Renewing history education to uphold democracy E-Book

Council of Europe

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

Seitenzahl: 299

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Uncover how history education can either divide or unite, and explore the Council of Europe’s groundbreaking initiatives that have redefined how we teach history, promoting critical thinking and democratic values for a more inclusive future.

History education possesses immense power, serving as a doubleedged sword. It can either propagate divisive, harmful narratives or foster critical thinking, understanding and unity. The Council of Europe’s pioneering efforts since its creation have profoundly shaped history education, emphasising multiperspectivity and democratic values. Through comprehensive programmes and projects, they have reformed curricula, promoted critical historical inquiry and introduced innovative teaching practices. Today, initiatives like the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe and HISTOLAB continue this legacy, addressing contemporary challenges to enhance history education. This publication delves into these efforts featuring insightful articles from four HISTOLAB fellows, exploring the intersection of digital innovation, inclusivity and curricular reform in history education.

Leseprobe

 

RENEWING HISTORY EDUCATION TOUPHOLD DEMOCRACY

 

Enhancing innovation in history education to strengthen democratic culture in Europe

 

Part of the European Union–Council of Europe joint project Transnational History Education and Co-operation Laboratory/HISTOLAB

 

In co-operation with:

Observatory on History Teaching in Europe (Council of Europe)

House of European History

Leibniz Institute for Educational Media/Georg Eckert Institute

International Society of History Didactics (ISHD)

EuroClio – European Association of History Educators

Federation for European Education (FEDE)

Contents

Click here to see the whole table of contents, or go on the « Table of contents » option of your eReader.

Chapter 1 Introduction

AuroraAilincaiand Fynn-MortenHeckert

History education is a double-edged sword. It can serve as a tool to transmit narratives that sow hatred and justify undemocratic practices, discrimination and exclusion, even war. One significant example of such misuse is the Russian Government’s crafting of a distorted narrative that denies the existence of Ukraine as an independent country, with the aim of justifying its war of aggression against the country. Such narratives are also widely promoted through history teaching in schools, as evident in the new generation of school textbooks (Amacher et al. 2021; Safronova 2023). The problem of one-sided historical narratives that foster discord and division instead of unity and peace has itself a long history, having often served nation- and state-building processes and aimed to support political decisions, including waging wars, by providing historical arguments (Anderson 2016; Foster 2012; Gellner 1997; Giddens 1991; Smith 1991).

On the other hand, history education can also be used to teach multiple perspectives, to foster critical thinking and mutual understanding, seeking to unite people around their historic experiences rather than dividing them. In the wake of the horrors of the Second World War, the European governments that were committed to liberal democracy understood the crucial importance that history, remembrance and history teaching play in building trust and preserving peace on the continent. At the time, history teaching focused predominantly on political and military history, often conveying elite-centred narratives and presenting only a single view on history. It became clear that history education was in need of a profound review and innovation. In order to achieve such change, the Council of Europe member states launched a series of intergovernmental programmes and projects over the following decades (Observatory on History Teaching in Europe (OHTE) 2024).

New forms of co-operation to address contemporary challenges

Soon after the Council of Europe was founded in 1949, its member states launched two multiannual programmes. While one was dedicated to the revision of history textbooks (1953-91) and was realised in close co-operation with the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research, the other was dedicated to the improvement of history teaching practice in Europe (1965-91). The aims of such programmes were to introduce and develop the idea of Europe in history education based on facts and to complement the hitherto predominant focus on political and military history. This was to be achieved by diversifying the topics and approaches in curricula to include cultural, economic and social history, all the while avoiding the use of history as a propaganda tool for European unity. Furthermore, through these programmes, the member states recognised the role history education could play in developing learners’ critical thinking skills. Consequently, the programmes encouraged governments to introduce school students to scientific methods in history education, to offer multiple perspectives on historical questions and to create links to other curricular areas, especially citizenship education (Committee of Ministers 1983; Council of Europe 1953, 1965, n.d.a, n.d.b). As a result of these efforts, most member states were engaging in curricular reforms by the late 1980s.

