TEN PROJECT 2011-2013 : MYTHOLOGY, CULTURE AND IDENTITY IN
THE BALTIC-NORDIC COUNTRIES
The purpose of the project
The teacher education network is applying for funding from the Nordplus program in order to start a
three year expanded plan with three different intensive courses - all of them with the same heading:
Mythology, culture and identity in the Baltic and Nordic countries - each year with a different host with
a different focus and heading. This year we want to focus upon Norse mythology through music and
crafts. Through the different activities we want to strengthen the Baltic – Nordic dimension in cultural
identity through esthetic subjects and contribute to qualitative development by using different
specialities all the institutions in the network can offer. The target group of students - bachelor
students within teacher education – will benefit for a program with a broader perspective and a wider
understanding than each institution on their own can provide.
Project summary
TEN is with this proposal applying for funding for different activities: Intensive course, teacher and
student mobility and network development and planning. A new 3 year project Mythology, culture
and identity in the Baltic and Nordic countries is planned for 2011 – 2013.
The title of the intensive course 2011 is: Norse mythology through music and crafts and is part of a
three year plan and will take place in Reykjavik at the University of Iceland September 2011. Part two
will take place at University College Zealand in September 2012 and have the title Norse mythology
and cultural identity through drama. Part three will take place at Siauliai University in September
2013 and have the title Cultural identity through Baltic myth, folklore and arts. We already have two
Baltic partners but are planning to include more, especially we like an Estonian partner.
DETAILED SPECIFICATIONS:
Background /motivation for the project
The TEN network started as a bilateral agreement between two institutions’ in 1990and has gradually
expanded since then . The partners are working actively to enlarge the network and include new
partners to strengthen the Baltic-Nordic cooperation. We are focusing on aesthetic subjects and
comparative education and the aim is to give students and teachers a better insight into the Nordic
and Baltic ways of living, society, education and culture. We have now 17 partner institutions and in
this application three new partners: Zahle College of Education in Copenhagen, Sør-Trøndelag
University College and Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre . We are happy with now having
partners in all the Baltic countries.
Project description 2011 - 2013
Former intensive courses in the network have been very important for promoting student and staff
exchanges in the network and vice versa. Recently, the partners in the network have shown increased
interest to create ambitious intensive courses, where students in the teacher training meet and learn
new ways to use creative methods in children’s education. The aim is to enhance the impact of the
aesthetical dimension in education, through the personal interactions in literature, music, drama, arts
and crafts. Furthermore, the added combination of diverse Baltic-Nordic cultures coming together,
creates an opportunity to deepen the experience of the participants and create understandings
between cultures, which cannot be achieved through other means.
Project committee
A project committee with 4 partner representatives was put together at the network meeting in
Bergen, January 2010 to make a first outline for three intensive courses. This proposal was discussed
online and in further details at meetings both in Vasa and in Copenhagen in November/December
2010.
Course plan 2011 – 2013: Mythology, culture and identity in the Baltic and Nordic countries
Culture provides the very grounds for human communication and interaction. The arts, science,
religion, indeed all symbolic systems-including language itself-shape our understanding of reality and
form the basis for human communication. Culture includes beliefs, traditions, values and language and
it mediates practices through the cultural heritage of each society.
Cultural heritage of any given group or society holds the key to understanding which beliefs and values
have shaped the foundation for a particular society. The study of cultural heritage in terms of
mythology provides an opportunity to explore some of the deeper roots of cultural heritage and
identity.
Mythology and folklore are tied to ancient beliefs and value systems and as such provide precious
insights into the foundations of cultural identity and heritage. Furthermore, mythology and folklore
are great sources of cultural transmission and communication through artistic means. Through the
exploration of mythology in terms of the integrated arts, new understandings and cross cultural
knowledge can be created.
The Nordic and Baltic countries have rich traditions of mythology and folklore which provide an ample
resource for a series of courses on this topic. Through exploring mythology as cultural heritage in
these courses, teachers to be will gain a deeper knowledge of Nordic and Baltic cultures and identities.
Credits: Students will receive 3 ECTS for their work, including preparation. After the course they will
receive a certificate of attendance.
