Last modified: 2025-01-27
Abstract
Following the 2017 Eurobarometer survey, 88% of European citizens consider that Europe's cultural heritage should be taught in schools because “it teaches us about our history and culture”. According to Romanian Government data, education for built heritage is deficient at the level of primary, secondary and high school education in Romania. In November 2022 the Ministry of National Education approved 21 programs for new optional courses that schools could include in their curriculum starting from the 2023-2024 school year. “Education for Heritage” or “Sciences and Heritage”, are among the new optional courses for which school programs have been developed. The problem is that these programs lack course support. Educational resources specific to heritage education have been developed by multidisciplinary teams or professional associations, but we do not know if teachers use these resources in the classroom. This is where De-a Arhitectura Association stepped in. In addition to educational resources for teachers, it also creates the necessary framework for teachers’ collaboration with architects enrolled in the educational program. In the „Heritage and Water” project, carried out in partnership with the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning in Timisoara, teachers collaborated with architects in the design and development of observation, documentation and analysis sheets for three heritage sites in Timisoara, adapted to students in the primary and secondary school. The educational resources are available on the De-a Arhitectura website and can be downloaded for free by teachers, but their use depends largely on the presence of the architect in the activity. The aim of this study is to see what benefits the collaboration between teachers and architects brings and what teachers need in order to use the educational resources in the classroom. The answers provided by teachers from De-a Arhitectura network following a survey conducted in January 2025 will be analysed. Teachers recommend working with architects to maximize the educational purpose of the resources provided. Following the feedback of these teachers, we could reflect on the benefits the expansion of this type of collaboration would bring in the case of other disciplines, in pre-university education in Romania.