Multiperspectivity was one of the main concepts in the Council of Europe’s history education programme, and aspects of it were further developed over the years. Multiperspectivity is defined 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” (Council of Europe 2003: 14). It involves viewing historical events from several perspectives and acknowledging that historical actors, irrespective of how close they might be to a certain event, have only partial and limited views of it, and that, consequently, different – and often contrasting – interpretations of any historical event (co)exist. This is reflected in historical sources, which often present us with diverging narratives of the same events or historical processes, depending on the actors’ role in them; their personal biases, political views, cultural backgrounds and social status; and the relative importance they attach to each respective event. While this is often taken for granted by most historians from their exposure to a variety of primary sources, it can be obscured in history teaching where it seeks to convey an uncontroversial, authoritative narrative account of historical facts.

In this light, the New Europe programme (1989-98) was launched to provide support for the reform of history teaching in central and eastern European countries in their transition from communism to liberal democracy. The development of democratic citizenship education was a prominent aim here, including how history teaching can reflect the positive values of liberal democratic societies. A set of criteria was developed to evaluate curricula, teaching resources and teaching practices in this light. This sparked several bilateral and regional co-operation programmes aimed at supporting history teaching in line with the standards and values of the Council of Europe (Council of Europe n.d.c).

After the conclusion of these programmes, shorter-term intergovernmental projects, which aligned with the basic principles outlined above and were closely connected with the political developments at the time, explored certain aspects in more depth. In the context of the War of Yugoslav Succession, for instance, war propaganda featuring narratives of hatred were used to legitimise gross violations of human rights of the civilian population. This led to the mass killing of more than 8 000 Bosnian Muslim boys and men and the expulsion of women and children from the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, which the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (n.d.) classified as genocide. These events demonstrated the need to strengthen the civic component of history teaching, with a view to developing a historical understanding of and appreciation for the diversity of European societies (Council of Europe 2002) and to furthering its potential to contribute to the prevention of crimes against humanity in the present. This ethos became an integral part of the Committee of Ministers’ (2001) Recommendation on history teaching in twenty-first-century Europe, which stresses, for example, the importance of teaching about the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity to prevent such events in the future. The special emphasis on the Holocaust can also be seen in the Council of Europe’s programme on Remembrance of the Holocaust and Prevention of Crimes against Humanity (Council of Europe n.d.d), which resulted in the recent adoption of the Committee of Ministers’ (2022) Recommendation on passing on remembrance of the Holocaust and preventing crimes against humanity.

Other intergovernmental projects that were explicitly aimed at promoting intercultural tolerance and appreciation of societies’ diversity through history teaching were The Image of the Other in History Teaching (2006-2009) (Council of Europe n.d.e), which led to the Committee of Ministers’ 2011 Recommendation on intercultural dialogue and the image of the other in history teaching, and the current project Educating for Diversity and Democracy: Teaching History in Contemporary Europe (2019) (Council of Europe n.d.f). Furthermore, the Committee of Ministers (2020) has adopted the Recommendation on the inclusion of the history of Roma and/or Travellers in school curricula and teaching materials.1 The second big thematic focus of such co-operation programmes has been to strengthen “the European dimension in history teaching”, through the identically named project (2002-06) (Council of Europe n.d.g) and Shared Histories for a Europe without Dividing Lines (2010-14) (Council of Europe 2014). Both projects used key events as a basis for developing activities and materials to demonstrate their European impact, while at the same time acknowledging and appreciating the diversity of perspectives in relation to the identified topics.

The close connection between history teaching and the development of learners’ critical thinking skills, based on critically questioning historical narratives by engaging with historical evidence from multiple perspectives, strengthens learners’ capacities to act as responsible democratic citizens and serves as a common thread connecting the mentioned projects. This relationship has been expressed in the Council of Europe’s (2018a) Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture, in which history forms part of the competences related to “knowledge and critical understanding of the world”.2

Contemporary challenges to history education

Alongside the constant challenge of bridging the gaps between academia and classroom teaching, history educators and curriculum developers are also confronted with the need to adapt to rapid technological advances. For instance, learners encounter historical content in entirely new ways due to the advent of social media and their instant accessibility via smartphones, as well as the increased importance of visual content (especially on Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok) over written content (such as on Facebook or Twitter/X) especially for users under 30 years of age (Anderson et al. 2023; Auxier and Anderson 2021; Haydn and Ribbens 2017). Here disinformation campaigns run by several governments (such as the Russian one) pose a new threat to undermine citizens’ trust in each other, their neighbouring states, democratic structures and European unity (e.g. European Council/Council of the European Union 2023; Sarts 2020).

