Transforming Our World: The Role of Collections in Education for Sustainable Development

Abstract

The TOWCHED project explores how arts and heritage-based educational methodologies can support sustainable development by enhancing key transversal competencies in learners, particularly children and youth. In response to the global challenges outlined in the sustainable development goals (SDGs), this project promotes inclusive and participatory approaches to education that foster social cohesion, intercultural understanding, and civic engagement. Partnering with museums, TOWCHED develops cross-curricular pedagogical interventions, such as experiential, blended, and collection-mediated learning, that link cultural heritage with contemporary social and environmental concerns. These approaches aim to strengthen creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and self-awareness. TOWCHED demonstrates that heritage collection-based education can play a vital role in transforming schools and other learning environments into hubs for sustainable, lifelong learning. By embedding cultural expression and heritage into educational practices, the project offers a compelling model for empowering individuals to navigate and shape a more equitable and interconnected world. This paper has two aims. First, we introduce TOWCHED, an interdisciplinary project recently funded by the Horizon Europe program of the European Union to preserve and promote education for sustainability in the heritage context. Second, we introduce a set of tools related to the project.

1. Introduction

Education is widely recognized as a fundamental driver of societal and environmental transformations. This notion, powerfully expressed by Nelson Mandela in his well-known statement, “Education is the most powerful tool we can use to change the world”, underscores the pivotal role of education in fostering cultural awareness, mutual understanding, and global citizenship. By bridging the divides between communities and promoting respect for diversity, education becomes a vehicle for cultivating tolerance and inclusion. Within the European Union, this principle is enshrined in the European Pillar of Social Rights [1], where education, training, and lifelong learning form the first core tenet, aimed at equipping all citizens with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for personal and societal progress.

A transdisciplinary approach to education and sustainability has gained increasing recognition, notably by the OECD’s PISA study Agency in the Anthropocene. Integrating the arts into education is particularly powerful for nurturing creativity, supporting learners in developing critical thinking, and fostering appreciation for cultural heritage. From a human rights perspective, arts and cultural heritage collections serve as essential resources for reinforcing individual and collective identities, as well as for advancing sustainable development [2].

European societies today face urgent and interconnected challenges, including rising inequality, poverty, intolerance, forced migration, geopolitical conflict, climate change, and biodiversity loss. These issues are not being addressed at the pace or scale required, as highlighted in the 2030 Global Sustainable Development Report. Within this context, arts, heritage, and cultural expression in education present significant opportunities to promote transformative change.

This paper introduces TOWCHED, a Horizon Europe project running from 2025 to 2027, which aims to use arts and heritage in education to support sustainability. The project brings together 10 partners from nine European countries, including universities, research institutes, museums, NGOs, and policy makers, covering areas like art history, heritage conservation, education, and climate change.

At the core of the project is the idea that cultural heritage—both physical objects and traditions—holds valuable knowledge and values that can help to find sustainable solutions. TOWCHED works to include heritage in schools and other learning spaces to create environments that encourage creativity, critical thinking, teamwork, and self-awareness, helping young people face today’s complex challenges.

While the project has not yet collected its own data to prove this, its approach is based on established educational theories and research. One key goal is to test and validate these ideas during the project through collaboration and innovation. The project builds on concepts like participatory culture and “funds of knowledge,” which recognize the diverse experiences students bring to learning, making education more relevant and personalized.

TOWCHED takes a broad approach by developing new teaching methods across subjects, working closely with museums and cultural organizations, and creating resources to support teachers and learners. Inspired by the sustainable development goals and a human rights perspective, the project focuses on inclusive, participatory education that ensures everyone can access and shape their learning experience.

The project actively engages children, youth, educators, cultural professionals, policymakers, and professional development providers to develop practical tools that enhance collaboration between schools, cultural heritage institutions, and the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs). Within the TOWCHED framework, education is viewed as a lifelong process spanning early childhood to adult learning across both formal and non-formal settings.

TOWCHED proposes a transformative model of education that strengthens transversal competencies such as self-awareness, collaboration, critical learning, and emotional well-being. Collection-based interventions are used to foster skills such as constructive communication, co-creation, and civic participation. Through collaboration with museums and other collection-based organizations, the project promotes active engagement with European values, intercultural dialogue, and civic responsibility—advancing SDGs such as “Good Health and Well-Being” (SDG3), “Quality Education” (SDG4), “Reduced Inequalities” (SDG10), and “Sustainable Cities and Communities” (SDG11).

This project also aims to contribute to the development of policies that support the integration of arts and heritage collections, advocating for the integration of effective interventions in formal and non-formal educational initiatives for children through different actions: training professionals in culture to effectively use collections in their programs and activities to engage with children and youth, ensuring the interaction of different stakeholders by developing and supporting public awareness campaigns highlighting cultural awareness and sustainable development, and developing best practices regarding evidence-based models that support these ideas.

