“A European Museum of Education: preserving and sharing our educational cultural heritage” Erasmus Project

Project Title

“A European Museum of Education: preserving and sharing our educational cultural heritage”

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Every institution involved in the project has a collection of pieces of educational historical and cultural heritage. All these pieces need to be preserved and disseminated in order to inform contemporary debate for the multiple histories of education (every piece of our pedagogical heritage, be it a desk, a map, natural science instrument and labs, stuffed animals, a book … has a microstory in a historical context). We aim to share best practice not only in the concrete preservation and exhibition of pieces, but also to get to know and to open our eyes to the progress and development of Education in Europe since its early times. It implies bringing together archives and collections from different countries to curate a ” European Museum of Education”, both with the opportunities that digital technologies offer to create connexions between existing collections, and by organizing temporary exhibitions in each of the organizations.
We need the support of every partner since none of us are specialised in all fields; thus, there is a variety of partner’s expertise: maps, archives, natural science pieces, desks restoration, etc . Partners will learn from each other by including Learning, Teaching and Training activities, and then
we will be able to train others back in our own countries. As far as Target groups, there is a twofold category of destinataries: on a first instance, teachers, instructors and personnel from each of the organizations need to acquire and exchange reference and different know-hows from the partners, regarding the preservation of school cultural heritage; after that, on a second phase, during the project but mainly once the project is finished, members of the regional /local educational communities of the partners will be invited to attend training workshops and exhibitions in each of the partner institutions to have that desired multiplying effect and sustainablility. On the other hand, students will benefit from the possibility of getting to know about how the different systems of education along the times in Europe and the heritage they carry along shape their current education system. On the other hand, we would like to give value to the educational role of the museums. Transnational need: There are networks of organizations with educational cultural heritage in very few countries, and this does not permit to see the whole picture. We need to know what our
neighbours are doing to preserve, maintain, restore and curate their past educational heritage. We need to share our good practice in order to learn from each other how an educational model of high quality can be acquired by studying our past multiple histories of education in their differrent contexts.
Partners will show one another their own collections and archives and transfer their best practice and expertise on how they curate and prepare educational museum activities in each country, as well as how the restore and preserve pieces. Every partner will learn from the rest about a specific methodology on their best skills on preservation, restoration and exhibition. A website with a European digital museum of education will be initiated.
Training of above said skills will be transmitted, from a first phase during the project, to the wider regional / local educational communities of each partner.

There will be a debate on how the different models of education -through the collections and archives of the partnerts- have helped shape the students and teachers education and training of each historic period in every contry. We will compare and draw conclussions from this debate, trying to obtain impact no only on the directly involved groups but also on the system and the institutions. The creation of a network to continue working and exchanging reference once the Erasmus+ funding is finished will be a crucial result for the partnership.
We are not aware of any project already carried out with these aims and objectives or the specific organizations involved. Schools or small organizations or museums having collections / pieces of educational cultural heritage with a wish to show the wider audience how the different models of education have helped shape the students and teachers training of each historic period in every contry are not easy to find.
We all have similar needs, as to skills and competences are referred, to carry out this objective. We want to acquire specific digital skills to create a network of European educational museums / school museums / schools with a classroom museum and have a digital catalogue of European Educational pieces. And then we need to be trained or at least know about the concrete specialities of restoration and exhibition of this cultural pedagogical heritage.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 47120 Eur

Project Coordinator

ASOCIACION AMIGOS DEL AULA MUSEO DEL INSTITUTO HISTORICO PROFESOR DOMINGUEZ ORTIZ & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Liceo Scienze Umane “A. Sanvitale”
• Agrupamento de Escolas nº 2 de Beja