The use of video games for educational purposes is another interesting point of debate. As with social media, they are preferred by a significant number of learners. While educational games might be a way to encourage learners’ interest in history, the selection of games and how they should be used are still a matter of ongoing debate (Biaggi 2020; McCall 2023).

Finally, the widespread accessibility of generative artificial intelligence (AI) poses new questions for history teaching: while the extraordinary capacities of programmes such as ChatGPT to summarise complex topics are praised by many, educators also need to consider issues related to accountability and false information (Fostikov 2023; Hickey 2024).

In light of these challenges, history education remains a relevant factor for developing citizens’ critical thinking skills and supporting them in building greater resilience to attempts to distort history and undermine peace and democracy. The potential for innovation in history education therefore needs to be seriously addressed. Alongside an appreciation of shared European core values, it is paramount to combine the traditional and new modes of instruction in ways that are best suited to strengthening critical and historical thinking skills. In exploring such solutions, it is important to have solid empirical data to inform policies and teaching practices, in addition to fostering exchanges and knowledge sharing between key stakeholders in the field of history education. These are key to the successful adaptation of history education to the most important recent developments.

The legacy of the Council of Europe’s work in history education

Recognising the central role that history education can play in countering the contemporary challenges described above, the Council of Europe scaled up its commitment to democratic history education through the establishment of a new mechanism, the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe, in 2020. This Observatory aims to create a snapshot of how history education is taught in its member states through a series of general and thematic reports. The general reports, the first of which was published in December 2023, provide an overview of the general state of history teaching in Observatory member states in relation to a wide range of issues, for example: hours of teaching, curricula creation procedures, textbooks and other resources, teaching practices, assessments and teacher training (OHTE 2024). The thematic reports complement this picture by providing in-depth analyses of how specific topics are taught in the member states. The first thematic report published in December 2022 – with the Covid-19 pandemic still ongoing – focuses on how teaching about pandemics and natural disasters is reflected in history teaching (OHTE 2022). The second thematic report, due to be published in December 2024, will analyse how the histories of economic crises are taught in the Observatory’s member states.

Through its reports, the Observatory actively contributes to the creation of the previously mentioned dataset, which can inform the improvement and adaptation of policies related to history education. At the same time, the European Union has acknowledged the need to invest in innovation in the field of history education and, in 2022, joined forces with the Council of Europe to establish the joint project HISTOLAB – Transnational History Education and Co-operation Laboratory. The project is dedicated to exploring and promoting innovation in history education and is in practice closely connected to the work of the Observatory. It also functions as its co-operation and outreach platform. While the reports of the Observatory look into how history is taught in member states today, HISTOLAB explores how history could be taught tomorrow. It does so by bringing together key stakeholders in the field of history education from different fields. On the Advisory Board, educators are represented via the European Association of History Educators (EuroClio). Academic perspectives are included in the Advisory Board membership via the Leibniz Institute for Educational Media/Georg Eckert Institute, focusing on resources and educational media, and the International Society of History Didactics (ISHD), focusing on teaching practices. Besides researchers and teachers, public history stakeholders are also actively engaged in HISTOLAB. For instance, the House of European History brings expertise related to museums to the table, while the Federation for European Education (FEDE) enriches the project with its work in adult and non-formal education. The inclusion of two members of the Observatory’s Scientific Advisory Council ensures close co-ordination and fruitful co-operation between these two mechanisms. In all its activities, HISTOLAB reaches out to a wide range of stakeholders beyond the members of the Advisory Board to maximise its inclusiveness.