Ultimately, TOWCHED envisions schools, museums, and cultural spaces as collaborative hubs for sustainable learning. It aims to create and disseminate innovative methodologies that empower learners to explore cultural identity, foster inclusion, and act toward a more equitable and resilient future. Through a co-creation process grounded in ethical and participatory values, the project ensures that its outcomes remain inclusive, impactful, and relevant—particularly for marginalized communities—while contributing to the broader vision of a just, sustainable, and culturally rich European society.

The main project hypothesis is based around the idea that inclusive arts and heritage-based education has a transformative potential for children and youth in sustainability issues. This is framed around several measurable research questions designed to guide evaluation and impact assessment, including the following:

• How do arts and heritage-based pedagogical interventions influence key transversal competencies such as creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and self-awareness in children and youth?
• To what extent do these interventions promote social cohesion, intercultural understanding, and civic engagement within diverse learning environments?
• What are the perceived and measurable impacts of integrating cultural heritage into education on learners’ attitudes towards sustainability and the SDGs?

This paper presents the rationale behind this project, its objectives, and the outcomes we expect to achieve in the next three years.

2. State of the Art

2.1. Cultural Heritage and the Education for Sustainable Development

Cultural heritage offers unique opportunities for education, providing tangible and intangible resources that connect learners to the past, present, and future. Heritage-based education enhances transversal competencies by fostering critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and self-awareness. By engaging with heritage collections, both learners and educators develop a deeper understanding of diverse cultures, histories, and identities, thereby promoting intercultural dialogue and social cohesion [3]. Heritage-based education can significantly contribute to sustainable development by fostering responsible citizenship and a sense of stewardship towards the environment and cultural resources. In fact, UNESCO is making strides in promoting culture and arts education by updating the guidelines set out in its Road Map for Arts Education [4]. This framework emphasizes the importance of culture and the arts in comprehensive education and personal growth. Within this framework, involving in education centered on the arts and heritage is vital not only for driving socioeconomic progress but also for enhancing cultural diversity, passing on the values of various traditions, and reinforcing both individual and collective identities [5].

On the other hand, all educational institutions, from preschool to higher education, play a role in preparing tomorrow’s citizens to solve problems in the real world by understanding the connections between social, science, and technology [6]. In this sense, transversal competencies, such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and self-awareness, are essential for navigating the complexities of today’s world. These competencies enable learners to analyze information critically, generate innovative solutions to complex problems, work effectively in teams, and understand their own strengths and weaknesses [7]. Lifelong learning is also indispensable to sustainable development, involving formal, informal, and non-formal learning activities undertaken throughout life to improve knowledge, skills, and competencies within a personal, civic, and social-related perspective.

Therefore, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is not merely an additional subject but a transformative approach that reorients existing disciplines to contribute to a more sustainable future [8]. By empowering individuals with the necessary knowledge, skills, and values, education enables them to make informed decisions and take responsible actions that promote environmental integrity, economic viability, and social justice [9]. Education is believed to ensure that all people acquire knowledge, values, and skills for a better life and society in a sustainable way [10]. However, the concept of sustainable development has been documented for many years, the idea of incorporating sustainability principles into curricula has only recently begun to garner attention [11,12]. Integrating SDGs into the curriculum requires systemic thinking and interdisciplinary approaches and demands pedagogical innovations that provide interactive, experiential, transformative, and real-world learning [13,14]

TOWCHED aims to strengthen the capacities of culture and education workers and learners through joint efforts in fostering collection-mediated life-long learning, thus aspiring to build a long-term commitment and a durable partnership, primarily between museums and schools, and finally seeding a community of practice for collection-based sustainable development education.

2.2. Existing Gaps in Educational and Arts Policies

Belief in the transformative potential of education is a central tenet of European society. In this context, the strengthening of opportunities for joint learning and the implementation of innovative approaches that enhance the expression and communication of concerns and aspirations are central to sustainable development. Despite the relevance of these aspects, sustainable development is not yet fully integrated into the objectives, actions, monitoring mechanisms, or evaluation frameworks of the cultural sector.

TOWCHED identified a significant gap in European education policies regarding the role of museums and other collection-based organizations as strategic spaces for learning and citizen empowerment in the context of sustainable development. Reciprocally, educational and public participation aspects related to different sustainable development agendas (SDGs, UNFCCC, and Paris Agreement, CBD) remain absent from European cultural policies. The EU report Education for Environmental Sustainability [15] recommends the inclusion of “nature museums” as part of support for outdoor education and suggests wider collaboration between various formal and non-formal educational actors. However, while heritage collections can play a significant role as educational resources for sustainable development, mainstream EU education policies and sustainability competence documents do not directly address their contributions [16].

Moreover, despite the positive discourse on the multifaceted roles of culture in sustainable development, the EU Culture Ministers’ Declaration lacks concrete actions and a critical definition of “culture.” It presents a limited perspective that does not ensure sustainable development as a synthesis of universal human rights and the protection and restoration of nature, or, as articulated in the UN motto, “Peace, dignity, and equality on a healthy planet” [17]. If human rights are integral to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, then the 17 SDGs are supported by economic, civil, cultural, political, and social rights, as well as the right to development.

