Projects / Programmes
SLOVENIAN AND EUROPEAN LITERARY HERITAGE: FAIRY TALES IN SLOVENIAN EDUCATION FROM PRESCHOOL TO HIGH SCHOOL
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.01.03 |
Social sciences |
Educational studies |
Special didactics |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S270 |
Social sciences |
Pedagogy and didactics |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.03 |
Social Sciences |
Educational sciences |
education, preschool, high school, cultural heritage, online applications, digital collections, traditional fairy tales, original fairy tales
Researchers (6)
Organisations (4)
Abstract
This project is categorized in the interdisciplinary area of teaching literature, literary studies, ethnography, and literary folklore studies. The main goal of the project is to analyze the current situation with respect to the preservation of national identity and to examine whether literary heritage is suitably incorporated into teaching material and curriculum in the educational programs from preschool to high school—that is, to analyze textbooks and readers, the preschool curriculum, and the updated curriculums for Slovenian instruction in schools (i.e., the 2008 primary school curriculum and the 2011 high-school curriculum) from the perspective of European folk and literary heritage with a special emphasis on Slovenian fairy tales. The project will reflect on Slovenian literary heritage from the theoretical and teaching perspectives within an international context, and it will provide the relevant scholarly and teaching premises for rectifying the current situation (Blažić, 2013). The scholarly results of the project will have an applied character, suitable for direct use in education, including: 1) a thematic issue of the journal Jezik in slovstvo (also in electronic form and with open access); 2) a scholarly critical edition adapted for teachers of folk and artistic literary heritage that has hitherto been overlooked in the school canon; 3) a selection of texts that have not yet been digitized and/or used in an online application, but for which this would make sense in the future (i.e., a list of recommendations for publishers); 4) project findings and results presented to Slovenian teachers at an international congress of the Slovenian Society for Slavic Studies; 5) ongoing presentation of developments on the project website created for this purpose (all material will be available electronically and with open access); 6) a promotion of overlooked literary folklore and artistic literary heritage through a special free thematic exhibit in the ZRC SAZU atrium; 7) flyers; 8) the Ljubljana Ballad Route (with an implementation proposal for an online application); 9) the Ljubljana Fairy-Tale Route (with an implementation proposal for an online application); and 10) The Bovec Narrative Heritage Route, adapted for educational purposes (with an implementation proposal for an online application). The project will conclude with: 11) professional training for teachers (in seminars and workshops carried out in cooperation with the Slovenian National Education Institute and/or the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Arts).
International research has shown that including folk heritage in education on an ongoing basis and to a significant degree, as in Slovenia, results in exceptional familiarity with heritage and its later application, which strengthens both cultural identity and cultural capital. The experiences of the American folklore specialist Paddy Bowman (2006) are thus interesting; in his analysis of the integration of folklore and folk heritage into education, he takes into account the findings of folklore and education studies, and he addresses the issue from a historical and contemporary perspective. Concrete examples of integrating folklore material into schools are described in the manual Folk Arts in Education (MacDowel & Kozma, 2008). This work, which is relevant in terms of both content and methodology, offers insight into how modern information technologies can offer the general public better access to this material. Experience from many past and current projects (e.g., Folk Arts in School Movement) can also contribute to substantiating this proposed combination of teaching and folklore. Such projects are being carried out in the United States in particular under the aegis of the American Folklore Society (http://www.afsnet.org/?page=FolkloreEdWebsites; cf. Bowman: Standing at the Crossroads of Folklore and Education, 2006).
Slovenian teaching material, curriculums for Slovenian (literature), and the preschool c
Significance for science
From among the vast work in systematizing Slovenian and European literary heritage, difficult-to-access and internationally comparable archaic material will be collected for the first time in an annotated scholarly-critical and educational edition in the school canon of overlooked literature (including traditional and original fairy tales, stories, narratives, fables, mythology, ballads, myths, legends, and minor folk genres). Through the transfer of advances in modern research to Slovenian research, accompanying studies, and commentaries, as well as the application of an international classification system in categorizing the material, the thematic issue of the journal Jezik in slovstvo, participation in the Slavic Congress, and the research volume will especially facilitate the further development of folklore studies, specialized teaching, and literary studies, while ensuring the inclusion of Slovenian literary heritage in a broader international context.
Significance for the country
Experts have long drawn attention to the possible application of folk heritage (ballads, fairy tales, myths, legends, and folklore expressions) in cultural policy and education, especially emphasizing that cultural heritage is not only tangible but also intangible and specific, and as such it can reflect that which belongs exclusively to the Slovenian nation. Therefore, it ought to be continually present at all levels of education. This creates a canon of texts that are part of cultural heritage, and through digitization and online applications efforts are established to safeguard and promote national and cultural heritage. By preparing expert-guided ballad, fairy-tale, and literary routes for school groups and tourists, the project also contributes to the development of tourism.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2018,
final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2018,
final report