HISTOLAB seeks to advance the debate on innovation in history education and to drive innovation in history teaching throughout Europe through a set of activities. These activities centre around pooling, sharing and multiplying existing knowledge, as well as generating new knowledge. First, HISTOLAB has created a digital hub,3 which is a platform where information related to history education is centralised. This is a direct response to the difficulties expressed by many stakeholders in navigating the vast amount of initiatives, projects and resources that are available online but scattered all over the internet (OHTE 2024). Through the HIST-CONNECT database, users can find experts and organisations active in history education directly matching specific search criteria such as fields of expertise. They can also be contacted directly via the platform. On this interactive platform, users and organisations can apply for membership based on specific criteria. Furthermore, it offers an interactive calendar and bulletin board through which registered users can share their project experiences, events and opportunities with the community of stakeholders.

The Resource Hub provides a unique collection of resources related to history education, including documents from international organisations (e.g. reports or recommendations), databases with official information (e.g. curricula and textbooks via the services of partners such as the Leibniz Institute for Educational Media), teaching materials from civil society organisations (e.g. EuroClio), or sources related to the history of history education, such as historical textbooks. The Resource Hub is a “living database” that grows organically, as every visitor can submit proposals for resources to be included. Thus, researchers, policy makers and history educators alike can find relevant resources for their work via the Hub, which provides a unique space for accessing recommendations at international level, regulations at governmental level, scientific data, and materials from civil society organisations. Documents, projects and databases can be found based on specific criteria, helping users to navigate the vast number of materials and resources related to history education available online.

The annually organised European Innovation Days in History Education conferences are a major component of the project, as they allow history educators to present their work and to exchange good practices and experiences in person. Bringing together academics, policy makers and practitioners, they provide a unique opportunity for educators and researchers to widen their networks and perspectives. Through these pan-European exchanges, gaps between academic history and history teaching can be discussed and addressed. The HISTOLAB Award for Innovative School Projects in History Education takes place within the framework of the Innovation Days. Here, in line with the Learners First strategy of the Council of Europe (2023), the learner takes centre stage and is given the opportunity to communicate their ideas and needs by showcasing their learner-led history education projects as good practices to the community of history educators. The awarded projects are made publicly visible each year on the digital hub. The key takeaways of these events are included at the end of this volume in Chapter 6.

The HISTOLAB tutorial series explores an innovative format by offering video tutorials for teachers to learn about possibilities to enhance their teaching practice. Each tutorial is dedicated to a specific topic, such as the Holocaust, histories of conflict, Roma history or gender history. They offer specific guidance to teachers on putting the principle of multiperspectivity into practice and utilising new technologies for history teaching in meaningful ways. Each video is professionally recorded and edited to provide a pleasant user experience that encourages engagement. One significant benefit of this format is the constant availability of the tutorials online and low barriers of access (for instance, they do not require registration for a webinar).

Finally, the HISTOLAB Toolkit to debunk fake news in history classes is a clear reaction to the challenge described in the previous section: the prevalence of distorted historical information in online spaces that aims to undermine trust in democracy and to sow discord in Europe. The toolkit aims at strengthening learners’ critical and historical thinking skills, enabling them to critically question and analyse the historical content they encounter online. It contains 11 learning activities and can be used both in classrooms and autonomously by learners (Council of Europe, forthcoming).

Through the HISTOLAB Fellowship, the project supports the work of young researchers focusing on innovation in history education. It does so by offering a financial grant, as well as access to the resources and expertise of its partner organisations, notably the Leibniz Institute for Educational Media/Georg Eckert Institute, EuroClio and the House of European History. Each fellowship has resulted in the creation and publication of a scientific article related to innovation in history education. Through the supported articles, HISTOLAB seeks to encourage young researchers to build expertise in this field and to contribute to meeting their academic needs in these thematic areas. All articles included in this book were presented at the European Innovation Days in History Education conference on 5 April 2024 in Strasbourg and are available on the HISTOLAB Digital Hub. The articles intend to benefit policy makers and history educators alike by offering reflections on how innovation in history education can be approached meaningfully in relation to both digital and non-digital tools and methods.