In this regard, the Union’s framework of key competencies for lifelong learning recognizes cultural awareness and expression as a fundamental aspect, although it only mentions museums marginally as learning environments [18]. On the other hand, the Council Recommendations on Learning for Green Transition and Sustainable Development [1] emphasize the need for cross-sectoral collaboration between diverse cultural, social, and environmental actors, including youth organizations, environmental education centers, parks, libraries, NGOs, and museums.

Regarding education, the existence of multiple policy frameworks, numerous aspects of sustainable development remain inadequately integrated into educational and training programs. The British Council report “The Missing Pillar” [19] presented nine recommendations aimed at enhancing the recognition of culture’s role in sustainable development. These recommendations include advocating for arts and culture-based outcomes that align with specific SDGs and the collection of baseline data to improve impact monitoring and facilitate longitudinal evaluation. The subsequent report “The Missing Foundation” [20] acknowledged some progress but concluded that efforts remain largely insufficient across most areas. Simultaneously, the Seoul Agenda [21] also underscores the significance of arts education in developing the skills of practitioners and researchers for policy changes, supporting the inclusion of marginalized and underrepresented groups, and motivating young people to engage with current issues like environmental concerns, global migration, and sustainable development.

In fact, even if there are some policy frameworks for green and digital transitions, they remain largely unapplied in the cultural and educational sectors. TOWCHED addresses this gap using tools such as the Global Biodiversity Framework [22], the Glasgow Climate Empowerment Programme [23], and UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development Initiative (ESD 2030) [24]. Moreover, evaluating policy inputs, results, and effects through PCSD guides cultural and educational institutions away from associations, industries, and lifestyles that are high in carbon and consumption, steering them instead towards low-carbon, sustainable, and regenerative paths. By equipping individuals with the necessary knowledge, motivation, skills, and job opportunities, they become empowered to actively engage in the Just Transition [25].

TOWCHED contributes to the monitoring of the European education ecosystem by identifying arts and heritage-based programs and initiatives that collaborate with community-based organizations for education in sustainable development. It also innovates in the design, testing, and evaluation of formal and non-formal educational methodologies that integrate these organizations with the SDGs through collaborative approaches. This approach aligns with UNESCO’s Roadmap for Arts Education, which conceives of arts education not as an isolated subject, but as a set of cross-cutting competencies applicable to all disciplines [4]. Implementing these frameworks does the following: (a) enables individuals to understand and contribute to them; (b) empowers cultural and heritage organizations to recognize and unlock their potential in the Great Transformation; (c) offers more opportunities to gather and showcase the contributions of cultural organizations as participants in the Great Transformation; (d) achieves more effective outcomes in sustainable development.

To report this, the framework includes a preliminary focus on knowledge indicators that assess the extent to which participants adopt or demonstrate sustainable practices because of their engagement with heritage-based educational activities. Examples of these indicators include reported actions-based engagement, which refers to the involvement and interest in sustainability-related activities initiated by participants in their own context. These indicators will result in a blueprint that will be available for other cultural organizations and educators who wish to assess their results as mentioned in the following sections.

3. The TOWCHED Project

The TOWCHED project is a Horizon Europe-funded initiative designed to explore how arts and heritage-based educational methodologies can support sustainable development by enhancing key transversal competences in learners, particularly children and youth. The project addresses global challenges outlined in the SDGs and promotes inclusive, participatory approaches to education that foster social cohesion, intercultural understanding, and civic engagement. TOWCHED seeks to achieve its objectives through the development and implementation of cross-curricular pedagogical interventions, such as experiential, blended, and collection-mediated learning, in partnership with museums and other cultural heritage institutions.

These interventions aim to link cultural heritage with contemporary social and environmental concerns, strengthening creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and self-awareness. Ultimately, TOWCHED aims to transform schools and other learning environments into hubs for sustainable, lifelong learning by embedding cultural expression and heritage into educational practice. This approach empowers individuals to navigate and shape a more equitable and interconnected world, fostering a sense of global citizenship and responsibility. The project’s innovation includes the application of the HRBA as a project planning tool. This approach, which is foundational in Agenda 2030 and the SDGs, aims to foster meaningful and inclusive participation, ensuring access and decision-making for everyone involved.

Objectives and Goals

First, we aim to create innovative approaches to empower children and youth with knowledge and skills to become engaged citizens committed to sustainable development, through focused educational activities using arts and heritage collections. This goal will be achieved by developing and field-testing a collection of tools all based on the HRBA approach. The project will develop educational resources that can be used by museums, galleries, and other collection-based organizations to make concrete contributions to sustainable development through activities centered around their collections. The tools will focus on the implementation of educational activities for children and youth to effectively engage with the SDGs creating environments that value and respect diverse perspectives, cultures, and identities, promoting a sense of belonging.

