Community School Museums as a tool for education

Abstract

[EN] Community Schools Museums (COSMUS) is an initiative that has been developing an approach to school education from a perspective of multi-dimensional diversity, creativity and community involvement under the Erasmus+ programme in six different countries (Portugal, Greece, Italy, Romania, Poland and Turkey) and in different kinds of schools (arts, music, primary school, high school, VET).This initiative, relies on different educational and multicultural principles, such as the European Youth Charter on Inclusion and Diversity in Education or the European Education Area, and uses a combination of three dimensions that compose the new concept of Community School Museum.The first dimension refers to the local community in which each of the schools is located. This not only enhances concepts such as local traditions, society, or sense of belonging, but also connects with them and involves them in the school activity and curricula content.The second dimension is the school, where education curricula and physical space interact to support those types of knowledge that are essential to sustaining human development, using critical thinking, using creativity or cooperation to promote multicultural meanings.The third dimension is the museum, understood as a flexible tool acting as a communication channel (bi-directional), with elements that act as significance bearers. It uses the approach of learning by doing in order to learn to be, one of the four pillars of learning. It also employs the recommendations of the International Committee for Education and Cultural Action and applies the seven areas of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.Results of the Community School Museum projects show a sound diversity of approaches, which points to the success of the methodology, given that diverse educational, social and cultural contexts give rise to diverse museum contents and designs. One of these results focuses on vernacular heritage.