Presentation of the articles supported by the HISTOLAB Fellowship

This volume presents the research findings of the HISTOLAB Fellows 2023/24. All research projects are firmly rooted in the Council of Europe value system, in promoting history education that supports democratic culture in its member states, and connect to several relevant instruments, such as the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (Council of Europe 2018a) and the Principles and Guidelines for Quality History Teaching in the 21st Century (Council of Europe 2018b). The authors locate these documents in the context of the work of other international stakeholders, such as the European Commission and the United Nations system, as well as international professional associations like EuroClio. By incorporating a wide range of history education stakeholders in their analyses, they underline the importance of collaboration between different sectors to improve history education.

The chapters draw on a wide range of source material. They analyse policy documents, textbooks and curricula, utilising a wide range of methods. The authors develop theoretical models further and propose practical approaches that could support the creation of innovative forms of history education, contributing to bringing policy recommendations to life in creative ways and to developing them further.

The research findings of the HISTOLAB fellows shine a light on the central challenges of current and future history education within and beyond the classrooms of schools in Europe. Their research explores successes and obstacles in the democratisation of history teaching and in relation to public history formats, as well as to curriculum and textbook development. In their studies, the fellows emphasise the need for disciplinary skills in identifying, critically questioning and analysing historical sources for an education for democracy. Such skills are especially important for strengthening learners’ resilience to historical distortions and disinformation campaigns more generally. They further explore opportunities and limitations of utilising digital tools and digital formats for historical learning.

The HISTOLAB fellows emphasise the growing significance of learning locations outside of schools, such as museums and historical sites, which connect to the life world of the students and offer a laboratory for new didactic approaches that bridge the digital with the material culture of history. They offer concrete examples to dispel the fears of some of their colleagues that defining history education as an integral part of education for democracy, inclusion and sustainability might weaken the academic quality of history education.

Ana Radaković’s chapter examines success factors and obstacles to curricular reform aimed at strengthening the European dimension in history teaching in Serbia. In doing so, she offers an insightful overview of different ways that “Europe” is constructed in the recommendations and resolutions of the European Union and the Council of Europe, and she locates the curricular reform in Serbia in this context. In her chapter, Radaković combines curriculum and textbook analysis with an analysis of teachers’ and university students’ perspectives on teaching European history in Serbia. Radaković identifies a growing recognition among Serbian students that European history is not an opposite dimension to national history and emphasises the continued need to train all stakeholders in the history teaching process on perceiving and incorporating the European dimension in their teaching practice.

Foteini Venieri’s chapter focuses on "Mapping the digital transition of museum theatre as an enrichment tool for virtual museum education”. After introducing theatre and performance-based engagement in museum contexts, a well-suited method to combine cognitive with emotional learning, Venieri explores the potential for their transposition to digital environments. Based on a thorough evaluation of different digital museum theatre projects, Venieri identifies good practices in this field, as well as factors that positively affect the impact of digital museum theatre projects. These contain technological, conceptual, social and contextual aspects, such as the availability of infrastructures, the authenticity of spaces, trust between participants and actors, as well as the abilities to adapt to time constraints and leverage primary sources in these particular contexts.

Jan-Christian Wilkening’s chapter, “More than accessibility – Including people with (intellectual) disabilities in public history” calls for people with intellectual disabilities to be actively included in the shaping of history teaching and historical culture. Such participation would raise awareness in society of the need to overcome perceptions related to medical pathology and would help to visualise and potentially resolve socially conditioned segregation, or even exclusion. In doing so, he links two important processes through which history education opens up and becomes more inclusive, namely by including learning activities beyond the classroom and by giving persons with intellectual disabilities the possibility to actively engage in the creation of historical narratives.

In his chapter “Exploring the potential of emerging digital technologies for history education” Miljenko Hajdarović analyses the ways in which new digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality or video games can enhance history teaching and pinpoints the limitations of such technologies. By drawing on a wide range of studies, expert interviews and a teacher survey, he creates a snapshot of the ways in which such technologies are already used and also makes predictions on their use in European classrooms in the future.

