Abstract
In recent decades, a growing awareness of the importance of preserving cultural heritage as a means of promoting sustainable development has been accompanied by a similar re-evaluation of the role of heritage education as a key driver of citizen engagement. The development and implementation of heritage education at all levels, particularly in the context of teacher training, is of vital importance. The aim of this study is to analyse student teachers’ understanding of heritage and its potential as an educational tool, in order to identify measures to enhance teacher training and practice with respect to heritage and heritage education. The research design consists of a comparative study of a non-random sample of 149 trainee teachers undertaking Bachelor’s degrees in Early Childhood Education and Primary Education at the University of Córdoba (Spain). The results reveal a mainly cultural conception of heritage among both groups, based on local material elements, and little sense of the link between heritage and present-day life. The students studying early childhood education were found to display a more specific knowledge of heritage in their answers, while the primary education students showed a greater awareness of identity and values as features of cultural heritage.
Highlights
This study proposes a comparative analysis between students of early childhood education and students of primary education within a specific context, based on an intentional sample of 149 subjects
The group of early childhood education students was predominantly female (90% vs. 10%), while the group of primary education students was more evenly distributed in terms of gender (50% vs. 50%)
The results showed a tendency among both groups of participants, but especially among primary education students, to offer vague, incomplete definitions which identify heritage as a mainly material concept
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Both tangible and intangible, comprising monuments and collections of objects, owned privately and collectively, and the customs, traditions, knowledge, learning and ceremonies of our ancestors In recognition of this vast wealth of cultural inheritance, the European Year of Cultural Heritage was declared by the European Commission in 2018, with numerous projects and programmes in support and celebration of heritage in Europe, including sustainability, tourism, cultural landscapes. Heritage is what we inherit from the past, what we perceive and understand as heritage, and what we choose to identify with, preserve and pass on in turn as our own legacy Understanding this chain of transmission is what makes heritage education so important. Data were collected using a previously published mixed questionnaire, to allow us to compare our findings with those obtained in other studies, and analysed using a descriptive–interpretative approach
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