Second, these interventions will be demonstrated by developing a dedicated methodology that can be used by any collection-based education or civil society organization to meaningfully assess the outcomes of collection-based interventions addressing sustainable development, considering different local challenges, political realities, and governance situations. In fact, one of the most important results will be the creation of meaningful indicators and evaluation mechanisms to demonstrate the effectiveness of arts and heritage-based educational interventions for sustainable development, fostering citizen engagement, arts in education, and cultural awareness.

TOWCHED will also advocate for policies that support the integration of arts and heritage collections in education and the promotion of cultural awareness for sustainable development. The creation of reliable data collection and analysis will underpin advocacy efforts and demonstrate the value of arts and heritage-based programs in achieving broader educational goals for sustainable development. This will end in developing suggestions and recommendations to effectively use arts and heritage collections in education programs and initiatives addressing sustainable development and contributing to foster cultural awareness and expression as well as developing best practices regarding evidence-based models that support the integration of arts in education through collection-based activities fostering sustainable development.

Furthermore, TOWCHED will provide long-lasting and effective arts and heritage-based planning tools for educators to develop diverse learning experiences addressing sustainable development in a compelling and engaging way for children and the youth in all their diversity. It will provide innovative methodological approaches (Figure 1) that help educators to identify context-based challenges and opportunities and that promote the active participation of children and youth through creative assignments fostering collaborations between them, as well as the creative solving of problems and challenges identified by the group of participants, including both subject-related and correlation issues. By exploring existing arts and heritage collections, participants will access bodies of knowledge that will help them to understand the past as something that is in close connection with the present and that can be discussed, critically reassessed, and reinterpreted towards a more inclusive everyday life and a sustainable future. The SDGs as well as the human rights-based approach will play a crucial role in this transformative learning process. For European schools, transformations at the classroom level will help to drive broader changes in the school, by sharing and involving other classes and groups of students in the activities proposed using shared spaces in the school, and by supporting the participation of students alongside the management staff in decision-making processes concerning sustainable development.

The resulting impact of activities carried out in the framework of TOWCHED will affect the day-to-day functioning of schools, by promoting encounters that help students and educational teams to engage more effectively in the public domain of the school, in line with the “Whole-School Approach to Education for Sustainable Development” [26]. An improved decision-making capacity for students will promote social cohesion, inclusiveness, intercultural dialogue, and the sense of belonging to a community that starts at the school but also affects its surroundings (Figure 2).

Finally, we are ensuring that arts-based and heritage-based education plays its fullest part as a key component of sustainable development. It equips individuals with unique knowledge, skills, and mindsets to address environmental challenges, promote social cohesion, and make responsible choices. Our approach will enrich individuals, in particular children and youth, with a deep appreciation for cultural diversity, fostering respect for different traditions, and preparing them to actively participate in a globalized and interconnected world.

4. Materials and Methods

TOWCHED represents a pioneering initiative through its integration of the HRBA as a central project planning tool. Although empirical data collection has not yet commenced, the methods outlined here will serve as the basis for subsequent validation once the pilots are deployed Grounded in the principles of Agenda 2030 and the SDGs, the HRBA seeks to promote inclusive and meaningful participation by ensuring equitable access to resources and decision-making processes for all stakeholders. Within the context of this project, the HRBA is specifically adapted to the domains of cultural institutions and education, informing both the methodological framework and the design of interventions. These interventions encompass a range of capacity-building activities aimed at diverse target groups, including children, youth, educators, teachers, and cultural professionals. The methodological framework is structured around five interdependent and progressively developed stages, as detailed below.

The project is based on a meaningful baseline that will be obtained from an online survey and focus groups targeted at European museums, educational professionals (from kindergarten to university), and the non-formal educational sector. First, the survey will contain a series of questions aimed at understanding how museum collections across Europe are currently utilized in education, learning, and participatory activities that contribute to sustainable development topics. In this sense, we will ask (1) how museum collections support ESD; (2) what experiences participants have in collaborating with other organizations for Education for Attitudes and experiences related to SDGs and ESD; (3) their attitudes and experiences related to SDGs and ESD. This will allow us to identify existing practices that can be optimized, shared, and replicated, while identifying meaningful opportunities for innovation and eventual gaps that prevent educators, museums, CCIs, and policymakers from implementing such educational initiatives more widely at the European level. While the exact methods for quantifying the impact of these interventions are still under development, the design and implementation of evaluations tools—both qualitative and quantitative—is a key task of the project. These include but are not limited to in-depth surveys, focus groups, and quantitative methodologies such as Likert scales.

Based on these findings, the project will identify the most meaningful set of educational methodologies and SDGs/SDG targets to focus on during the piloting phase and the field studies, avoiding duplication, considering existing gaps, leveraging opportunities for innovation, and aiming for maximum impact in terms of engaging and educating children and youth for sustainable development through arts and heritage-based interventions. Establishing the right makeup for collaborative groups (e.g., educational organizations, including schools, universities, and vocational training; museums; networks of creatives; civil society organizations; researchers; and policy advisers) is essential to ensure meaningful context-based co-creation, improve the design of inclusive and equitable interventions, inform policies, and foster meaningful collaboration and innovation in the fields of culture and education.

