The Oxford Dictionary defines heritage as the set of ” valued objects and qualities such as historic buildings and cultural traditions that have been passed down from previous Generations”. In the Heim project we define it as "a group of material, immaterial or cultural assets and goods that are part of the heirdom of a society that must be transmitted from one Generation to the following one”. Heritage, indeed, is an intergenerational link between the past, the present and the future that connects and aims to transfer the cultural and identitary values inherent to a society. In this intergenerational space the role of the seniors should be Inarguable. The current situation, as it happens in the majority of cases in the social arena, as that senior citizens are systematically put aside away from decision-making centres, disregarding the unique value they can add to the promotion and preservation of cultural heritage.
The project Heritage in Motion tries to reverse this situation empowering seniors to take part in an active preservation and transmission of the cultural heritage of their local areas for international audiences. "Heritage in Motion" aims to promote the knowledge of heritage at a local and European level for the purpose of encouraging the values inherent in cultural heritage amongst citizens. It, therefore, strengthens the purpose of the European Year of Cultural Heritage:”encouraging as many people as possible to discover and explore the European cultural heritage and to reinforce a sense of belonging to the European family. The four countries involved in the project (Croatia, Iceland, Poland and Spain) are committed to share at European level the knowledge and experience gained in the project through the exchange of cultural heritage routes designed by the senior citizens involved. The programme promoted by these countries works on the empowerment of the participants through two specific actions: training in heritage knowledge and the design and implementation of active heritage routes.
on the one hand, the project provides the participants with a Training Programme on Heritage which focuses on four areas: Local Heritage (historical, cultural and tourism resources), Heritage interpretation, English for Heritage, Health and Active Ageing, and ICT (on the technological tools required to develop on-line routes). During the 30 hours of the training, senior students will gain theoretical knowledge and practical skills for the development of active cultural routes that in the end will be shared on the Internet through an app called Wikiloc. The ultimate objective of this training programme is two-fold: firstly, senior citizens will get the chance to acquire new and significant competences in different and rich fields related to heritage and, secondly, they will become active cultural operators by designing real heritage routes that will contribute to the preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage for future generations.
ln addition, the Training Programme poses a further challenge as intends to offer innovative methods for the training of older adults, especially that methodology which values adults’ experience and skills and which includes both constructive and cognitive methodologies, for instance, learning in context, project-based learning, and the use of ICT. This perspective challenges somehow the traditional tenets of andragogy and older-adult education as it fosters the acquisition of high-stakes competencies without necessarily basing the objective of education in a professional, vocational or leisure motivation.
AS institutions working with older adults generally agree on, the context of older adult learners is not exactly the same as adult learners in general. Older adults lack one of the basic features of andragogy that the immediate necessity of knowledge. Most of the students registered in U3A programmes have already closed their active working life-stage, so their motivation for learning does not come from the urgency of the demands of their working life, but from the inner need of being active. enriching their lives and contributing to the society they live in. These specific characteristics open a new learning scenario with specific demands and learners challenges. Nevertheless, not all adult Learners should share the same purposes, motivations or features, as specific programmes could impose different kinds of constraints. but there is at least a considerable group of older adults who are interested in culture and who enjoy discovering and learning with the purpose of taking a higher responsibility in society. It is capital in this context that older-adult courses should offer adhoc schemes for this group of adults who want to have a more active and involved participation in society. These are non-professionals who create and consume specialized knowledge, who exploit available semiotic and knowledge resources who use innovative modes of communication to achieve their non-professional goals. Thereby, these active senior citizens need a different kind of pedagogy.
On the other hand, the project does not end just in the training. In order 10 make all this learning really significant, it furthers its programme by allowing the participants to put into practice the knowledge and competences acquired in a real setting. The participants will use an online application to upload and share their completed routes and, furthermore, they will be involved in the preparation and organization of multiplier events for the dissemination of their work for both the future potential users and the professionals of the heritage and tourism industry. In that way, they will become effective cultural operators that share and promote their own-design routes for local, domestic and international audiences. All in all, the Heim project intends to offer older adults with an opportunity to develop their knowledge, skills, and competences a meaningful way. Moreover, the programme also allows for the mutual sharing of previously acquired knowledge and fosters the incorporation of the older adults' stance into the selection of heritage resources for the routes. Finally, as the project fosters cognitive and physical activities, as routes will entail people moving through a pre-established itinerary and learning through heritage, one of the expected results is also the promotion 0f active ageing. The final tangible outcomes will be a methodological guide which summarizes the innovative participatory methodologies employed and an online portal on the Wikiloc application where all the routes can accessed after the end of the project. In conclusion, it has been stated before, the project essentially works on the empowerment of older adults and on the achievement of social cohesion through the use of heritage as a thread of union between generations.
Author: Mrs. Marian Aleson Carbonell Director of U3A Alicante Spain
(selected from her speech on 105th AIUTA International Conference at Byblos, Lebanon)