3 year Intensive course-program: Mythology and cultural identity in Baltic and Nordic countries
Reykjavik September 2011: Norse mythology and cultural identity through music and crafts
Slagelse September 2012 : Norse mythology and cultural identity through drama
Siauilai September 2013: Cultural identity through Baltic myths, folklore and arts
1ST Intensive course in Iceland: Norse mythology through music and crafts, week 39, 2011.
The course in Iceland will focus on Norse mythology. A large proportion of the Norse mythology is
presented in the form of poetry. A few ancient poems from the mythology will be selected as a basis
to work from. The story of a poem (the characters, the dilemma, the conclusion) will be used as an
inspiration for artistic expression through the means of music, visual art, and performance.
The course will start with an introduction of a musical composition based on an ancient Norse
mythological poem “Hrafnagaldur Óðins” (Odin’s raven magic), composed by Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson
and performed by the band “Sigurros.” During the week there will be a field trip to the historical cite
of Thingvellir and to the maker of the stone harp used in the Odin’s raven magic.
The emphasis of the course will be on preparing for a multi modal performance, open to the public,
on the last day. The process will include the creation of music, movement, musical instruments,
costumes and stage props; resulting in an artistic multi modal performance based on Norse
mythology.
2nd Intensive course in Slagelse: Norse mythology and cultural identity through drama
Denmark, University College Sealand, Institute of Social Education, Slagelse
Emphasis on: Theatrical / bodily aspect of performance
-Making a play,
-Making music and dances
-Bodily performance
Local mythological traditions. How do we look upon the Norse mythology? What traditions and
stories does the students know about? Are there some special traditions/storiescoming from each
country.
It is expected that the students use some time at home for preparations to reflect on their local
traditions and stories that influence their culture and lives. At the course the students tell what these
traditions and stories means to them in their lives. The stories and their influence are then used as
background material to make a play.
Excursions to Trelleborg in Slagelse / or the Vikingships museum in Roskilde. Maybe the whole course
could take place at Trelleborg (the local viking museum and viking fortress).
The week ends with a performance of the play for local students and/or children.
3rd Intesive course in Siauliai: Cultural Identity through Baltic myths, folklore and arts
The main goal of the course Cultural identity through Baltic myths, folklore and arts is to understand
and express the cultural identity working within the multicultural group, through the artistic activities
and educative methods. At the end of the course the students will develop their understanding of
national identity, its meaning, significance in multicultural world and its expression through arts. They
will discuss some aspects of cultural diversity, national identity, ethnocentrism, etc., the challenges of
the globalization and multiculturalism. Multicultural approach to education through art that
acknowledges diverse learning styles can help students to see similarities in the roles and functions of
art across cultures, to understand cross-cultural connections. Students will participate in the different
educational activities, examine Lithuanian (Baltic) artistic traditions, crafts, folk art and customs,
nature. Students will have a possibility to visit museums, botanical garden, nature museum, folk
homestead, and other places, where they could find special interests.
Final result: How through the different activities students can express the cultural identity and show
it within the particular culture context (European, Nordic, Baltic, National, individual, etc.).
Participants will prepare individual or group presentations in some creative way: performances, audiovideo presentations, oral and visual presentations. They will use the material and experience they had
learned through the different activities in one week.
Preparation. It would be good that students will prepare beforehand for this course. They could
examine and bring some material about their national customs, arts and crafts, that could be used as
comparative examples studying the other culture.
The 1 week intensive course will contain of:
1st day. Introduction for the intensive course .Theoretical framework. Cultural diversity and
multiculturalism, cultural identity, national identity, Baltic and Nordic cultures.
2nd day. Art and heritage. Multicultural art education and local concerns. National identity and art.
Nordic and Baltic (Lithuanian) Folk art, national heritage, architecture and visual art. Lectures, visiting
museums and discussions. Art studio work (artworks on multicultural themes)
3rd day. Art an crafts. Study of cross-cultural aspects as decoration and crafts. Baltic and Nordic
celebrations and crafts. The study and making the masks. Building a multicultural tower. Etc. Visiting
ethnographic museum.