After this, we will implement a pilot phase in three countries (Figure 3): Greece, Spain, and Latvia. During the pilot phase, TOWCHED will facilitate structured and meaningful dialogue among participating museums, local educators, creatives, students, parent associations, policy advisers, and other relevant stakeholders. These interactions aim to explore the potential of cultural hubs as catalysts for sustainable development by integrating actors and practices that are often fragmented or marginalized in the literature. The initiative emphasizes an inclusive and participatory co-design process for educational activities and creative workshops, grounded in local contexts and specifically tailored to address selected SDGs and corresponding targets identified across the pilot sites.

The interventions will be guided by the HRBA as a core planning methodology, ensuring inclusive participation, equitable access, and shared decision-making among a broad spectrum of stakeholders—including children, youth, educators, creatives, civil society actors, and policymakers. This approach not only supports the achievement of the project’s objectives but also empowers stakeholders to actively shape project goals and define success in alignment with the principles of the Leave No One Behind agenda and the Right to Development.

After the piloting sessions, the interventions will be replicated in another 10 European museums to draw upon diverse cultural perspectives, embedding arts and heritage-based educational practices within the broader framework of education for sustainable development.

TOWCHED will adopt a mixed-methods approach to ensure a comprehensive assessment of impact. Quantitative data will be collected through structured surveys administered before and after key interventions to measure changes in participants’ knowledge and attitudes. Complementing this, qualitative methods—including interviews, focus groups, and reflective workshops—will capture more nuanced insights into participant experiences and contextual factors. On the other hand, these actions will be evaluated by employing a range of well-established Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) techniques tailored to the specific needs of the evaluation, from outcome harvesting to self-assessment surveys. This project aims to evaluate changes in participants’ knowledge, skills, attitude, and/or behaviors resulting from collection-based interventions. The results of such evaluations will be meticulously documented within the MEL framework created for the project; moreover, these evaluation will be iterative in order to adapt them based on emerging insights and foster ongoing learning and improvement throughout the process. In addition to expert-led evaluations, TOWCHED will organize collaborative testing sessions designed to actively engage participants and stakeholders in the evaluation process. Innovative MEL methodologies will be employed, such as Participatory Impact Pathways Analysis, which utilizes visual tools to map the pathways of change. While no preliminary results are yet available due to the early stage of implementation, baseline data collection is planned for the first phase, allowing subsequent impact measurement and adaptive learning. This approach, recognized for its efficacy [27], is particularly adept at empowering young participants by giving them a central role in shaping the evaluation process. This approach ensures that both measurable outcomes and process-based learning are systematically documented and analyzed.

To the best of our knowledge, although mixed-methods evaluation frameworks have emerged in museum contexts, none are tailored specifically to heritage-based educational programs aimed at sustainability, civic competencies, and HRBA principles. Likewise, the MEL framework often used within the realm of environmental issues or educational approaches, and cultural heritage or museums are usually overlooked [27,28]. TOWCHED therefore fills a critical gap by developing a dedicated MEL framework for heritage education, focusing on knowledge and competency outcome metrics.

Finally, as a key component of its dissemination and impact strategy, TOWCHED will develop a comprehensive web-based platform to document, archive, and disseminate all facets of the arts and heritage-based interventions implemented throughout the project. This digital resource will include curriculum designs, methodological frameworks, instructional materials, assessment tools, and documented outcomes. Section 4 describes the expected outcomes of this project.

5. Expected Results

The groundbreaking research and innovative methodologies employed in TOWCHED are expected to make a significant contribution to the academic landscape, fostering intellectual growth and paving the way for advances in various disciplines. Some of these outcomes are described in the following subsections.

5.1. Repository of Initiatives/Methodologies/Tools

This project outcome involves the creation of a comprehensive repository that will catalogue innovative, field-tested methodologies and accompanying tools designed to support community-based organizations (CBOs), cultural and creative industries (CCIs), and educational institutions across Europe—and potentially beyond—in the (co-)design and implementation of meaningful arts and heritage-based interventions. These interventions are specifically aimed at educating children and youth on the principles and practices of sustainable development, with a particular emphasis on fostering cultural awareness and expression.

The repository will not only showcase novel approaches developed within the project but will also include systematic documentation and a critical review of existing similar initiatives already being implemented by European museums and other collection-based organizations. This dual focus serves to provide a robust baseline for benchmarking and stimulate further innovation in the field. Moreover, the repository is intended to function as a foundational resource for ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and reporting activities concerning European collection-based institutions’ contributions to the sustainable development goals.

This curated body of knowledge and practice will be made publicly available via an open-access digital platform. This platform will serve as a dynamic, interactive mapping tool that captures and organizes collection-based educational initiatives spearheaded by European CBOs and educational stakeholders. The platform will be incrementally enriched throughout the project duration, ensuring that it remains a living and evolving resource. It is anticipated that its utility will extend well beyond the formal project timeline, providing long-term value as both a monitoring mechanism and a knowledge exchange and communication tool.

