WHEN HERITAGE TEACHES: EDUCATION FOR A MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY

Abstract

Purpose of the study is to characterize the development of cultural and artistic heritage as an educational resource for forming an individual’s readiness for life and activity in a contemporary multicultural society: from ethnopedagogical practices and a culturally sensitive approach – to Learning with Place and the formation of transversal competencies.

Methodology. The study is theoretical and analytical in nature. It is based on interdisciplinary, cultural, comparative and competence-based approaches, as well as on the methods of analysis of scholarly sources and normative documents, the historical-genetic method, comparative analysis, generalization and systematization. These methods made it possible to trace the evolution of educational engagement with cultural heritage and to compare Ukrainian and international experience of its pedagogical actualization.

Scientific novelty lies in substantiating cultural and artistic heritage not only as an object of preservation, transmission or illustrative use, but also as a dynamic resource for forming cultural awareness, intercultural understanding, local identity, social cohesion and transversal competencies. It is shown that, in the Ukrainian context, educational engagement with traditional heritage has historically had not only a pedagogical but also a decolonial dimension. The article reveals the logic of transition from monocultural ethnopedagogical interpretation of heritage to multicultural, intercultural, culturally sensitive and place-based education.

Conclusions. It is proved that cultural and artistic heritage «teaches» when it is not reduced to a folkloric illustration, festive attribute, romanticized image of the past or instrument of ideological speculation, but is integrated into research-based, artistic, project-based, communi­cative, intercultural and environment-oriented practices. In this case, it contributes to the formation not only of cultural awareness or intercultural competence, but also of a broader complex of transversal competencies: critical and innovative thinking, cooperation, communication, adaptability, ethical and intercultural understanding, social responsibility, respect for diversity and the environment. The need to contextualize the transversal approach is emphasized, taking into account the Ukrainian realities of war, post-war recovery, strengthening of cultural identity and social cohesion.