During one of the coldest weekends of this winter, 36 History Educators, mostly from the Western part of the Republic of Macedonia, met in Ohrid for the first Capacity Building and Curriculum Assessment Workshop in the EuroClio/Belgium Ministry of Foreign Affairs project History that Connects – Republic of Macedonia. The workshop aimed to strengthen the organizational and networking capacity of the Association of History Educators in Macedonia ANIM. This was achieved by having a series of group discussions about strategies forward for the Association. It was very helpful that valuable expertise from Finland and Estonia (both of them like Republic of Macedonia, also multi-lingual countries) could be shared by the trainers and association activists Ms Mare Oja (Estonian Association of History Educators) and Riitta Mikkola (HYOL – Finnish Association of History and Social Studies Teachers). They also gave insightful and active workshops about sensitive history and multiperspectivity. Observers from the Slovenian, Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian and Kosovar History Teachers Associations also shared and discussed with the participants the current affairs in History Teaching in their countries. The bulk of the workshop was spent on kick-starting a new and exciting research programme, supported by the Minister of Education of Macedonia, into challenges and solutions for Integrated History Education in Macedonia. This was done using the so-called World Café method. A detailed report will soon be available for download.