Furthermore, this platform will be instrumental in enabling structured processes of monitoring, evaluation, and evidence-based reporting. Through the TOWCHED initiative, the platform will actively support the European heritage sector by facilitating the dissemination of practices and outcomes across networks of educators, community organizations, CCIs, and policymakers. In doing so, it will strengthen cross-sectoral collaboration and policy engagement, fostering a shared commitment to leveraging cultural heritage for sustainable development across diverse European contexts.

5.2. A Novel Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Tool

This outcome will result in the development of an innovative MEL tool, accompanied by a rigorous and adaptable evaluation framework, designed to support organizations in meaningfully assessing and effectively communicating the outcomes and impacts of arts and heritage collection-based interventions. The MEL tool will be grounded in state-of-the-art research and aligned with current international best practices in evaluation and impact assessment. It will be empirically tested and refined through application in diverse educational and cultural contexts, taking into account a variety of demographic profiles, types of cultural collections, and local social and institutional realities. The MEL system will focus on metrics regarding knowledge and competency outcomes. These assess participants’ understandings of sustainability principles and evaluate growth in key transversal competencies targeted by the project.

At its core, the tool aims to enable a nuanced and multidimensional assessment of interventions, particularly in terms of their contribution to the SDGs. Specific focus areas will include inclusiveness, human rights, and measurable changes in participants’ attitudes, behaviors, knowledge, and skills. The tool will be designed for flexibility and scalability, allowing it to be used across a range of formats, including in-person, virtual, and hybrid modalities. This ensures its relevance in contemporary learning environments and its adaptability to varied institutional and community settings.

The overarching objective of this task is to validate the effectiveness of the TOWCHED methodologies through their application in pilot projects and to systematically assess the feasibility, implementation fidelity, and impact of the interventions within specific real-world contexts. The evaluation will be methodologically pluralistic, employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative MEL strategies to provide a holistic understanding of the interventions’ effects.

Among the evaluation methods to be employed are outcome harvesting, qualitative scorecards, and self-assessment surveys incorporating Likert-scale items to quantitatively capture participants’ perceptions and self-reported changes. Additionally, tailored pre- and post-testing instruments will be developed to measure shifts in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors attributable to participation in the interventions. This mixed-methods approach ensures both depth and breadth of insight into the educational and transformative potentials of collection-based learning experiences.

A critical dimension of this work is the adoption of an iterative sense-making approach to evaluation, which prioritizes continuous reflection and contextual understanding. This approach seeks not only to determine whether an impact is achieved, but also to explore where, how, and why particular impacts manifest, thereby facilitating adaptive learning and strategic refinement throughout the project lifecycle.

Furthermore, the evaluation process will incorporate participatory methodologies aimed at actively engaging stakeholders—particularly young participants—not merely as subjects of evaluation but as co-creators of the evaluative process itself. This participatory emphasis is intended to empower youth by positioning them as central agents in shaping the ways success and impact are defined, measured, and understood. Results from these participatory sessions will be documented and integrated into the final evaluation reports, contributing to a more inclusive, democratic, and responsive evaluation culture within the cultural heritage and education sectors.

Data collection tools will include surveys, focus groups, and participatory workshops. All tools will be created to be easily adapted to local contexts and participant groups (children, educators, museum professionals, etc.),and will be piloted and refined iteratively. Also, the data will be connected at multiple points of the interventions, evaluating previous participants’ understanding of key concepts related to sustainability and cultural heritage, as well as longitudinal data to assess the retention of knowledge and competencies, and to identify whether the interventions have led to sustained changes.

This flexible and responsive MEL approach ensures continuous learning and adjustment throughout the project lifecycle, while also generating robust data to evaluate both process and outcomes.

While few previous EU programs have directly addressed the intersection of cultural heritage, education, and sustainability, these priorities have changed, particularly as outlined in TOWCHED’s Horizon Europe call HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-08, titled “Arts and cultural awareness and expression in education and training” [29]. This call emphasizes the critical role of arts-based educational methodologies in supporting the development of key transversal competencies such as cultural awareness, creativity, innovation, and civic engagement. This policy framework recognizes that integrating arts and cultural expression across education systems enhances not only individual learning outcomes but also strengthens inclusive, democratic societies. It promotes a lifelong learning perspective that spans early childhood, formal education, vocational training, higher education, and non-formal learning contexts. Furthermore, it encourages the use of cultural and creative sectors (CCSs) to advance equity, intercultural dialogue, and participation—principles central to our project’s educational interventions.

Within this call, there are other sister projects that align with TOWCHED’s core values: PULSE-ART, ALPHABETICA, and INTRACOMP. By sharing insights and best practices across projects, we can strengthen our collective impact on fostering diverse artistic traditions and enhancing cultural understanding throughout educational systems in Europe.

