Approaches to Teaching Craft Heritage: Educator Perspectives from Pakistan

Issue #008, 2021                                                                              ISSN: 2581- 9410 As a Pakistani pedagogical leader, who has been associated with academia since 2013, I have had the opportunity to get into dialogues around the subject involving the role of different forms of arts in education. More than often, I have found myself in situations with both parents and peers where the centuries old question comes up:

• Why should schools teach different forms of arts and crafts with exploration of local heritage?
• In what ways can teaching of arts and craft impact learners’ attainment?
• Which approaches to teaching should schools adopt to inculcate craft heritage in their context?

There is a plethora of research available to address the first two questions, However, the debate of how and in what ways schools may integrate arts education, particularly craft heritage, can be answered through a keen study of existing successful practices in academic domain. In the quest of responding to this query, a small-scale qualitative study of educator perspectives was conducted from different parts of Pakistan on teaching of craft heritage in schools. Educationists from a variety of private and government schools residing in different vicinities of Pakistan were interviewed. The objective of the study remained to share the best practices and bring to spotlight the approaches of teaching adopted by educators to integrate craft heritage in both the curri...