For many decades, ‘cultural heritage’ was associated with monuments, museums and archaeology. The relation between cultural heritage and education was usually in the form of passive visits to monuments or museums and was restricted to observing historic monuments or objects. Very often, it included guided tours focusing on the chronological history of events which lacked a connection with learners’ life experiences. Booklets telling all the details of a particular monument without any linkage to either its context, or to the prior knowledge or experiences of learners were very common.

In recent decades, cultural heritage has taken a broader meaning including intangible heritage, natural, urban and rural landscapes, digital and film heritage. The Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for the Society (Faro, 2005) gives most comprehensive definition of cultural heritage, embracing its tangible, intangible and digital dimension in a holistic way:Cultural Heritage is a group of resources inherited from the past, which people identify, independently of ownership, as a reflection and expression of their constantly evolving values, beliefs, knowledge and transitions. It includes all aspects of the environment resulting from the interaction between people and places through time (Faro 2005).

This Convention underlines that any sign or a symbol created by, or given meaning by human activity, that is intentionally protected, conserved or revived, instead of being left to natural decay, oblivion, or destruction, can be considered cultural heritage. It puts the emphasis on the values (i.e. cultural, historical, aesthetic, archaeological, scientific, ethnological, anthropological value), beliefs, knowledge and transitions, which are considered relevant by a community or group of reference that has the right to benefit from this resource and that is responsible for the transmission to future generations. As stressed in the Convention, those values are constantly evolving.

It has now been fully recognised that cultural heritage plays a central role in our societies, creating a feeling of togetherness within and across national borders and promoting mutual understanding and shared values, thus care for cultural heritage is growing.

Reflecting on this broader understanding of cultural heritage and the growing interest, cultural heritage is used more and more in the teaching environment, mainly to bring cultural heritage to the attention of as many pupils as possible and to enrich the learning processes. Heritage education is an approach to teaching and learning based on the idea that heritage offers the opportunity to learners to engage in experiences that make them learn. By directly experiencing, examining, analysing and evaluating cultural heritage such as buildings, monuments, workplaces, landscapes, artefacts, rituals and traditions, learners gain knowledge, intellectual skills and a wider range of competences that enhance their capacities for maintenance and improvement of the society and ways of living.