Heritage comunication and education

A synthesis of the research activity of the group EDIPATRI (Universidad de Huelva) is presented. This group approaches the field of heritage education from interdisciplinary, holistic, symbolic-identity and social-criticism perspectives. After highlighting the background and academic context for this field of research, communication theory is the framework chosen to understand the processes of heritage teaching and learning. The category system is the basic research tool used by this research group. The most significant results obtained in formal and non-formal education are shown. Although there is still a traditional approach to heritage education, these studies show that there is an increasing number of proposals which advocate for an understanding of heritage as an open, flexible, interactive, and dynamic category. This implies a significant improvement in heritage education and a much brighter future for the discipline. Finally, some conclusions about different research fields are proposed. Some of them will be worked in the future for the purpose of promoting an adequate heritage communication and education.