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Democratic Values & History Education
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Overall Aim
The project brought together 80 history educators, which belong to the centre of the network for history teaching and form the nucleus of the History Teachers' Associations. The project illustrated a diversity of experiences and viewpoints in countries which share a controversial past. At the same time, we aimed to transfer and encourage speci¬fic expertise and teaching materials about methodologies for encouraging the development of historical thinking skills in students/pupils which enhance history learning and teaching and democratic values and practices. The group cascaded expertise, materials and other results further on the international and national levels.
Objectives
- To promote the maintenance and continuing pluralistic development of History Teachers' Associations in Russia, Latvia and Estonia and consolidate those in the western states, too, so that a forum exists where issues of history education can be studied, scrutinised, debated, dis¬cussed and be subject to consultation by history teachers, parents, government agencies and other interested parties. The role of the professional history teacher in all this has been crucial and should not be undermined.
- To improve relations between history educators in Russia, Latvia and Estonia and with those in the other participating countries to allow consultation, debate, discussion and encourage critical thinking about history knowledge and its understanding. Experience in the EUROCLIO network learned that mutual personal relations contribute to overcome problems created by a sensitive mutual past.
- To develop effective communication among History Teachers' Associations and history teachers so that professional attitudes are developed, consolidated and enhanced to strengthen their resolve to be responsible partners in democratic societies.
- To enhance existing teaching methods and teaching materials in history by developing alternative strategies which allow pupils to handle and evaluate a variety of sources of evidence (researched based learning), which takes account of pupil maturity and abilities (differentiation) and which encourages child-centred approaches, that increase pupil interest and commitment. These strategies and others such as role play and simulation which encourage active pupil participation, have been examined as potential for developing pupils' critical thinking skills. Due regard paid to assessment of pupils and to the training needs of teachers at all levels in schools to put such strategies in place.
- The project addressed the place of history within the school curriculum, the knowledge base of the subject, the relevance of pupil skills and the subject's role in pluralistic and democratic societies, including the combating of nationalistic, racist and discriminatory activity and propaganda.
- It considered further the impact of other innovative teaching and learning approaches in classrooms, teaching materials, museums, libraries and in fieldwork which help to develop investigative skills, independent research, thinking, analysis and evaluation of the sources of historical evidence. The development of all such skills was essential for citizens in democratic societies and western teachers, comfortable with their experiences, can offer guidance and advice to less experienced teachers in the new democracies. An open-ended, problem-solving, interpretative approach to history teaching will be encouraged.
- The project linked the results of various earlier Euroclio projects on 'teaching history and encouraging democratic values, such as:
- 'History, a key to democracy', Neuchatel, March 1996;
- 'Democracy and the Welfare State', Denmark, September 1996. |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 20 November 2008 10:32 |
