
and Identity during the Forum)
This issue is crucial for a balanced World Heritage education
programme. Heritage, on one side, is a matter
of cultural identity for most people in the world, and a matter of
respect for our ancestry and natural environment. Yet,
knowing other cultures and learning to understand
and respect them is a prerequisite for a
peaceful and tolerant world of tomorrow.
Northern Ireland: "The Coastal Guardian Project"
This conservation programme in Coleraine brought together
students from St. Johns Primary School, which is Catholic and the
Christie Memorial School, which is Protestant. In
co-operation with the National Trust, the Department of Education
and others, draft material was prepared for teachers and students aged
10-12 which was evaluated during teachers' training and In
Service involving participants from the two schools. Several
Causeway visits were organised during the first year
of the programme which led to further evaluation of
the projeci in the second year and redrafting of previously
used materials... (Anne Jack, teacher from Northern Ireland)