Pandemics and natural disasters as reflected in history teaching E-Book

Collective

• Herausgeber: Council of Europe
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 213

Beschreibung

Covid-19, disastrous series of earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria... How well prepared are young people to understand such catastrophic events and their impact upon societies? Since the beginning of recorded human history, pandemics and natural disasters have highly impacted the historical narratives of mankind. Each time, they remind humans how fragile they are and how limited their knowledge is. Despite their impact, these events are given little attention in history education. The first thematic report of the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe (OHTE) analyses how pandemics and natural disasters are taught across different levels of education. It gives a detailed overview of the teaching of the two topics in OHTE’s 16 member states, along with a cross country analysis – combining information provided by educational authorities and by history teachers themselves. The report refers to important areas of concern such as the inclusion of pandemics and natural disasters in history curricula, teachers’ pedagogical decisions about their teaching, multiperspectival approaches but also the use of scapegoating during these times of crises. The observatory’s mission is to provide a clear picture of the state of history teaching in Europe. Within the countries that are party to the observatory, this is done through OHTE reports on the state of history teaching and thematic reports, which explore particular areas of interest and how they are handled in history lessons. The observatory’s vision is embodied by its motto: “Teaching history, grounding democracy”. In practice, this means that it promotes quality history education in order to improve the understanding of democratic culture among young people. The Observatory on History Teaching in Europe is a Council of Europe enlarged partial agreement.

Leseprobe

 

PANDEMICS AND NATURAL

DISASTERS AS REFLECTED

IN HISTORY TEACHING

 

THEMATIC REPORT

BY THE OBSERVATORY

ON HISTORY TEACHING

IN EUROPE

 

Contents

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Chapter 1Introduction

On 11 March 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic (WHO 2020). The international response to this announcement highlighted how ill prepared the world was for such an event. Two years later, the Covid-19 pandemic continues to have a traumatic impact internationally. A similar case can be made for the tenfold increase in natural disasters experienced across the globe since the 1960s. As the 2020 Ecological Threat Register (ETR) shows, the likelihood of further ecological threats has surged exponentially in recent years (Institute for Economics and Peace 2020). This is not the first time societies have experienced such threats, and the study of the history of past pandemics and natural disasters can offer insights into how to live through, rebuild and recover from them. Given the likelihood of future pandemics and natural disasters, providing students with the knowledge, understanding and resilience needed to overcome adversity is crucial in allowing them to read the world as global citizens and to think constructively about the future of the planet. To this effect, history can play an important role. However, to date little is known about how these topics are represented in state curricula, and even less about how they are currently taught in classrooms. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the present coverage of pandemics and natural disasters in national curricula, and of the pedagogies employed to teach them in classrooms across the 16 member states of the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe.

Background and context

The Observatory on History Teaching in Europe (OHTE) is an Enlarged Partial Agreement of the Council of Europe, comprising 16 member states and 2 observer states.1 It was established in November 2020 at the initiative of the French Government, as one of the priorities of its presidency of the Council of Europe (Council of Europe 2020). The observatory’s mission is to promote quality education in order to enhance democratic culture in its member states. It carries out this mission through its reporting activities and through a co-operation platform that engages various stakeholders in the field of history education. The latter is currently implemented through the Transnational History Education and Co-operation Laboratory (HISTOLAB), a joint project between the Council of Europe (Department of Education) and the European Union (European Commission Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture). To achieve the objective of providing a clear picture of the state of history teaching in its member states, based on reliable data and facts on how history is taught, the OHTE commissions regular and thematic reports. The regular reports intend to provide a snapshot of how history is taught from a myriad of angles. Over time, the collection of regular reports aims to create a longitudinal overview of the state of history teaching in Europe and how it evolved. The thematic reports, of which the present one on “Pandemics and natural disasters as reflected in history teaching” is the first, are focused on exploring particular themes and issues in depth.

The OHTE consists of its governing board, which is composed of one representative from each member state. It defines and adopts medium-term and annual programmes, selects the topics of the thematic reports, and monitors their implementation and the management of the observatory’s resources. The governing board also determines the topic of the thematic report and representatives co-ordinate the responses to the survey as part of the data collection process, however the board has no influence over the final content of the report. In addition to the governing board, the OHTE includes a Scientific Advisory Council (SAC), which is composed of 11 well-respected persons in the field of history education. The SAC ensures the scientific quality of the observatory’s work. It is consulted on the observatory’s programme, and assists the governing board by delivering opinions on matters concerning the observatory’s activities. The third component of the OHTE is the observatory’s secretariat. Headed by an executive director, under the responsibility of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, it ensures the smooth daily running of the observatory and provides organisational support to the work of the statutory bodies. For the production of the reports, the OHTE convenes expert groups that operate under the supervision of the Scientific Advisory Council.

