Seventeen Member States (*) of the Council of Europe have decided to establish the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe as an Enlarged Partial Agreement. The Observatory’s main purpose will be to collect and make available, through a series of regular and thematic reports, factual information on the ways in which history is taught in all participating countries.
The main aim will be to facilitate exchange of good practice and mutual learning. It will also serve as a platform for the professional development and networking for European professional associations and institutes active in the field of history teaching.
In the context of rising populism, history education that encourages multi-perspectivity and critical thinking is key to the development of a culture of democracy. By bringing to the fore practices which encourage history teaching in line with Council of Europe values, the Observatory will contribute to strengthening resilience against the manipulation and distortion of history and will help to promote peace and dialogue. The Observatory builds on the Council of Europe’s decades of experience in history teaching and aims to complement and reinforce its intergovernmental programme. This initiative was launched under the French Presidency of the Committee of Ministers bringing it to fruition is one of the crowning achievements of the Greek Chairmanship of the Organisation.
(*) Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Cyprus, France, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, North Macedonia, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey.
Council of Europe
