What is the role of higher education in teaching history? How can the misuse of history be tackled at this defining moment in young Europeans’ education? And what should be the role of historians in today's increasingly public and sensitive debates around history?
Council of Europe’s Forums for History Education provide a platform for relevant ministries’ representatives, other public authorities, teachers, curriculum developers, academics, researchers, and civil society representatives to exchange their perspectives and practices in history education and collaboratively develop guidelines for improving history education. They are part of the decades-long Intergovernmental programme on history education of the Council of Europe*, currently in its sixth edition entitled “Educating for diversity and democracy: teaching history in contemporary Europe”.
The Third Forum on History Education commits to tackle the topic of "Reinforcing historical awareness and culture through higher education: threats and challenges” with a particular focus to three key aspects:
- The role of higher education in history education and research for democratic societies
- The identities, roles, and responsibilities of historians within higher education
- The value of historical culture for society: the role of higher education
*Council of Europe’s attention to history education began as early as its creation in 1949 with a large number of activities, standards and resources proposed over the years. Whilst intergovernmental co-operation on history teaching emerged in the Council of Europe as soon as 1953, it was with Recommendation 1283 (1996) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on "History and the learning of history in Europe" that intergovernmental projects with specific missions and objectives were launched.
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