On behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW NRW), researchers at Paderborn University are investigating how intangible cultural heritage can be specifically taught in schools. In collaboration with the Ministry of Schools and Education and the Quality and Support Agency - State Institute for Schools (QUA-LIS), the research area is to be scientifically analysed in theory and didactics in order to develop specific teaching series and materials as well as handouts for teachers and students. The two-year project "L:IKE - Intangible Cultural Heritage Learning Workshop for School Education in North Rhine-Westphalia" is funded by the Ministry of Culture to the tune of around 300,000 euros and is headed by Prof. Dr Eva-Maria Seng, Chair of Material and Intangible Cultural Heritage at Paderborn University.
Intangible cultural heritage are customs, rituals, festivals, performing arts, oral expressions, knowledge and skills that are passed on from generation to generation and create feelings of identity, continuity and community. In addition to the project objective of strengthening intangible cultural heritage and ensuring that it is recognised in society, especially among young people, there are many opportunities for practical development in schools.
Project manager Seng explains: "The reference to the living world and the present, which can be seen as essential for the motivation of learning at school, often remains abstract for pupils and falls short of its potential. It is precisely living traditions such as carnival, marksmanship, building societies, modern dance or poetry slam that can do justice to this approach with their widespread use in civil society and their strong anchoring in the reality of children and young people's lives."
"The phenomena of intangible cultural heritage are closely intertwined with almost all areas of the school curriculum," adds project team member Jonas Leineweber. "Be it in language and social studies or in the natural sciences: Mutual references to the core curricula are evident throughout. This makes the large gap in research and education programmes that explicitly link intangible cultural heritage and schools all the more surprising," continues Leineweber.
The background to this is the accession of the Federal Republic of Germany to the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of 2003. According to the convention, the federal states are to identify, document, research, safeguard, protect, promote and valorise the cultural expressions on their territory and, in particular, communicate them through school and extracurricular education. The Chair of Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage was established at Paderborn University in 2006. In 2015, the Ministry of Culture established the NRW State Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage there, which advises and supports sponsoring groups and communities free of charge. The research project "L:IKE - Intangible Cultural Heritage Learning Workshop for School Education in North Rhine-Westphalia" will continue and intensify the collaboration.
Further information is available at www.kulturerbe-forschung.de.
This text has been translated automatically.
