Heritage education is not a history lesson

By Rolf Vonk:
The heritage societies of the municipality of Moerdijk recently embarked on the two-part course ‘Heritage Education the ‘basics’‘ and ’Making Heritage Education" by Erfgoed Brabant.

The course was organized at the request of San Vermaas, municipal intermediary for cultural education. She saw the course as a great opportunity to introduce local heritage societies to how heritage is linked to cultural education. Many local history societies play an important role in researching, preserving and telling local history. In heritage education, this is an important ingredient, but not the only starting point. In the course, participants gained insight into how heritage education relates to the educational curriculum. Using a variety of methods, they examined heritage education from the perspective of history or geography didactics, but also from the perspective of artistic orientation and citizenship. Meaningful heritage education can be found in small things. For example, a painting of the sugar industry in the Museum Zevenbergen of the Willem van Strijen local history society provided a wonderful starting point for discussing with students different perspectives on its historical significance for Zevenbergen.

Teaching language
An important insight for the heritage societies was how heritage education in the province of North Brabant is embedded in the infrastructure of cultural education and who plays what role in it. The ‘educational language’ that is customary in this context is not self-evident to heritage societies. It is important to master this language if you want to sit around the table with education and cultural partners to design heritage education. Consider, for example, the three cultural capacities (creative, receptive and reflective) used as part of the Brabant Cultural Pathway and the new educational curriculum to help schools develop and implement cultural education. Telling a historical story - a quality of many
anthropology circles, for example - is part of creative ability. That a student can open up to that story belongs to receptive capacity. Investigating what that story means to the student, in turn, is part of the reflective capacity. Local history societies have numerous historical local stories. But what story of these is meaningful for the present? What can a learner connect to now? These questions do not always prove easy to answer. It requires knowledge of your own historical collection and how it can contribute to insights into the world today. Preferably to social issues that are relevant to education, such as climate, moral dilemmas, citizenship or personal formation. The story of the 1953 flood disaster, for example, plays a role in all the local history circles in Moerdijk. In heritage education we are not so much looking for endless testimonies or dates, but for an underlying value such as safety and the historical ‘lesson' of water management for today's society and the meaning of climate adaptation. In that contemporary context, historical stories can provide an indispensable basis for heritage awareness and meaningful heritage education.

Chance
The course was sometimes confrontational for participants. The versatility of heritage education came up for discussion and with it the realization that the current working method and outlook of a society of local history may not fit with education at all. This seemed daunting, because there was now no idea that a concrete step could be taken immediately in the offer towards schools. Nevertheless, the circles of local history saw the course as an opportunity. A local network for heritage education needs to be built and you need to get a grip on the subject matter and your own positioning as a volunteer organization in it. The possibilities are not endless, but a heritage society has much to offer. In the fall of 2025, the heritage societies of the municipality of Moerdijk will pick up the thread.

Read the News Items The Courier here in full:
The Courier-Education Museum Zevenbergen