Effective approaches to heritage education: Raising awareness through fine art practice

Abstract

By learning about the problems of heritage preservation (conservation and protection of cultural heritage) and by creating fine art products with interesting solutions based on well-known facts from their surroundings, students build and strengthen their critical attitude towards problems of heritage preservation. The purpose of this research was to study whether it would be possible to include the contents of heritage preservation along with the contents of the current curriculum in regular fine art classes in primary schools. Research has shown that the results of teaching with the help of various teaching methods, teaching media, fine art materials and with different ways of fine art expression (fine art motives) were positive. Students came up with interesting solutions when carrying out their fine art assignments and they also displayed greater ability of critical judgement and evaluation of heritage care. To date, there has been no research in Slovenia on the possibilities of raising awareness of the importance of heritage preservation within fine art classes.

Heritage Preservation Education: Teachers’ Preconceptions and Teachers Implementation in Visual Arts Classes

“…Visual arts teachers expressed that they are sufficiently competent for implementing these contents into their teaching, but primary school teachers would need more in-service education (Potočnik, 2017a). Primary school teachers are seeking educational resources that would help them deal with the problems the preservation of cultural heritage with concrete examples of visual arts tasks (Potočnik, 2017). The general (Simpson, 2007) as well as the professional public (Aslan, 2006;DeTroyer, 2005) support the idea of dealing with the contents of protection of cultural heritage in class.…”

“…An analysis of textbooks in the Slovenian educational system has shown that local cultural heritage is poorly or insufficiently represented (Kukanja & Gabrijelčič, 2008). Potočnik (2017) concluded that primary school teachers and fine art teachers are favourably inclined towards content related to heritage preservation education; however, they very rarely include this content in their visual arts classes. Other than presenting forms of different kinds of cultural heritage, teachers often do not provide information on suitable and unsuitable interventions in architectural heritage or cultural landscape (Gaskell & Owen, 2005) or on original materials and their uniqueness (Stanley-Price & King, 2009), or on professional services (conservators), on legislation, and on the obligations and rights to cultural heritage (Jokilehto, 2005).…”

Building Relationships between Museums and Schools: Reggio Emilia as a Bridge to Educate Children about Heritage

“…The importance of studying the arts and cultural heritage from the early years of education, especially in the context of experiential education, lies in the need to facilitate children's seeing the world with different eyes, exploring materials through their senses, experimenting with new techniques and learning about the world through a multisensory approach. Thus, having encounters with the arts, whether in the school atelier, in museums or in the streets and in public spaces, observing artworks, objects and places is important to help children improve their perceptual skills and nurture the pleasure of enjoying and creating art by bringing art and cultural heritage to children [30][31][32][33][34][35][36].…”

Connecting Sustainable Development and Heritage Education? An Analysis of the Curriculum Reform in Flemish Public Secondary Schools

“…This could render students to believe the study of heritage as something residual [14]. In Slovenia, attempts were made to examine the curricular connections between heritage education and fine art, after which they were put to the test in classroom practice in primary education [15].…”