The document discusses several heritage education programs around the world that aim to educate children about cultural heritage in their communities:
- The Bermuda National Trust supports heritage education in schools through experiential learning at its properties, curriculum resources for teachers, and teacher workshops.
- In Uganda, the Cross Cultural Foundation seeks to increase children's involvement in heritage education through competitions, a heritage-focused school calendar, and heritage clubs in schools.
- Ireland's Green Schools program fosters citizenship, teamwork, and student involvement in decision-making through environmental projects.
- In India, INTACH trains teachers on heritage walks, crafts, and more to educate students about local cultural heritage.
3. The Bermuda National Trust: ■ supports teachers and the school curriculum through: a) experiential learning of class groups at Trust properties b) developing curriculum-linked resources for teachers c) hosting teacher workshops ■ provides extracurricular student activities through our holiday camps; and ■ provides community activities and special events for all ages.
6. CCFU is currently seeking to increase the involvement of children in heritage education by: ■ running a competition to elicit drawing and poems on cultural heritage ■ using these to produce a secondary school calendar with a focus on our cultural heritage ■ encouraging the formation of heritage clubs in schools ■ producing a kit for teachers interested in heritage education They are also lobbying for heritage education in schools by running a series of events/ meetings to engage with policy makers.
9. An Taisce’s Green Schools Programme: ■ fosters a strong sense of citizenship and leadership that spreads far outside the school ■ promotes a strong sense of teamwork among teachers, students and the wider community to reach a common high level goal ■ democratises school management structures ■ brings children into the decision-making process making them responsible for decisions and actions More than 80% of all Irish schools are currently participating part in the programme.
11. INTACH trains teachers to organise: ■ heritage walks ■ museums visits ■ teaching a local craft ■ observation using activity sheets ■ talks and workshops by experts ■ clean-up drives One teacher - One school - Whole community
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13. Heritage Clubs aim to motivate students to: ■ learn about their local and national heritage ■ participate in heritage conservation activities ■ interact with the local community ■ make responsible and informed decisions
Thanks to other speakers My name is Catherine Leonard and I run the INTO Secretariat Welcome to first INTO Congress - old friends and new Thank you so much for coming
The Bermuda National Trust uses the Trust’s resources to educate Bermudans about the island’s history, preservation and environment. They run a range of programmes to foster knowledge and stimulate interest, respect and appreciation for Bermuda’s natural, built and human heritage. In 2008 they received a grant from Axis Capital Holding Limited which allowed them to hire a second educator and expand their activities. In the 2008-09 academic year they embraced over 3,200 students.
They also run a highly successful school programme – over 2,000 students in 2008-09. Working with the Ministry of Education, principals and teachers the Trust has targeted the government curriculum to provide age appropriate activities at our old houses and nature reserves. Programmes directly support objectives and standards of the Social Studies and Science curricula at various levels. This year the Trust has: ■ used a historic house, Verdmont, to run a school Social Studies Programme ■ initiated a Freshwater Ponds programme at Paget Marsh ■ developed field visits of our World Heritage Site of St. George’s
The Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda was founded on the premise that culture is not sufficiently taken into account in development work. They have developed case studies that show how cultural resources can be used to address development challenges such as HIV/Aids. They run an innovative 'People's Museums' project which, rather than focusing on Government museums (that are often somewhat divorced from ordinary people), promotes private, community initiatives to preserve culture, most of which have been established without external funding or deliberate linkages to tourism and often despite war, displacement and pressing survival needs. In south-western Uganda, a teacher has built a traditional hut at the back of his house which he uses to teach local children about traditional ways of life, cultures, creativity and the practical skills of the people in that area. Elsewhere, a group of women in the hills go into schools to pass on skills and other examples of intangible heritage which they fear may be forgotten.
In Ireland, An Taisce, the National Trust for Ireland , runs ' Green Schools ', a long-term programme which introduces participants (students, teachers, parents and the wider community) to the concept of environmental management systems. The aim of Green-Schools is to increase awareness of environmental issues through classroom studies and to transfer this knowledge into positive environmental action in the school and also in the wider community. Activities might include learning about transport issues, emissions and pollution, undertaking a survey of how children come to school, encouraging pupils to use sustainable methods of transport and so on.
Schools that have successfully completed all the elements of the programme are awarded the ‘Green-Flag’. This award has now become a well-recognised Eco-Label. The award has to be renewed every two years.
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, INTACH, has heritage awareness and people’s involvement in heritage issues as one of its primary mandates. It achieves this through a number of different programmes including setting up Heritage Clubes in schools and Teacher Training Workshops which take place across the country.
The Heritage Clubs programme started in 2002 to involve school students in INTACH’s efforts to save heritage by creating awareness. At present, HECS has a network of over 650 Heritage Clubs in 40 cities across the country.
In the UK, the National Trust was r ecognised in 2005 as being Britain's biggest classroom, welcoming some 500,000 pupil visits per year, and is amongst the biggest educational resource banks in the world. The Trust’s Guardianship Scheme is effectively a twinning arrangement between a school and a National Trust property, with the children coming to the site on a regular basis to participate in active, imaginative and unique hands-on education activities.
In recent years the importance of learning in the ‘real’ environment, outside the classroom, has had widespread attention as children are taken more and more often to school by car and parents are afraid to let their children play outside or experience the wold outside their front doors.
Guardianship differs from many out-of-classroom learning experiences as through multiple visits to a single site, it develops an on-going partnership that not only supports curriculum work, but also provides stimulating, practical experience of the great outdoors and conservation work. The Scheme is now well established across the country in over 100 primary and secondary schools.