Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal (Jun 2020)
Heritage Preservation Education: Teachers’ Preconceptions and Teachers Implementation in Visual Arts Classes
Abstract
In Slovenia, teachers of the school subject visual arts (implemented at the primary level by primary school teachers and at secondary level by fine visual arts teachers) play a significant role in planning and implementing visual arts tasks with preservation concepts. With these activities, they can raise awareness of cultural heritage meaning, strengthening the nation’s cultural identity. Pupils should develop into active and responsible citizens who are able to understand heritage problems in general and express their sensitivity and respect for their cultural heritage and its preservation. The main purpose of this paper is to identify the teachers’ preconceptions about the preservation of architecture in the Slovenian countryside and the implementation of heritage preservation concepts in visual arts teaching. Altogether, 125 teachers from Slovenia participated in this study. The research revealed the teachers’ preconceptions regarding some problems in the Slovenian countryside, as well as sufficient awareness of the importance of the implementation in heritage preservation concepts in visual arts activities, according to contemporary professional guidelines. Teachers’ preconceptions reveal a lack of some basic knowledge of preservation concepts, which lead us to compare the results with the current guidelines. It can be concluded that greater emphasis should be placed on developing training programmes for teachers with specific preservation concepts and didactic materials for students in the field of preservation education with the aim of developing the students’ positive and responsible attitudes to those problems. More heritage preservation education content should be incorporated into pre- and in-service teachers’ education, and teachers should develop competences to implement these topics into their teaching.
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