Sounding Out Your Heritage

  

Overview

Using heritage learning to improve the health and well-being of older adults

Sounding Out Your HeritageGEM’s Sounding Out Your Heritage (SOYH) won government funding in mid-2009 to help kickstart The Learning Revolution in Kent & Medway.  SOYH was one of over 213 projects which won a grant from the £20 million Transformation Fund, launched by government to offer funding for innovative informal adult learning projects in England.  The fund aimed to bring to life The Learning Revolution, a White Paper presented to Parliament in March 2009.

The SOYH project brought together groups of over-60s from a wide variety of backgrounds across Kent and Medway over a series of learning sessions.  These sessions provided learning support to the participants to help them explore an aspect of their heritage that interested them and produce a resource which would enable others to learn about their heritage too.  Over the course of the sessions, it was intended that where possible learners would begin to develop a new skill or realise other opportunities for learning which could help to sustain their informal learning activity in the future.  Learning goals for each individual were identified and supported.  The achievements of the learners were celebrated at an end of project event and the resources they have produced are being made widely available.  The project was evaluated, and best practice as well as lessons learned from the project are being widely disseminated.  GEM will continue its work with over-60s by organising professional development events for care professionals and heritage educators, and producing further resources and publications – including updating and improving this toolkit.

This web area provides access to information about the project, the online version of the toolkit, and resources for you to download and use.

> The Sounding Out Your Heritage Toolkit