The chapters not only complement one another but also stimulate and inspire each other. While Hajdarović analyses the potential that digital transformation offers for history teaching, Venieri focuses on museum theatre as a specific mode of instruction and provides proposals for interactive and sensory learning in digital environments. Wilkening on the other hand, pays attention to the inclusivity of the process of developing such offers. These fellows bring to light the need for interactive pedagogies that are responsive to the sociocultural diversity and interests of students. They emphasise that these can contribute to a greater understanding of members belonging to different communities, maximise the potential benefits offered by the combination of digital and analogue forms of history education, as well as enhance the inclusivity of history education. The studies further show that history education should equally consider the cognitive, emotive and ethical dimension of history. Bringing together new digital tools with forms of living history that are not confined to military history, but which explicitly include social and cultural history, is seen as an appropriate way of avoiding polarising emotionalism and politicisation of history education.

While covering different subject matters, the chapters all share a common thread – an innovative perspective on the future of history education for democratic societies in Europe. Supported by their research, the authors compellingly demonstrate that actively shaping the future of history education involves placing the learner at the centre by experimenting with different innovative forms of history education.

References

▶ Amacher K., Portnov A. and Serhiienko V. (2021), Official history in Eastern Europe, Fibre, Osnabrück.

▶ Anderson B. (2016), Imagined communities: reflections on the origins and spread of nationalism, Verso, London.

▶ Anderson M., Faverio M. and Gottfried J. (2023), Teens, social media and technology 2023, Pew Research Center, available at www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/12/11/teens-social-media-and-technology-2023/, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Auxier B. and Anderson M. (2021), Social media use in 2021, Pew Research Center, available at www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021/, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Biaggi C. (2020), Can video games improve history education?, EuroClio, available at https://euroclio.eu/2020/03/24/can-video-games-improve-history-education/, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Foster S. (2012), “Re-thinking history textbooks in a globalized world”, in Carretero M. et al. (eds), History education and the construction of national identities, Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, NC.

▶ Fostikov A. (2023), “First impressions on using AI powered chatbots, tools, and search engines: ChatGPT, Perplexity and other – possibilities and usage problems”, Review of the National Center for Digitisation (Serbia) No. 42, pp. 12-21.

▶ Gellner E. (1997), Nationalism, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London. Giddens A. (1991), Modernity and self-identity: self and society in the late modern age, Polity Press, Cambridge.

▶ Haydn T. and Ribbens K. (2017), “Social media, new technologies and history education”, in Carretero M. et al. (eds), Palgrave handbook of research in historical culture and education, Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp. 735-53.

▶ Hickey P. (2024), Bridging the past and future: the impact of AI on history education –A journey into AI-enhanced history teaching, EuroClio, available at https://euroclio.eu/2024/02/23/bridging-the-past-and-future-the-impact-of-ai-on-history-education-a-journey-into-ai-enhanced-history-teaching/, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (n.d.), Bridging the gap in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, UN ICTY, available at www.icty.org/en/outreach/bridging-the-gap-with-local-communities/srebrenica, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ McCall J. (2023), Gaming the past: using video games to teach secondary history (2nd edn), Routledge, Abingdon/New York.

▶ Safronova V. (2023), “New Russian high school textbooks seek to justify war in Ukraine”, The New York Times, 1 September 2023, available at www.nytimes.com/2023/09/01/world/europe/russia-textbooks-ukraine-war.html, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Sarts J. (2020), “Disinformation as a threat to national security”, in Jayakumar S. et al. (eds), Disinformation and fake news, Palgrave Macmillan, London.

▶ Smith A. (1991), National identity, University of Nevada Press, Reno.

Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe

▶ Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (1983), Recommendation No. R (83) 4 (adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 18 April 1983) concerning the promotion of an awareness of Europe in secondary schools.

▶ Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (2001), Recommendation Rec(2001)15 (adopted by the Ministers’Deputies on 31 October 2001) on history teaching in twenty-first-century Europe.

▶ Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (2020), Recommendation CM/Rec(2020)2 (adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 1 July 2020) on the inclusion of the history of Roma and/ or Travellers in school curricula and teaching materials.

▶ Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (2022), Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)5 (adopted by the Ministers’Deputies on 17 March 2022) on passing on remembrance of the Holocaust and preventing crimes against humanity.

