The expansion of free time in European countries offers a good opportunity for the discovery of patrimony. In addition, the growth in travel, and the development of technology and the media makes the public increasingly demanding about what is available with regard to culture and tourism. In order to face up to this new reality and to the competition, public and private sites must re think about the mediation that they are offering to their public(s), come up with appropriate solutions for the diverse needs, explore all the possibilities offered by the developments that have taken place and even support the emergence of new artistic forms without always showing a stronger allegiance to the cultural content than to the technical.

It is therefore necessary to review the existing programmes and methods, to include new models and even create specific pedagogical programmes for initial and continuous training.

Challenges

• To find models to enable the conception of a pedagogical model or a pedagogical mediation programme applied to patrimony
• To determine the types of qualifications required in the domain of mediation (in particular, the conception of what can be offered in the way of visits of patrimonial sites for a heterogeneous public)
• To find the means of establishing the link between education, patrimonial sites and the cultural and tourist institutions.
• To define the basic elements and pedagogical content of the programme.
• To introduce didactic options into the teaching of mediation applied to the patrimony
• To introduce some good practices into training in mediation applied to the patrimony.