Impact and Challenges of Disseminating Ideas on Environmental Consciousness through Intangible Cultural Heritage Educational Programmes in Greece

Abstract

This article examines the challenges associated with implementing and designing educational programmes on intangible cultural heritage (ICH) concerning environmental consciousness. These include (1) students being disconnected from the context of the ICH elements of the programmes; (2) teachers lacking adequate ICH training in designing and implementing the programmes; and (3) a Kafkaesque bureaucracy and incommensurability between actors. These programmes relate to a trend derived from UNESCO and European Union interests in transmitting ICH through education. Some of these challenges are surpassed by ‘avocational individuals’ who go beyond their job descriptions to enhance student learning. The article demonstrates how such programmes redefine human–environment relationships and make practical suggestions. Although the ethnographic examples are from Greece, the findings are arguably relevant to other places with a similar educational and social context.