Council of Europe

▶ Council of Europe (1953), “Conference on ‘The European idea in history teaching’”, Calw, Germany, 4-12 August 1953, available at https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=0900001680493c8a, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (1965), “Symposium on ‘History teaching in secondary education’”, Elsinor, Denmark, 21 August-1 September 1965, available at https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=0900001680493c8d, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (2002), “The 20th century – An interplay of views: ‘Learning and teaching about the history of Europe in the 20th century’”, final conference, Bonn (Germany), 22-24 March 2001, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, available at https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=0900001680494245, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (2003), “Multiperspectivity in history teaching: a guide for teachers”, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, available at http://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=0900001680493c9e, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (2014), “Shared histories for a Europe without dividing lines”, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, available at https://rm.coe.int/shared-histories-for-a-europe-without-dviding-lines/1680994a97, accessed 9 June 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (2018a), Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture, Volume 1, Context, concepts and model, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, available at https://rm.coe.int/prems-008318-gbr-2508-referenceframework-of-competences-vol-1-8573-co/16807bc66c, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (2018b), “Quality history education in the 21st century: principles and guidelines”, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, available at https://rm.coe.int/prems-108118-gbr-2507-quality-history-education-web-21x21/16808eace7, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (2023), “‘Learners first’, Education for today’s and tomorrow’s democratic societies”, Council of Europe Education Strategy 2024-2030, adopted at the 26th session of the Council of Europe Standing Conference of Ministers of Education (28-29 September 2023), available at https://rm.coe.int/education-strategy-2024-2030-26th-session-council-of-europe-standing-c/1680abee81, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (2024), HISTOLAB Toolkit to debunk fake news in history classes, Council of Europe, Strasbourg (forthcoming).

▶ Council of Europe (n.d.a), “History textbooks (1953-1991)”, available at www.coe.int/en/web/history-teaching/history-textbooks, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (n.d.b), “History teaching (1965-1991)”, available at www.coe.int/en/web/history-teaching/history-teaching, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (n.d.c), “The ‘New Europe’ (1989-1998)”, available at www.coe.int/en/web/history-teaching/the-new-europe-, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (n.d.d), “About us”, Remembrance of the Holocaust, Prevention of Crimes against Humanity, available at www.coe.int/en/web/holocaust/about-us, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (n.d.e), “The image of the other in history teaching (2006-2009)”, available at www.coe.int/en/web/history-teaching/the-image-of-the-other-in-history-teaching, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (n.d.f), “Educating for diversity and democracy: teaching history in contemporary Europe”, available at www.coe.int/en/web/history-teaching/educating-for-diversity-and-democracy-teaching-history-in-contemporary-europe, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Council of Europe (n.d.g), “The European dimension in history teaching (2002-2006)”, available at www.coe.int/en/web/history-teaching/the-european-dimension-in-history-teaching, accessed 29 April 2024.

▶ Observatory on History Teaching in Europe (2022), Pandemics and natural disasters as reflected in history teaching, Thematic report by the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg.

▶ Observatory on History Teaching in Europe (2024), OHTE general report on the state of history teaching in Europe 2023, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg.

European Council/Council of the European Union

▶ European Council/Council of the European Union (2023), “The fight against pro-Kremlin disinformation”, available at www.consilium.europa.eu/en/documents-publications/library/library-blog/posts/the-fight-against-pro-kremlin-disinformation/, accessed 6 March 2024.

1 The term “Roma and Travellers” is used at the Council of Europe to encompass the wide diversity of the groups covered by the work of the Council of Europe in this field: on the one hand a) Roma, Sinti/Manush, Calé, Kaale, Romanichals, Boyash/Rudari; b) Balkan Egyptians (Egyptians and Ashkali); c) Eastern groups (Dom, Lom and Abdal); and, on the other hand, groups such as Travellers, Yenish, and the populations designated under the administrative term “Gens du voyage”, as well as persons who identify themselves as Gypsies. The present is an explanatory footnote, not a definition of Roma and/or Travellers.

2 This overview was published in the OHTE general report (2024).

3 https://histolab.coe.int.

