Preparatory Workshops
© UNESCO
UNESCO, policy makers, tourism experts, the private sector and cultural heritage organizations gathered to plan a regionally relevant programme. The group reviews existing training material, finalises participant invitations, decides upon the overall framework of the different modules and selects appropriate teaching techniques.
Regional Consultation Meeting for Training Heritage Guides at UNESCO World Heritage Sites
© UNESCO
Macao SAR, 17 April 2005
Jointly convened by UNESCO and the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), The meeting preceded the 54th PATA conference "Connecting Tourism's Stakeholders" held in Macao SAR. The meeting brought together decision makers from the region to discuss the development of a heritage tour guide training programme for Asia and the Pacific.
This programme responds to the urgent need to improve the training for and professional capacity of heritage guides, particularly those working directly at the sites.
In this context, the objectives of the meeting were to seek the input and collaboration of the national tourism organizations regarding the UNESCO heritage guide training programme as well as to present preliminary results of IFT's needs assessment study concerning heritage guide training in the region.
Pilot Workshop
© UNESCO
Macao SAR, China, 24 - 26 November 2005
After joint development of the first draft of the core training material in conjunction with selected Asian Academy partners, the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) conducted a pilot workshop in which 21 participants attended from the tourism private and public sectors.
The examination process involved the participant giving a 15 minute 'interactive' talk taking into account what was learnt in units 1-5 of the core module. During the pilot course the participants and trainers went to the field where a talk was delivered, using the ruins of St. Paul, part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, as the focus. On return to the classroom the whole class gave comments.
The workshop proved to be an excellent learning experience, with useful feedback from the participants. Some early suggestions made included to separate the core text and additional material, in order to highlight the important material and make it more accessible. There was also an idea to have different levels of modules: basic, intermediate and advanced. It was recognized that three days was not enough for the proposed course and so there should either be less content or the workshop should last for more days.
Curriculum Review Meeting
© UNESCO
UNESCO Bangkok, Thailand, 22-23 February 2006
Participants included experts from the tourism sector (regional national tourism organizations and the private sector), key members of the Asian Academy and representatives from UNESCO Bangkok. The objectives of the workshop were to: (i) seek expert input regarding the core curriculum of the UNESCO heritage guide programme; (ii) seek expert input regarding the preparation of the first sub-regional training-of-trainers workshop, with a focus on tourism at Living Buddhism sites.
The experts recommended that the training material should elaborate more on key concepts and core material, especially concerning heritage values and conservation. Furthermore, in order to strengthen the professional application of the material, the material should use more real-life case studies, especially from community-based tourism, and provide practical guidelines for guides to use their new knowledge in the field. In terms of the structure of the training material, it was agreed upon that it would be helpful to break down the current training manual in order to make the material more accessible to the trainees. The resulting volumes would include: (i) core module (ii) thematic module (iii) sites-level module and (iv) resource kit for guides (separate folder). Finally, the meeting produced the draft training programme for the first training-of-trainers workshop, which was scheduled for Paro, Bhutan in May 2006.