From 18 to 21 October the sixth – and final – Regional Authors and Experts Work Session within the History that Connects: How to Teach Sensitive Topics in the Countries of Former Yugoslavia took place. After a weekend of hard work EuroClio is very satisfied with the progress that is made.
The History Teachers Associations from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia participated actively in the event. The work session was the last in this project, so most modules were finished during the weekend. At the end of the weekend the group agreed to start piloting the modules. This is important because it assures teachers that the developed material is usable in class, and it gives the students the opportunity to suggest adjustments.
To assure that the quality of the Regional Authors and Experts Work Session would be high, EuroClio invited teacher trainer and professional in the field of education, Súsanna Margrét Gestsdóttir from Iceland. She held a close, critical look on the activities of the participants and the material. In the coming week mrs Gestsdóttir will write an objective and independent report of her findings.
The modules will now be discussed one more time in The Hague during the Coordinators Editing and Management Meeting, which will take place from 9 to 13 of January. During this meeting two members of each national association will work together to turn the modules into innovative and professional teaching material.
Overall, the meeting was successful in reaching its aims, as well as it created fertile soil for debates, capacity building and engagement across borders. The participants know that there is still some work to do, and will work actively the coming period to overcome the last problems before editing and finalizing the modules.
EuroClio hopes to present the educational textbook with all the developed modules around October next year.
