Article 4 of the World Heritage Convention states that each State Party has ‘the duty of ensuring the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the cultural and natural heritage’ (UNESCO 1972); it is through Outreach and Education that this ‘transmission’ is undertaken.
Article 27 enshrines the Educational duties of WHSs, as it states that ‘the States Parties to this Convention shall endeavour by all appropriate means, and in particular by educational and information programmes, to strengthen appreciation and respect by their peoples of the cultural and natural heritage’ (UNESCO 1972).
It is important to remind WHSs and stakeholders, that Education and Outreach is a duty and obligation. This is a timely reminder as many World Heritage Sites are undergoing a period of change through restructuring and the rewriting of their Management Plans.
World Heritage Education can occur through formal learning programmes at site level, nationally through state parties and globally. World Heritage Education however remains under researched. This is a symptom of heritage education in general which remains under researched in comparison to that of museum education.
The session will be led by Professor Peter Stone of Newcastle University and Jamie Davies of the Ironbridge International Institute of Cultural Heritage and include the following papers;
Our Historic Water Towers – The advantages of a World Heritage project for out-of-school learning
Prof. Dr. Andrea Richter
World Heritage Trainees – Getting the future World Heritage heirs involved
Nicoletta Flora
Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site: Using Outstanding Universal Value, Values and Attributes in Learning Activities
Georgina Greaves
For further information on the session and if you have any questions please email:
Jamie Davies
Teaching Fellow in Cultural Heritage, Ironbridge International Institute for Cultural Heritage
Communicating World Heritage 