5.3. Human Rights-Based Approach Toolbox

This deliverable entails the development of a comprehensive and practice-oriented Human Rights-Based Approach Toolbox, specifically designed to facilitate the integration of human rights principles into arts and heritage collection-based interventions that address education and sustainable development. The toolbox aims to provide cultural organizations, educators, and community stakeholders with actionable guidelines, adaptable tools, and reflective frameworks to meaningfully embed the HRBA in their practices and policies. This approach is particularly innovative within the cultural heritage and museum sectors, where the explicit application of HRBA remains largely unexplored despite its growing relevance in public service delivery.

The HRBA toolbox will operationalize the five foundational human rights principles encapsulated in the PANEL framework: participation, accountability, non-discrimination and equality, empowerment, and legality. These principles will inform every stage of program development and implementation—from goal setting and stakeholder engagement to defining success criteria and measuring impact. Central to this approach is the recognition of two core groups: rights holders (e.g., children and youth, educators, families, local communities, and community-based organizations) and duty bearers (e.g., public institutions, policymakers, cultural professionals, and educational authorities), whose roles and responsibilities will be clearly delineated and actively reinforced throughout the intervention cycle.

The HRBA toolbox will be adaptable to diverse contexts and collections, enabling practitioners to apply the framework in both formal and informal learning environments and across different cultural, social, and geographical settings. In light of the ongoing socioeconomic transformations across Europe—including the digital and green transitions, as well as the European Union’s Green Deal—the toolbox will place a strong emphasis on inclusive and participatory decision-making. It will promote accessibility, agency, and the meaningful involvement of all actors involved, aligned with the global commitment to Leaving No One Behind, and in full recognition of the intersecting inequalities that affect marginalized or underrepresented communities.

By combining the HRBA with arts and heritage education, TOWCHED aspires to move beyond traditional notions of cultural participation to foster active citizenship, critical engagement, and youth empowerment. This approach will not only enhance the creative expression of children and young people, but also cultivate their sense of agency, responsibility, and belonging in shaping Europe’s democratic, sustainable, and inclusive future. Over a projected five- to ten-year horizon, this toolbox aims to contribute to the resilience of the European education and cultural systems by promoting values-based learning that prepares communities to respond to multifaceted crises—including pandemics, armed conflicts, forced migration, and climate change.

In support of this long-term vision, TOWCHED will work toward the development of a European Charter for the Use of Arts and Heritage Collections in Education for Sustainable Development and Human Rights. This charter, envisaged for adoption by key stakeholders within the next decade, will provide a strategic policy instrument for guiding and legitimizing the systemic integration of cultural heritage into education systems. It will also serve as a vehicle for fostering cross-sectoral partnerships and ensuring the sustainability and transferability of the HRBA model within and beyond the cultural sector.

5.4. Best Practices and Policy Recommendations for the EU and Beyond

As a culmination of the project’s training activities, pilot interventions, and ongoing research, TOWCHED will produce a comprehensive training guide and policy-oriented toolkit aimed at facilitating the broader uptake of collection-based educational methodologies within diverse institutional and community settings. This toolkit will synthesize insights from the project’s workshops, evaluations, and participatory processes into a set of clearly articulated best practices, illustrating how collection-based interventions in arts and heritage can serve as powerful drivers of social transformation. The guide will particularly highlight practices that address pressing societal challenges such as social inequality, the integration of migrant populations, and the promotion of intergenerational solidarity—demonstrating the transformative potential of cultural heritage in contributing to more inclusive, cohesive, and resilient communities. Scholars have already addressed similar studies on the positive impact of culture on self-esteem and social cohesion [30]. In this way, specific evaluation metrics will form part of the project’s research to further delve into the transformative potential of heritage-based educational interventions.

In tandem with the training guide, the project will generate a set of evidence-based policy recommendations intended to support the systematic integration of collection-based work into educational programs that address sustainable development. These recommendations will be directed at EU institutions, national governments, and relevant cultural and educational bodies, advocating for the activation of the full potential of European collections as instruments of transformative learning. By foregrounding participatory and community-led approaches, the policy proposals will aim to reframe the role of arts and heritage organizations as co-creators of a sustainable future—one that is imagined and built collaboratively with citizens, especially youth.

The recommendations will be informed by a review of successful models and case studies, identifying the enabling conditions for integrating arts in education through collection-based activities that align with the SDGs. TOWCHED will draw on and adapt existing international frameworks—many of which remain underutilized within the cultural and heritage sector. By embedding these frameworks into practical cultural–educational interventions, TOWCHED will demonstrate how collection-based practices can address the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability in an integrated manner.

Moreover, the project will advocate for greater recognition of the unique contributions of arts, culture, and heritage collections to the wider sustainability agenda. These contributions include the transmission of cultural values, the creation of shared meanings, knowledge co-production, social mediation, emotional engagement, and inspiration—elements which are vital to mobilizing communities and individuals in support of the UN Agenda 2030 (Figure 4). The policy recommendations will emphasize the need for cultural heritage to be understood not only as a source of preservation, but as an active and dynamic resource for envisioning and realizing sustainable futures.