This thematic report on pandemics and natural disasters as reflected in history teaching was produced by an expert group, which consists both of individual experts in the field of history education who are in part also members of the OHTE’s Scientific Advisory Council, as well as by experts affiliated with the History Educators International Research Network (HEIRNET) consortium.2 The overall aim of this thematic report is to provide empirical evidence on the teaching of pandemics and natural disasters across the 16 OHTE member states. This topic is of particular importance in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and the heightened threat to all countries and their societies ensuing from natural disasters.

Pandemics: a historical perspective

The current global Covid-19 outbreak, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (Sars-CoV-2), which started in 2019, is only the latest in a succession of pandemics that have affected the world since prehistoric times. A pandemic is defined as “an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people” (Last et al. 2001). Pandemics occur when a new virus spreads easily among people who have little or no immunity to it. They are caused by novel pathogens that spread quickly between human hosts, affecting a great number of individuals globally (Kelly 2011).

Although identified as such only in modern times, pandemics have significantly impacted the historical narratives of humans ever since the beginning of recorded human history. They have endangered human lives and led to social upheaval, each time reminding societies of the fragility of human existence and the limitations of human knowledge. They have had a lasting impact on population levels, economies and social structures, and their historical memory has provided lessons for future generations. In this regard, pandemics have been formative episodes in human history and have frequently heralded significant changes in their wake. As Venkatesan et al. (2022: 1) argue: “They have offered opportunities to rethink, reconfigure, and renegotiate our ideas of the individual, the communal, the social, the private and public, and of health, illness, hygiene and safety.” Occasionally, and ever more frequently during the modern period, pandemics have provided insights into the knowledge of the human body, led to scientific progress in medicine and prompted the development of public health policies.

The first historically documented record of an epidemic is Thucydides’ account of the Athenian Plague (430 BCE, returning in 429 and 427-426 BCE). The historian described the disease’s outbreak during the Peloponnesian War, providing essential information regarding the physicians’ responses and the spread of the disease among the people. Thucydides’ record is particularly significant as he was living in Athens at the time of the outbreak and contracted the plague himself. This made his testimony extremely important in describing its symptomatology. He wrote: “I shall simply set down its nature and explain the symptoms by which perhaps it may be recognized by the student, if it should ever break out again. This I can the better do, as I had the disease myself, and watched its operation in the case of others” (Thucydides 431 BCE: 2.48.3). The intention to document this historical event with the purpose of rendering this information useful for future epidemics is evident from the passage cited.

Thucydides’ testimony also provides insights into how the plague impacted on social order in Athens (Thucydides 431 BCE: 2.52.4). As he recounted, the devastation caused by the plague had a significant impact on the outcome of the war between Athens and Sparta. The epidemic, whose pathogenic origins remain uncertain, claimed the lives of many of Athens’soldiers and sailors, including that of the Athenian leader Pericles. The turmoil that ensued as a result of the outbreak, when citizens were no longer afraid of the rule of law or of the consequences of not worshipping the gods upon whom they relied for religious support, further destabilised Athenian society. As we can see from the example above, many of the issues the present thematic report examines (e.g. how histories of past epidemics and pandemics can serve a purpose for the future, how such events have a significant impact on societies, affecting in some cases even the course and, arguably, the outcome of wars) are already prefigured in this first historical text on the subject.

Attempts to prevent one of the deadliest epidemics that was endemic in 18th-century Europe, smallpox, led to the world’s first vaccine, an effective one developed by Edward Jenner on the basis of the related but far less harmful cowpox virus (Riedel 2005). Interestingly, and similar in many respects to popular reactions to the Covid-19 vaccine, mass mobilisation and violence ensued against the vaccination campaign in England – the first instance of a nationwide vaccine rollout in history – culminating in the establishment of a National Anti-Vaccination League (King 2020). The vaccine’s effectiveness, however, eventually led to smallpox being successfully eradicated in 1980, “the first and still the only example of the intentional eradication of a human disease” (Snowden 2019: 89). The global response to Covid-19 has been informed by historical responses to previous pandemics, and societal understandings of pandemics have, to some degree, been shaped by collective memories and accounts of past events.

