Heritage and heritage education in the legislative framework of elementary education

Abstract

Heritage and heritage education are educational content subject to ongoing change because of their sociocultural nature. This is the reason why teachers and school curricula need constant updating to suit contemporary educational needs. We present the following text, divided into two parts, in order to contribute to this update. The first part includes a theoretical framework consisting of a terminological review of the heritage conception today and an exposition about the functionality played by heritage in elementary education. The second part is a comparative study of similar systems, which has been analyzed and compared every regional educational decree, in order to know and compare the use attributed to the heritage and heritage education as school curricula. Results show that there is a remarkable set of autonomies that uses heritage as curricular content, mainly in the areas of Social Knowledge and Art Education. Other administrations take advantage of their multidisciplinary potential for inclusion as well as significant content in other areas such as languages, free configuration classes, etc. It is also worth noting that all decrees use heritage in its broadest sense to develop not only attitudes but also concepts and procedures. This use of the heritage will entail the development of heritage education, because education through heritage will also promote education for heritage.