History teaching in Europe and Malta

The general conference of the European Standing Conference of History Teachers Associations (Euroclio), is to be held in Malta in March 2006.

The executive director of Euroclio is Joke van der Leeuw-Roord, who, as president of the Dutch History Teachers Association, took the initiative to create the body in 1992, becoming its founding president. She has since worked full time for history education in Europe and is involved in a variety of activities related to the learning and teaching of history in Europe funded by Unesco, the Council of Europe, the European Union, national governments and private trusts. She is a senior consultant for the Council of Europe and acts as manager of long-term international projects on the innovation of history education.

Here she speaks to Yosanne Vella, lecturer in history pedagogy in the faculty of Education, University of Malta and vice-president of Malta's History Teachers' Association.

What exactly is Euroclio?
Euroclio is the umbrella organisation of History Teachers Associations in Europe. It organises seminars, conferences, comparative research and study visits at a national and international level in a wide diversity of countries in Europe on issues related to history education.

Euroclio specialises in teacher training using active methods, practical workshops and interactive learning by application of ICT. It carries out long-term projects among others in Bosnia, Estonia, Rumania and Ukraine on innovations of history teaching. These projects focus on developing knowledge, experience and expertise in the participating countries by training, developing innovative teaching materials and the strengthening of the professional organisations.

Euroclio also carries out international comparative inquiries in the field of history education and problem analysis in the relation between history, society and politics.

What is a Euroclio general conference?
Once a year Euroclio organises an international training and professional development conference which addresses key issues in history education in Europe. These annual conferences promote a greater awareness for the international dimension in history education and provide a unique forum for a professional discussion on matters of common interest.

What preparations are underway for the Euroclio 2006 Conference?
In 2006, this conference will be held in Malta, offered by the Maltese History Teachers Association in cooperation with a diversity of national stakeholders such as the University of Malta.

The conference in Malta will certainly address three key issues in which Maltese history education can offer examples of excellent practice to their colleagues all over Europe. The focus will be on developing skills through history education, multiculturalism as a basis for society and cultural and historical heritage as learning environment. These elements are chosen as important aspects to enhance qualities of involved national and European citizenship.

In order to prepare the Euroclio 2006 Conference we have started to look for a suitable venue for the expected 200 delegates from at least 35-40 European countries. We are looking for a hotel which can offer conference facilities facilitating active participants. We teach what we preach, which means that lectures should be short and a wide variety of workshops should be on offer. We will discuss a further detailing of the programme with our colleagues from Malta, during the Euroclio 2005 Conference in April in Riga, Latvia.

This year you gave the keynote paper entitled History Works, Concerns in History Education at the Michael Sant Memorial lecture. What are your main concerns regarding history teaching in Europe at the moment and how does the Maltese situation fare compared to other European countries?
As customary, Euroclio will also for 2006 disseminate a comparative questionnaire among its members. Previous questionnaires, carried out in the last decade, have resulted in insights into the developments in European history education. In the Michael Sant Memorial lecture I was able to demonstrate with maps and graphs that history education in Malta faces similar challenges and opportunities as in the rest of Europe. The aims for teaching history in Malta and Europe are alike and the greater emphasis on skills, which was promoted by the late Michael Sant in Malta, is also a common approach in Europe. However, the pressure to accomplish history curriculum requirements in a decreasing amount of time and with shrinking budgets is unfortunately also a common problem.

The History Teachers Association in Malta as well as their partner organisations in Europe share the appointed task to act as agents of change implementing educational reforms in classroom practice. Euroclio is extremely happy that the Maltase association has taken the responsibility to inspire and encourage their European colleagues, and guide them further on the road of education.

More information about Euroclio, its activities and relation with the History Teachers Associations in Europe can be found at www.eurocliohistroy.org and in the transcript of the lecture given at the Michael A. Sant Memorial Lecture, number 3.