4th day. Ethnic culture. Experience national ethnic culture. Baltic and Nordic ethnic culture. Visiting
ethnic homestead, learning through folk dances, songs and customs.
5th day. Nature, culture and educational activities in the open air. Botanical garden. Identity and
environment. Final presentations.
Network planning and development 2011 – 2013
Each year in the end of June we want to have a Network meeting in TEN. Main issue is to prepare each
new course. The place of the meeting should be changed each year and preferably take place at the
new partner institutions in the network, f.ex. University of Siauilai, Daugapils Universitate, Høgskolen i
Sør-Trøndelag, Itä-Suomen Yliopisto, Stockholm University or Zahle College of Education. These are
some of the new partner institutions.
At the network meeting in Vasa, it was decided to apply for a Network meeting to be held 19th - 21st of
June 2011. We want the meeting to take place at the University of Siauliai (Lithuania) in order to get
more knowledge about the Baltic institutions and also to include more Baltic representatives from the
network.
At this meeting we will discuss the outcome of the application process 2011 , adapt our preliminary
plans and budgets and discuss and decide criteria’s and preparation procedures before the course.
Which teachers from the partner institutions do we want to be involved and work along with the local
teachers in the project? How are their functions in the course? How do we select students? Could we
involve the students in the preparation procedures?
Since there are so many new partners and new partner representatives in TEN right now it is
important also to discuss more general issues in the network.
Description of partnership
Bergen University College is the partner responsible for the application procedure and the finance
management for the intensive course project as well as the teacher and student mobility. Bergen is
also responsible for overall coordination and evaluation.
Three partner institutions will be responsible for hosting and organizing one intensive course each.
These three institutions are: University of Iceland, Reykjavik; Slagelse University, Denmark; and Siauliai
University, Lithuania. These institutions will also organize and host the network meetings during the
week of the intensive courses.
Each partner institution of the network will take part in the project of intensive courses by sending
one teacher and two students from each institution to the courses. The teachers who accompany the
students from each partner institution will be active participants in the courses and have designated
roles according to their specialties. The courses will depend on the resources of the participating team
of teachers.
Expected outcome
The aim of the intensive course project is to enhance knowledge of teacher students’ own and other
related cultures. Also, to increase knowledge of how cultural identities are constructed through
looking at mythology and heritage in Baltic and Nordic cultures. Through cross cultural collaboration
the teacher students are expected to gain intercultural understandings using creative and innovative
methods. The network will aim at strengthening international competitiveness of Nordic and Baltic
teacher education.
The purpose of the course is to explore the mythology and cultural identity through creative methods
of the arts. Specifically, through music, drama, crafts and folklore. The aim is to combine theoretical
approaches with workshop activities which will have a twofold purpose. One, is to deepen the
students knowledge of Baltic and Nordic mythology in connection with theories on cultural identity.
The other, is to provide the students with important experiences of active learning in workshops and
to use cross disciplinary approaches within the arts. The aim is to challenge the students, as future
teachers, to use innovative and creative ways to learn and to promote learning.
Dissemination of results
The three hosting institutions (Reykjavik, Slagelse, Siauliai) will provide a designated website (under
each institutions’ official website) for each course. On this website the course outcomes will be
published in terms of power-point presentations, summaries of projects, video/audio material and
student reflections. There will be links to these websites from the home page of the network
(http://www.hib.no/studier/internasjonalisering/program/Lererutdanningsnettverk.htm).
How will you evaluate that your project has met its objectives?
All intensive courses will end with student presentations where they will demonstrate how theoretical
knowledge can be portrayed through the arts. The students will need to display what they have
learned in terms of integration of creative methods in the process of learning. The demonstrations will
be in terms of putting on performances and/or video/audio presentations, depending on the nature of
each course. The last part of the final day of each course will be dedicated to student reflections on
the implications and value of creating and learning through the arts.
All project courses will be reported and evaluated by the participants as well as the partner
representatives. The reports and the evaluations are archived by each institutions and also published
on the internet home page of the network. The intensive courses have oral evaluations in the end of
each course, followed by a written evaluation and report. Each institution has to send a financial
report after the activity. Students will gain 3 ECTS for each intensive course. Each student receives a
Nordplus participation certificate.