Natural disasters: a historical perspective

Prasad and Francescutti (2017: 215) define natural disasters as “the overwhelming consequences of a natural hazard”. Natural disasters are frequent and global occurrences that range from earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis to crop failure, famine, drought and floods. Historically, they have had a devastating impact upon humanity by crippling economies, destroying crops and displacing millions of people. The threat of natural disasters is ever present and, as population levels rise, climates shift and economic instability continues, human vulnerability to these hazards increases (Prasad and Francescutti 2017).

The terms “hazards” and “disasters” are often used interchangeably; however, distinct differences can be drawn between the two. A hazard refers to any phenomenon, physical event or human behaviour (floods, hurricanes, droughts, epidemics, nuclear spills, etc.) that has the potential to cause harm to humans, destroy properties, disrupt social order or lead to environmental degradation. A disaster, however, is “the potential consequence of a hazard, where a community or population is unable to handle the effects of the hazard, given the resources at their disposal” (Prasad and Francescutti 2017: 216). While they are distinct from each other, Figure 1.1 illustrates the relationship between hazards and disasters. A hazard may occur regardless of human effort; however, once a community is overwhelmed by a hazard, the likelihood of a disaster is high. Since the 1990s, governments worldwide have become increasingly aware of the rapid worsening of threats from pandemics and natural disasters on humanity’s ecological, economic and social future. While pandemics and natural disasters are separate phenomena, they are both universally recognised as major challenges for the future of humanity.

Figure 1.1

– 

Relationship between hazards and disasters

Historically, natural disasters feature strongly in collective national memories. Such memories predominantly relate to national events such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions, landslides, floods, droughts, famines, bushfires and storms. In Greece the impact of the Santorini volcanic eruption, which may have led to the end of the Minoan civilisation in the 1640s BCE is embedded in the national historical canon. In Portugal, the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 CE is deeply ingrained in the national consciousness and collective memory, as is the Great Famine of 1845-52 in Ireland. On a European level, the eruption of Vesuvius that led to the destruction of Pompeii is a common element of European memory. As such, these topics can play a sizeable role in the collective historical consciousness and contribute towards the shaping of a country’s historical canon and sense of national identity, the shared experiences acting like a social glue of sorts.

The teaching of pandemics and natural disasters

Despite the death and devastation they wrought on societies, events such as pandemics and natural disasters are given little attention in history education. This is because, traditionally, history education focused almost exclusively on political and national history and was centred on the construction and transmission of a positive national narrative designed to inculcate feelings of loyalty to one’s country and to reinforce notions of group belonging and identity (Carretero and Bermudez 2012; Cârstocea 2022). As the focus was often placed on the political development of the nation, events such as pandemics and natural disasters were, as a consequence, given less attention. A similar lack of attention to these topics can also be seen in academic history, where studies of pandemics and natural disasters have been, until recently, considered specialist rather than mainstream subjects. Military events such as the First World War have hitherto taken precedence over events such as the Great Influenza pandemic of 1918-20, even though the death toll of the latter is comparable and possibly higher than that of the war (Milne 2018). Although pandemics and natural disasters have had a significant impact on societies over time, the study of these events is often limited to specialist subdisciplines or examined in more detail by strands of economic, social, cultural, oral and environmental history, all of which have, until recently, been similarly under-represented in many school curricula. The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged assumptions about the secondary role of epidemics and natural disasters in both academic history and school history, and has opened up fresh questions about the lived experiences of such events and the lessons that can be gained from learning about them. As the world continues to come to grips with the devastation and uncertainty brought about by Covid-19 and the increased threat of natural disasters, educators are already turning towards ways in which they can integrate historical knowledge of these issues into their teaching.

However, the teaching of such topics comes with numerous challenges. One of the most significant of these relates to the teachers’ own expertise, orientation and pedagogical content knowledge (Ní Cassaithe and Chapman 2020). Another relates to the curriculum space in which to include these topics and to the relative autonomy given to teachers in delivering the history curriculum. Yet another relates to the affective aspect of dealing with sensitive topics that address large-scale loss of life. There is also the added challenge of how to teach these topics effectively in the classroom.

