Miron Breznoščák

My second blog for the Erasmus+ FOSTIN project is again about the outputs from regional education. However, this one is not about the goals, plans, process, and outputs from the subject, which I would call primary. The main goal of using regional education in interdisciplinary teaching is to create an emotional bond with the place where the students study. Each of the project participants and anyone who uses these plans in the future will undoubtedly find topics that will be close to the students and will bring them closer to the locality through various subjects. Alternatively, regional elements that may be close to the students can bring them closer to these subjects.

Our town, Banská Štiavnica, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and students who attend our school come from towns as far as 100 km away. That is why we have introduced regional education, so that they can get to know the place where they study. In addition to their own presentations on various topics in history, culture, performing arts, literature, or society, we have had an effort to make them active participants in local events that are part of the intangible cultural heritage. One such event in our city is the Salamander Parade, which you can learn more about in English here: https://slovakia.travel/en/salamander-days-september and in Slovak here: https://salamandrovy-sprievod.banskastiavnica.sk/. Since the spring, the municipality, residents, and students have been preparing for Miners' Days, which include this costume parade featuring over 500 characters from the history of the city, mining, and the culture of our country and the people who lived here. My students, colleagues and I are the ones who compose about 90 costumes for this parade, which takes place on the second Friday of September every year.

Regional education and regional elements in the teaching of humanities subjects have also created a very positive perception of this tradition among our students, and since June they have been signing up as volunteers to wear the costumes. In aside from costume fittings in the municipal wardrobe department, my colleagues and I explained the individual masks and groups to the students, helping them to create the dramaturgy of their performance, for example, what to say, sing, and how to perform the scenes they create themselves, which must be based on historical or cultural realities. In this way, they themselves become not only participants in the preservation of historical memory, but also its co-creators. They then bring new ideas into their student life, enriching it with positive elements from culture and history.

This year, the Salamander Parade took place on September 12^th, 2025, and I am bringing you several photos of our students in the photo gallery. The photos were taken by my colleague Naďa Bírešová, and all students have given their informed consent to their publication. Plans for regional education will be included in the project textbook.