Despite growing recognition of the role of culture in sustainable development, significant gaps remain in mainstream policy and practice. The British Council’s report The Missing Pillar highlighted this oversight, calling for more strategic efforts to align cultural interventions with specific SDG outcomes, as well as for improved data collection and long-term evaluation mechanisms. Its follow-up report, The Missing Foundation, acknowledged some progress in this area, but also noted that advances remain insufficient and uneven. TOWCHED directly responds to these challenges by contributing to the development of a more robust and actionable evidence base and by promoting frameworks for longitudinal monitoring and impact assessment that capture the full value of cultural work in sustainable development.

By linking practical training resources with strategic policy advocacy, this work package aims to embed cultural and collection-based approaches more fully into the educational and policy infrastructures of Europe and beyond. The ambition is to catalyze a paradigmatic shift in how arts and heritage are understood—not as ancillary or decorative—but as essential, evidence-based contributions to the global project of sustainability [31].

6. Discussion and Conclusions

The project aspires to reshape educational European paradigms by integrating cultural heritage to foster transversal competencies essential for sustainable development. By tackling the global issues highlighted in the sustainable development goals, TOWCHED advocates for educational approaches that are inclusive and participatory, fostering social unity, intercultural communication, and active civic engagement [32]. Through collaborative partnerships with museums, TOWCHED is dedicated to crafting interdisciplinary pedagogical methodologies, including experiential, blended, and collection-mediated learning, which forge connections between cultural heritage and pressing contemporary social and environmental issues [33]. These educational approaches focus on enhancing creativity, critical thinking skills, collaborative spirit, and self-awareness among learners [34,35]. TOWCHED will illustrate the pivotal role that heritage collection-based education can assume in transforming conventional learning environments into vibrant centers for continuous, sustainable learning [16,36]. By carefully integrating cultural expression and heritage into educational frameworks, TOWCHED offers a compelling model for equipping individuals to adeptly navigate and shape a more equitable and interconnected global landscape.

The project’s integrated approach to cultural heritage and education seeks to significantly impact the development of transversal competences among learners, which are essential for navigating the complexities of sustainable development [37]. Transversal competences, encompassing skills like creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and self-awareness, are vital for addressing the multifaceted challenges outlined in the sustainable development goals. These competences enable individuals to analyze complex problems, generate innovative solutions, work effectively in diverse teams, and understand their roles as global citizens. TOWCHED recognizes that cultivating these competences through heritage-based education can empower learners to become active agents of change in their communities and beyond.

In this sense, museums, serving as invaluable repositories of cultural heritage, play a pivotal role in fostering these transversal competences. By engaging with museum collections and participating in heritage-related activities, learners will develop their critical thinking skills through analyzing historical contexts and cultural narratives; for example, museums are also constructing the intangible cultural heritage of migration and diasporas, contributing to self-esteem among diverse populations and social cohesion within society. By providing immersive, experiential learning opportunities centered on cultural heritage, the project aims to cultivate empathy, respect, and appreciation for diverse cultures and perspectives. These educational methodologies encourage learners to engage with heritage not merely as a relic of the past but as a living, evolving narrative that reflects the complexities of human experience.

Central to TOWCHED is the recognition that education—when grounded in cultural resources and participatory values—is fundamental to building a more sustainable and equitable Europe. Through interdisciplinary and collaborative interventions, the project seeks to cultivate a new generation of empowered European citizens who are not only culturally literate but also actively engaged in shaping the future of their communities and societies. In this way, TOWCHED aligns closely with current European socioeconomic transformations, including the digital and green transitions and the objectives of the EU Green Deal, while adhering to the principle of “Leaving No One Behind”.

To sum up, this project emerges as a pioneering initiative that harnesses the power of arts and heritage-based educational methodologies to foster sustainable development and enhance transversal competences in learners. By creating opportunities for learners and educators to engage with cultural heritage in meaningful ways, the project aims to cultivate a sense of belonging, empathy, and social responsibility. But also, it is extended beyond the realm of education, offering a transformative model for sustainable development. It emphasizes the importance of integrating cultural heritage into educational practices to foster a deeper understanding of social, environmental, and economic challenges.

Finally, TOWCHED represents a timely and significant contribution to the evolving role of museums, galleries, and other collection-based organizations in advancing ESD. We acknowledge the current lack of empirical data; however, this article lays the groundwork for structured validation in future evaluation phases. Future progress will include developing a suite of innovative, human rights-based educational resources and methodologies, where the project will demonstrate how arts and heritage collections can be strategically mobilized to foster cultural awareness, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility, particularly among children and young people. It also reaffirms the critical role of cultural heritage in sustainable development—not as a passive repository of the past, but as an active and transformative force for the future. Its outputs will inform both policy and practice, contributing to a more inclusive, participatory, and culturally grounded vision of education in Europe and beyond.