TEHIC-Handbook_of_best_practices

3. Outlook for heritage interpretation in Europe and future prospects. TEHIC Towards a European Heritage Interpretation Curriculum 42 The future T hose of us who practice heritage interpretation have always had the need to de - fine our profession, given the difficulty of defining the work we do. The paradigm of the heritage interpreter has been associated with direct personal interpretation, i.e., interpreter-guides. But the requirements that have been progressively added to the use of heritage have led to interpretation becoming more complex and requiring great- er specialisation. Heritage today is being asked to function as a driving force for local development, to be a meeting point for critical debate, to be a philosopher's stone for identities or to become a tourist attraction. With so much diversity, it is not always the person who plans an interpretive experience who executes it personally. Who is the in - terpreter then? Only the planner? Only the executor, or both? Although strategic interpretation and operational interpretation sometimes appear to be different disciplines, they both draw from the same source, that of the philosophy of heritage enhancement distilled in Tilden's work. Philosophy summed up in his famous motto "through interpretation comes knowledge, through knowledge comes esteem and through esteem comes conservation.” If we look at it from the perspective of the growing awareness of the need to protect and disseminate cultural and natural heritage, the future of heritage interpretation pro- fessionals is promising. Cultural, tourism and educational institutions have begun to understand that heritage interpretation is key to promoting education, sustainable tour - ism, and heritage conservation. Increasing urbanisation, globalisation, and excessive tourism demand in many parts of the world have created a greater need for heritage management, resulting in a greater demand for trained heritage interpretation profes- sionals. Beyond the tourism industry, companies and governments will also need heritage interpretation professionals to help to share the values and history of their territories. In addition, technology applied to heritage interpretation is also becoming an increasingly used tool in the search for new and diverse forms of communication. Heritage interpre- tation specialists who can master these new tools will be particularly valuable in the future. What is needed now is to gain recognition for these professionals. How can they be recognised? How do you know if someone has the skills and knowledge it takes to get a heritage project off the ground? In this sense, unlike most heritage-related professions (archaeology, curatorship, restoration, ethnography, art history, etc.), which have professional recognition linked to university studies and a requirement of knowledge, the profession of heritage interpreta - tion has remained at the level of technical studies, linked to practical courses that do not provide any kind of professional recognition. Only in the United Kingdom master’s de - grees in heritage management enjoy professional acknowledgement.