About the programme
Our Heritage Lottery Fund supported Audience Development Programme was developed to explore and expand the learning opportunities provided by Heritage Open Days. The programme, which was launched in June 2004 and ran over a period of four years, aimed to help schools, fa milies and Heritage Open Days organisers to learn from each other, and to discover and value their built environment together.
At the start of the programme, a practical Teacher’s Pack was produced, which encouraged schools to use Heritage Open Days as an inspiration for learning. A Handbook for local event organisers provided, amongst many other things, ideas for working with schools and the wider community.
We ran several series of workshops and INSET sessions bringing teachers and local organisers together to learn from experts and from each other. The evaluation feedback from these meetings led us to consider new formats for delivering future help, advice and support.
As a final legacy of the programme, we released a new Organisers’ Handbook in March 2008 and developed an innovative online teaching resource, hodsclassroom.org.uk. It aims to promote Citizenship education and foster community cohesion by enabling teachers to use materials that help pupils to value and engage with their own local built and/or natural environment. It seeks to encourage teachers and pupils to get “Outside the Classroom”.
The Heritage Open Days Education Team
