eTwinning and Our Heritage: Where the Past Meets the Future
About the event
eTwinning and our heritage: Where the past meets the future.
“Our cultural heritage is more than the memory of our past; it is the key to our future.”
(Tibor Navracsics, EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, 2017).
According to Eurobarometer, “Nine out of ten Europeans think that cultural heritage should be taught in schools”. In 2018, we celebrate the European Year of Cultural Heritage. Citizens and educators are encouraged to discover Europe’s diverse cultural heritage - at EU, national, regional and local level, and to reinforce a sense of belonging to a common European space.
eTwinning, the Community for Schools in Europe, has a strong role to play in supporting this discovery. As a cornerstone for collaborative projects between classrooms across Europe, eTwinning has enabled, in its 13 years of existence, more than two million pupils to work together, harness their cultural differences and develop their European citizenship.
During the annual eTwinning Conference, which will take place in Warsaw, Poland from 25th to 27th October 2018, more than 500 teachers from across Europe will explore Cultural Heritage, and the intrinsic role it can play in both teaching and learning. With both a keynote address and over 40 different workshops led by experts in the field, participants will share new and effective educational approaches, methods and materials to introduce and reinforce Cultural Heritage education in schools.
In particular, the eTwinning Annual Conference 2018 will support schools to raise their capabilities to:
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raise awareness of the common history and values;
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reinforce a sense of belonging to Europe;
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demonstrate ways of better safeguarding, enhancing, but also reusing and promoting Europe’s cultural heritage as a shared resource.
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Please not that we will be live streaming the plenary session on 25 October at 2pm, including the keynote address of Sneška Quaedvlieg – Mihailović and the opening speeches, as well as the prize award ceremony, from 7pm. Follow the live stream here (just refresh the link at the specified time).
Keynote Speaker - Sneška Quaedvlieg – Mihailović
Ms. Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović is the Secretary-General of Europa Nostra, the pan-European federation of non-governmental organisations active in the field of cultural and natural heritage. Ms. Quaedvlieg-Mihailović has advocated and supported policies and programmes that aim to preserve cultural heritage and that foster the understanding of other people's cultures for almost three decades. Ms. Quaedvlieg-Mihailović and Europa Nostra closely cooperate with the UN and UNESCO, the EU and the Council of Europe.
The common thread in many of the initiatives Ms. Quaedvlieg-Mihailović has lead or has been part of is that culture plays an essential role in society, and that cultural dialogue between the citizens of Europe is a key element to continued support of the European project.
