Episode 37: An alternative history curriculum

Simona Stankutė joins our podcast to talk about her recent residency with EuroClio and the work done by her colleagues at the Lithuanian History Teachers' Association creating an alternative history curriculum. We talk about challenges of overcrowded curricula , the steps needed to change a curriculum, and how teachers in Lithuania are in dialogue with the government in shaping the future of history teaching there.

Em. prof. dr. Judith Pace (University of San Francisco, USA) joins our podcast to talk about her research on teaching controversial topics, notably her latest academic work in South Africa, while also sharing some tips and recommendations for teachers. Judy's latest article, Deliberative dialogues with preservice teachers in Bosnia-Herzegovina and South Africa using a gradient of controversy approach, discussed in the podcast episode, was published shortly after this podcast.

In this episode Andreas Holtberget speaks with Jessica Ellison from the National Council for History Education in the United States. They talk about the challenges arising from Trump's re-election, from defunding of education and the chilling effects of his many executive orders to book banning and teacher solidarity in response.

In this episode, Andreas Holtberget speaks with Jonathon Dallimore, Executive Officer for the History Teachers' Association of New South Wales (HTANSW) on his recently published book, 'Teaching History: A Practical Guide for Secondary School Teachers'.

Andreas Holtberget is joined by Dominic Studer to talk about global history and why we should teach it. Dominic has over the last few years been working on a project titled Globalgeschichtliche Perspektiven im Schweizer Geschichtsunterricht (Global perspectives in Swiss History Education) and he shares some of the findings and results of this project. How did the Swiss teachers involved "globalise" the topics they teach and what did their students make of it all?

In this episode, we speak with Melanie Rowntree from the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford (UK) about the challenges of properly contextualising a museum collection with a strong colonial legacy. What to do with contested or questionable labels or object descriptions? How to involve affected communities whose objects are exhibited?

We are joined by the head of the Historiana Content Team ⁠Dr. Robert Stradling⁠ to talk about his new project on migration history. The topic is highly present in contemporary political discourse and therefore, Bob argues, crucial to teach in order to make history feel relevant for today's students. Bob has a long track record with EuroClio and has also worked extensively in the past with the Council of Europe on history education and we also discuss with him how he sees the developments in history education in the last decades and where we are today.

What is going on in Russian (history) education? Your podcast hosts speak with Valentina Papeikienė and Larisa Leganger Bronder, both from the European Wergeland Centre, a resource centre on education for intercultural understanding, human rights and democratic citizenship in Oslo. The EWC recently published their report 'Education in the Service of Ideology and Political Gain: The Case of Russia' and their findings form the basis of our conversation.

While in Vilnius for EuroClio's Annual Conference in 2023, I had the chance to sit down with Tommaso Piccinno and Michele Masini, researchers on board games in education at the University of Genoa. We talk about the use of board games in history education - with teacher Marco Tibaldini joining us briefly. Audio warning: Vilnius was also host to some very opinionated and chirpy birds...

We visit the University of Utrecth and speak wth Dr. Bjorn Wansink from TerInfo. TerInfo is a project group that does research on how terrorism and war is taught and tackled in schools. In addition to research, they also create teacher guides and learning scenarios to help teachers deal with these difficult topics.