“Teaching and learning with living heritage in Ukraine” – UNESCO pilot project

UNESCO’s latest pilot project “Teaching and Learning with Living Heritage in Ukraine” aims to use education as a channel for communities to transmit their culture as well as to achieve a more inclusive and equitable education in line with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This project seeks to enhance awareness of living heritage among Ukrainian school children by developing a resource kit for primary and secondary school teachers on how to integrate living heritage in school-based education in Ukraine (into such school subjects as mathematics, physics, or literature). Fifteen primary and secondary schools across Ukraine, including 10 UNESCO Associated Schools participate in this project.

The project builds on the positive results of the joint UNESCO-European Union project “Teaching and Learning with Living Heritage“, which was implemented in close cooperation with the network of UNESCO Associated Schools in Europe (ASPnet) from 2020 to 2021. The Resource Kit for Teachers developed as part of this project will be translated and adapted to the Ukrainian context, allowing for the methodology to be further replicated and benefit the youth across Ukraine. Integrating living heritage in teaching approaches would furthermore demonstrate the role that culture can play in emergency contexts to foster identity, reinforce cultural diversity under threat and facilitate recovery. By targeting Ukrainian primary and secondary school teachers, this activity would primarily benefit Ukrainian children and their families affected by the war. The resource kit for Ukrainian teachers will be pilot tested in at least 10 ASPnet schools in Ukraine.

The project is implemented by the Development Centre “Democracy through Culture”, a non-governmental organization accredited under the UNESCO 2003 Convention, in close cooperation with the UNESCO Chair on Science Education in Kyiv, the UNESCO Associated Schools Network in Ukraine, and other partners.

photo source: Straw weaving techniques in the Turiisk community, Development Centre “Democracy through Culture”