The thematic report

History education can play an important role in providing students with a comprehensive understanding of pandemics and natural disasters, past and present, by providing a powerful platform through which these topics can be explored and discussed in European classrooms. Through engagement with the process of historical enquiry into past events, students can learn about and evaluate the historical precedents of contemporary pandemics and natural disasters and find ways to connect with the past that resonate with them in today’s world. Currently, there is no data available on the inclusion of these topics in school curricula across Europe. Likewise, there is no information on the frequency with which these topics are taught, nor is there existing data on the methods that are employed by teachers in European classrooms to teach about them. This thematic report offers a unique insight into the extent to which pandemics and natural disasters topics are included in national curricula, the topics and themes that are actually taught in classrooms, and the pedagogies and resources that are used to teach them, across the 16 OHTE member states. The report furthermore identifies inspiring practices with regard to the teaching of pandemics and natural disasters in each member state.

Themes addressed in the report

The teaching of pandemics and natural disasters in history is an area that has received scant coverage in history education research to date. This is an increasingly urgent topic that warrants further attention, especially given the increase in the occurrence of natural disasters and the likelihood of future pandemics. It is imperative that students are given meaningful opportunities to engage with historical precedents and with reactions to previous such events in order to prepare them for future ones. The report intends that educators and students alike will be able to apply the findings from the report when adapting and developing history curricula and critical thinking skills in the future. The teaching of these topics should help to understand how pandemics and natural disasters have contributed to the formation of our societies until this point, and how we can better prepare for those that might await us in the future. With these considerations in mind, the first thematic report of the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe focuses on “Pandemics and natural disasters as reflected in history teaching”, with reference to the following areas of concern.

The inclusion of pandemics and natural disasters in history curricula

The thematic report explores the place of pandemics and natural disasters in curricula across different levels of education. It focuses predominantly on the history curricula of the OHTE member states and identifies other curricular areas where these topics may also be explored in the classroom. It addresses the extent to which the content is prescribed in the respective curriculum and the room for manoeuvre that teachers have in approaching such topics. It also addresses the methods of teaching, the resources used, the anticipated learning outcomes and whether or not approaches promoting multiperspectivity are adopted at curricular level. The report also identifies the specific learning outcomes associated with the teaching of pandemics and natural disasters in history and other curricula.

Teachers’ pedagogical decisions about teaching pandemics and natural disasters

The thematic report further enquires into the key pedagogies (such as active learning, enquiry approaches, research projects, oral practice, textbook work and interdisciplinary work) used for teaching lessons relating to pandemics and natural disasters.

In addition, the report looks at the impact of the level of autonomy given to teachers on the way (s) they approach preparing for and teaching about these topics. Teachers’opinions on the purpose of teaching about pandemics and natural disasters are also discussed and the extent to which teachers challenge dominant discourses and engage with alternative interpretations is explored.

Scapegoating

Historically, attempts to scapegoat and blame specific groups, often religious, cultural or ethnic minorities and/or groups otherwise considered “marginal” to societies have often accompanied pandemics and natural disasters. During the 14th century, when the bubonic plague (the Black Death) swept across Europe, Jews were blamed for spreading the disease and were accused of poisoning wells and trying to infect others. These accusations led to violent attacks on Jews and entire communities were destroyed (Cohn 2007). Closer to our time, outbreaks of cholera during the 19th century were often blamed on Jews and Roma3 and linked to their migrant or allegedly itinerant lifestyles (Crowe 2000; Markel 1997). Additionally, cholera itself was regarded as an “Oriental” disease and associated primarily with the imperial borderlands in eastern and south-eastern Europe. The Great Influenza pandemic of 1918-20, still referred to as the “Spanish flu”, offers an interesting historical parallel in this respect. The flu was named the “Spanish flu” not because it originated in Spain but because Spain, a neutral country during the First World War and thus free of wartime censorship, was the first country to report the disease publicly (Milne 2018). More recently, the outbreak of Covid-19 witnessed a surge in racist, anti-Asian and anti-Chinese sentiments across the internet and social media. It also saw a rise in antisemitic conspiracy theories (Estrin 2020), Islamophobic associations with the spread of the virus (Slater and Masih 2020) and hate speech and hate crimes targeted at Roma communities across Europe (Cârstocea 2020).

Special attention should consequently be devoted to the processes of othering that occur in the wake of pandemics and natural disasters, and the extremely destructive consequences they can have for minority groups. However, as the historian of pandemics Samuel K. Cohn Jr (2018) argues, such instances of scapegoating, discrimination and violence against minority groups should also be weighed against the increase in compassion and solidarity that has often accompanied epidemics from ancient times until the present day. The thematic report looks at the attention given to these processes of othering in the teaching of historical pandemics and natural disasters in the OHTE member states.

