UNESCO and Intangible Cultural Heritage in Science and Social Studies Textbooks for the Fourth Grade of Elementary School

Abstract

On the occasion of the upcoming twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, it is important to emphasise the role of intangible cultural heritage in preserving the identity of an individual nation. This paper analyses the Science and Social Studies textbooks for the 4th grade of elementary school. The aim of the paper is to determine the representation of intangible cultural heritage inscribed on UNESCO’s list of cultural goods by analysing textbooks and to provide guidelines for approaching this topic. The review of textbooks revealed differences in the approach to coverage relating to content related to intangible cultural heritage in textbooks by different authors and different publishing houses. It was observed that different authors approach the topics of cultural heritage differently, and intangible heritage is represented differently in different textbooks. In the majority of textbooks, intangible cultural heritage inscribed on the UNESCO list is well presented, but it is mostly mentioned as such without additional explanations and visual representations. It is necessary to approach this topic in education in a way that will encourage students to be active and participate in preserving the intangible cultural heritage that is a part of each of them, with a textbook being just one of the available tools in the teaching process.

Keywords

• intangible cultural heritage, science and social studies, UNESCO