Archaeology in the community - educational aspects: Greece: a case-study

Abstract

Heritage education in Greece reproduces and reassures the individual, social and national self. My purpose is to discuss the reasons for this situation and, by giving account of the recent developments in Western Europe and the new Greek initiatives, to improve the study of the past using non-traditional school education. In particular. Local History projects through the Environmental Education optional lessons allow students to approach the past in a more natural way, that is through the study of the sources and first hand material. The community itself is involved in the projects either as a geographical place where the children's activities are located and referred to or as a source of a different perspective which enhances the school's world view. Museum projects are not everywhere equally profitable in Greece, especially where they are not combined with other activities in general school planning. Being a teacher in a Greek school I started to set up similar projects within Environmental Education, in order to articulate a syllabus which might work as a model for my colleagues all over Greece. My project put emphasis - as New History did - on the ability of (and the necessity for) children to undertake small-scale academic research including Archaeology. It emphasised also the interaction between the community and schools, and the advance of long-term education for sustainable development. My involvement in the educational affair stimulated official and/or unofficial improvements which fit well with cross-developments announced in the Greek educational system as part of a very recent tendency in the socio-political sphere to alter the current situation. Children as not only long-term, but also short-term mediators of knowledge and attitudes constitute a major factor for change within the community.