Multiperspectival approaches

The unique role history plays in facilitating meaningful engagement and thinking historically about the past has been recognised by the Council of Europe since its creation in 1949. More specifically, the Council of Europe has recognised the value history has to offer young people regarding not only their own historical and cultural heritage, but also those of other peoples and cultures (Council of Europe 2021). Such a multiperspectival approach to history education allows students to “extend their horizons, develop a tolerant yet critical approach and instil mutual understanding and confidence between the peoples of Europe” (Committee of Ministers 1996). Stradling (2003: 14) defines multiperspectivity as “a way of viewing, and a predisposition to view, historical events, personalities, developments, cultures and societies from different perspectives through drawing on procedures and processes which are fundamental to history as a discipline”.

For history educators, the Covid-19 pandemic poses specific questions of a multiperspectival nature as they reflect on how to discuss it with their students. Even as the pandemic is ongoing, questions arise as to how this moment will be remembered in history. Whose stories and perspectives will be shared, and which ones should be shared? What lessons can be learned from past epidemics and public health crises, and how should those lessons be applied in the field of education? The thematic report investigates teacher approaches to engaging multiple perspectives when teaching about pandemics and natural disasters, and whether the inclusion of multiple arguments, different perspectives or interpretations of a historical event are consciously included in teacher planning and teaching.

Summary of main findings

The thematic report is primarily based on data received through two surveys. One survey was completed by the education authorities of each of the 16 OHTE member states, while the other one was answered by history teachers active in the member states. The Education Authorities’Survey (EAS) provides official baseline information about the history curricula of each member state, with particular reference to the inclusion of pandemics and natural disasters in the content, aims, objectives and textbooks. The Teachers’and Educators’Survey (TES), which was completed by teachers at all levels across the member states, complements the official data received from governments with information about the teaching of pandemics and natural disasters at classroom level, in order to create a comprehensive snapshot of the teaching of pandemics and natural disasters from a historical perspective.4 In total, 918 teachers responded to the survey of which 178 responses were invalid. The analysis of the TES is therefore based on 740 valid responses.

The following findings are the main findings of the thematic report on pandemics and natural disasters as reflected in history teaching.

Despite some positive examples to the contrary, within the framework of compulsory state schooling, on average between the ages of 6 and 16, there is minimal or sometimes no coverage of pandemics and natural disasters in national history curricula across the OHTE member states. These topics have a peripheral role in curricula, mirroring a persisting focus on political history and national history.

Pandemics and natural disasters are taught more extensively in other subjects across the curricula, but this involves little, if any, historical dimension (historical context, perspective, knowledge and thinking). Pandemics and natural disasters are currently taught primarily in geography, but also in civic and moral education, citizenship education, science and technology, life and earth sciences, biology, language and literature, the arts and classics. The inclusion of a historical dimension in the teaching of these topics in other subjects is rarely prescribed in national curricula.

The teaching of pandemics and natural disasters frequently occurs in integrated subjects, incorporating history alongside other disciplines. This presents both advantages and disadvantages: what may be lost in terms of historical disciplinary rigour (the use of primary sources, methods of enquiry specific to the historical profession) could be gained by emphasising the link between historical pandemics and natural disasters, and present-day challenges.

Many state schools and history teachers have considerable autonomy at the school and classroom level to be creative, innovative and responsive to contemporary global challenges and their importance for students today.

Despite the fact that relatively little attention is given to these topics in national curricula, over 75 % of teachers reported that they do teach about pandemics and natural disasters at primary and post-primary level. Based on the TES results, at primary level teachers are more likely to teach about natural disasters than pandemics.

Teachers in all 16 OHTE member states believed it is vital that their students are taught about the historical dimension of pandemics and natural disasters, and were keen to see these topics better represented in the national curricula for history and other subjects, to reflect their importance and significance to diverse groups of citizens in different countries.

Teachers appear to be moving away from the primacy of textbook-based instruction and are engaging with a range of student-centred and constructivist pedagogical approaches, particularly historical enquiry, to teach about historical pandemics and natural disasters. More traditional forms of history teaching, for example, teacher-led pedagogies focused on the transmission of factual historical information and centred on the use of a textbook, are sparingly used in classrooms to teach about these topics.

Digital technologies (where available) and constructivist activities such as group work and investigation are increasingly being used for the teaching of pandemics and natural disasters. While the potential benefits of digital media are recognised both by governments and by teachers, so too are the pitfalls associated with the proliferation of unreliable information, resulting in the need for striking a balance in the use of such technologies critically in the history classroom.