Intangible cultural heritage as a factor in the professional training of future primary school teachers

Abstract

The article is devoted to the theoretical and methodological conceptualisation of the problem of applying elements of intangible cultural heritage in the professional training of future teachers through the lens of contemporary sociocultural transformations and globalisation challenges. The necessity of a conceptual revision of educational paradigms is substantiated in the direction of affirming a culture-centred model of professional teacher education oriented towards the preservation, reproduction, and transmission of the value- and meaning-based foundations of national culture in accordance with the Concept for the Development of Civic Education in Ukraine. It is established that the body of international and Ukrainian scholarly sources forms a consolidated theoretical and methodological field within which intangible cultural heritage is understood not merely as an object of preservation or cultural analysis, but as a multifunctional educational resource capable of integrating cultural, pedagogical, axiological, and civic dimensions of the professional training of future teachers. Such integration contributes to a conceptual rethinking of the role of the university as a sociocultural institution that functions not only as a centre for the production and transmission of knowledge, but also as a space for value formation, the preservation of cultural memory, and the development of social responsibility among future professionals. The research focuses on an analysis of European experience in integrating elements of intangible cultural heritage into the content of teacher education programmes, in particular through the implementation of the interstate project «Studying Intangible Heritage», as well as through the application of innovative pedagogical technologies such as learning through experience, learning through heritage, and pedagogical mediation of cultural heritage, and the incorporation of intergenerational learning ideas within the framework of the lifelong learning concept. Their potential is substantiated in the context of developing the professional competences of future primary school teachers. The expediency of introducing intangible cultural heritage into the educational process of pedagogical higher education institutions is confirmed, both within the content of compulsory and elective disciplines of professional training (formal education) and through the active involvement of students in diverse educational and extracurricular activities within the university environment (non-formal education). Examples of tasks related to Ukrainian elements of intangible cultural heritage – such as pysankarstvo (Easter egg painting), Krolevets weaving, Kosiv painted ceramics, the culture of preparing Ukrainian borshch, and calendar-ritual traditions – integrated into the content and technologies of training students of the A3/013 «Primary Education» speciality are presented. Particular attention is paid to the activity-based approach, which involves lesson modelling during the study of teaching methodologies of educational domains defined by the State Standard of Primary Education using contextual learning technology, as well as the reproduction of traditional rituals and festivities, and the use of oral folk art, games, and crafts in the process of various types of pedagogical practice in general secondary education institutions.