As part of our school’s long-standing and multifaceted engagement in integrating Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) into everyday teaching practice, a special pilot program was designed in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Greek Culture. The museum was selected as a site for interdisciplinary place-based teaching in the subjects of C class History (Orientation), Modern Greek, and English. In this way, Intangible Cultural Heritage was integrated into the learning process both in terms of methodology and thematic content.
The pilot interdisciplinary activity was created by Ralleio English teacher, Katerina Christodoulou, a UNESCO Culture Sector expert collaborator on the integration of ICH in school education. The design of the program was also informed by her participation in a training seminar at the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence, as part of the school’s Erasmus+ KA1 program “CULT, Sustaining & Empowering our School Culture”. The interdisciplinary activity is a contribution to the intellectual outputs of this European program. The experiential part of the place-based lesson was designed in collaboration with the Head of Collections of the Museum, ethnologist-folklorist Ms. Panagiota Andrianopoulou, a member of the Global Network of UNESCO ICH Facilitators.
At the Museum, students were guided by Ms. Andrianopoulou through the thematic unit titled “Who Are We, Who Are You?”, which explores culture through both tangible and intangible heritage artifacts. The focus was placed on the historical components that shape identity, place, and time. The outstanding tour, conducted on February 13th 2025, met all the learning objectives set by the two accompanying teachers: Philologist Andromachi Siampani and the activity coordinator Katerina Christodoulou (English Language).
The learning objectives defined by the two educators in the subjects of History (Orientation) and Modern Greek included: development of expressive and creative writing skills, enhancement of students’ ability to comprehend and analyze historical and cultural elements, understanding the significance of cultural heritage in language and tradition, utilization of sources and exhibits to foster critical thinking and analytical skills, the learning objectives related to the subject of English Language included: providing an experiential framework for strengthening students’ roles as active global citizens, forming a sense of identity within globalized societies, fostering students' intercultural competence.
Following the highly positive evaluation of the activity by all participants, our collaboration with the Museum is expected to continue in the upcoming school year. The aim is to further utilize the richness of its exhibits and thematic units in the interdisciplinary educational design of integrating Intangible Cultural Heritage into the everyday teaching practice across a broader range of subjects.