Chapter 2 Strengthening the European dimension through curriculum reform in Serbia

AnaRadaković, Universityof Belgrade, Serbia

Introduction

History is compulsory within Serbia’s educational framework, spanning both primary and secondary levels. In primary education, history is typically introduced in the upper grades, encompassing the fifth to eighth years, while in secondary education it extends over varying durations depending on the department: four years in the general and social-linguistic department, three years in the natural science department, and one or two years in vocational secondary schools (OHTE 2024: 109). Since 2000, Serbia has been making efforts to align its education system more closely with European standards. This included opening the textbook market to private publishers in 2003 and refining educational standards across subjects. A significant reform occurred in 2017, introducing new history curricula for grammar schools. These changes shifted the focus towards thematic learning, long-term historical study and critical thinking skills. Rather than just memorising content, the new curricula emphasise outcomes and competencies aligned with lifelong learning and democratic values, as recommended by the Council of Europe.

This chapter explores how the European dimension is integrated into the new history curricula and its impact on teachers and students in Serbia. The aim is to identify challenges in incorporating European perspectives into history education. Alongside examining existing interpretations of the European dimension in history teaching, the study seeks to identify aspects of Europeanisation that fit Serbia’s unique societal and educational context. Methodologically, the research involves analysing curricula, educational standards and textbooks, conducting teacher interviews, and surveying university students and high-school pupils.

The chapter provides a theoretical background on conceptualisations of Europe and Serbia’s positioning therein, followed by an exploration of different interpretations of the European dimension in education, particularly history teaching. It then outlines the research methods employed before presenting the findings from each analysis and concluding with reflections on the study’s implications.

Europe – and Serbia within Europe

Defining Europe is a multifaceted challenge, entwined with geographical, historical, cultural, political, economic and social dimensions. As Guy Neave articulated in 1984, the concept of Europe is deeply contested, with interpretations as varied as the interests vying for its definition (Convery et al. 1997: 2). Similarly, Peter Burke’s reflection in 1980 underscores Europe not merely as a geographical entity but as a concept – an idea shaped by perceptions and narratives (Burke 1980: 21).

J. G. A. Pocock delves into the historical journey of Europe, tracing its evolution from a geographic term to a symbol of civilisation, a process marked by linguistic manipulation and cultural representation (Pocock 1997: 12). From the epochs of Hellenic and Roman dominance to the Christian and modern eras, Europe has been continually transformed, shaped by historical forces and ideological currents (Triandafyllidou and Gropas 2023: 16-44).

Enlightenment thinkers played a pivotal role in shaping Europe’s identity, associating it with notions of progress, scientific rationality and religious tolerance. This intellectual ferment laid the groundwork for a cohesive understanding of Europe, transcending geographical boundaries and embracing a shared cultural heritage (Pocock 1997; Stock 2017; Triandafyllidou and Gropas 2023). Pocock argues that economic imperatives, particularly the desire to end religious conflicts, drove Europe towards institutional unification, which accelerated after the devastation of the Second World War. This era saw the birth of the European Union – a bold experiment in supranational governance aimed at fostering peace, prosperity and co-operation among its member states (Pocock 1997: 18).

Despite its tumultuous history marked by dissent and division, Europe has come to embody ideals of peace, democracy and human rights. The Council of Europe articulated a collective vision for a united Europe grounded in shared values and aspirations. The European Union, through its advocacy of the “four freedoms”, seeks to promote the free movement of goods, people, services and capital, fostering deeper integration and solidarity among its diverse members (Stock 2017: 27).

In essence, the discourse on Europe reflects an ongoing quest to reconcile its diverse past, confront its present challenges and envision a shared future. Triandafyllidou and Gropas distil this narrative into three core tenets guiding Europe’s political project: the regeneration of European identity and culture, the defence of its ideals against external threats and the collective endeavour to forge a more prosperous and inclusive future (ibid.: 69).

Borders and boundaries remain central to conceptualisations of Europe, prompting questions about their authority and criteria for inclusion. The issue of identity may play a role in this process. Identity, shaped by historical, socio-economic and cultural factors, fuels intense debate – is European identity primarily political or cultural? Does it constitute a supranational “umbrella” identity or clash with national identities? Prevailing narratives emphasise diversity, yet historical evolution sheds light on its formation.