“Fewer than half [of the Council of Europe member states that are members of the Observatory for History Teaching] explicitly mention the European dimension in their curricula”, says the Observatory’s first report, published on Thursday 30 November, entitled “Teaching History: Teaching Peace?”.
Set up in 2020 under the initiative of former MEP Alain Lamassoure, who now chairs the body, it currently has 16 participating countries (the EU Member States of Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Spain and Slovenia, as well as Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Georgia, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey).
The number of participating states is set to rise to 18 with the accession of Switzerland and Ukraine, which have until now been observer states.
“It is important to place the data and conclusions of this first report in the context of the current Russian aggression against Ukraine”, said Aurora Alincaï, the Observatory’s Director, who sees it as “a striking example of the danger of misinterpreting history based on the manipulation of historical accounts”.
“This is a challenge to be tackled over the long term”.
It was against this backdrop that the Observatory decided to include a Ukraine fact sheet in its first report.
“Our aim is not to hand out good or bad marks, but to help countries find out how history is taught in neighbouring countries and to help best practice emerge”, explained Alain Lamassoure.
Fifteen conclusions emerge from this initial review, based on information provided by national education authorities and by 6,500 history teachers who responded to a questionnaire.
The main concerns include: curriculum overload, pressures on teaching, a lack of ongoing training not only on developments in historical research, but also on the impact of new technologies on teaching and on how to respond to the stereotypes and prejudices expressed by some pupils.
Asked what to say to young people with the European elections 6 months away and when war is once again raging across the continent, Mr Lamassoure replied: “Europe is a project of peace. The European Union has achieved a miracle, but it is limited to its borders. It has never claimed to go beyond this. The reconciliation between France and Germany has been extended to countries like Lithuania and Poland, which are now friends, and Hungary and Romania, which cannot imagine resorting to war over the Transylvanian question”.
“What saddens me”, he added, “is that we are not studying the cause, the nature, the depth of this peace”.
Hence, in his view, “the importance of teaching history, teaching this art of peace”.
The Observatory will continue its work with an analysis of school textbooks and a more in-depth examination of certain themes, which will be the subject of a forthcoming report in 3 years’ time.
He hopes that teachers, universities and political decision-makers will use this work to launch even more in-depth research and develop practical applications.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/9wt (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)