The Observatory on History Teaching in Europe
Reply to Recommendation
| Doc. 15644
| 18 October 2022
- Author(s):
- Committee of Ministers
- Origin
- Adopted at the 1445th meeting
of the Ministers’ Deputies (5 October 2022). 2022 - Fourth part-session
- Reply to Recommendation
- : Recommendation 2224
(2022)
1. The Committee of
Ministers has carefully examined Parliamentary Assembly
Recommendation 2224 (2022) “The Observatory on History Teaching in Europe” (OHTE).
The recommendation has been brought to the attention of the governments
of the member States and forwarded to the relevant committees for
information and possible comments.
Note
2. The Committee of Ministers agrees with the Assembly’s view
that history teaching plays a key role in strengthening democratic
culture in Europe and, in particular, in building young people’s
competences to be fully part of and adhere to it.
3. The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers provide
assistance to member States in reviewing their education policies.
In this connection, the Committee of Ministers wishes to inform
the Assembly that work to support the adoption of the Organisation’s
“Quality history education in the 21st century
– Principles and Guidelines” and “Reference Framework of Competences
for Democratic Culture” is part of the Council of Europe Education
Programme 2022-2025 and is currently under way. The Education Policy
Advisers Network (EPAN) is continuing its work to disseminate the
Framework in the member States and to support them in its implementation.
It also points out that the principles of history teaching and the
activities to be developed in this field were set out in Recommendation
Rec(2001)15, “History teaching in twenty-first-century Europe”, which
is still relevant today. Much has been achieved as a result of this
recommendation, not least in terms of training teachers to provide
quality history teaching and holding events related to the Day of
Remembrance of the Holocaust and for the Prevention of Crimes against
Humanity in schools and elsewhere.
4. With regard to the Assembly's recommendation on the financing,
the Committee of Ministers underlines that it is aware of the importance
of the Council of Europe’s work in the field of education including
the work on history teaching and language education which has been
duly taken into account in the Programme and Budget 2022-2025.
5. As regards how to link the Observatory’s activities to the
Council of Europe’s work on history teaching, the Committee of Ministers
informs the Assembly that the OHTE’s medium-term programme (2021-2023), states
that the Observatory is also designed to support and complement
the Council of Europe’s intergovernmental programme on history teaching.
Accordingly, the Observatory considers that its regular and thematic
reports provide information on how Council of Europe standards and
tools are being used by OHTE member States. Ongoing and future work
of the Observatory actively promotes European high-quality education
for all Council of Europe member States in the field of history
teaching. In this respect, the Committee of Ministers underlines
the importance of the OHTE Scientific Advisory Board, composed of
renowned persons in the field of history teaching and learning,
and whose activities ensure the academic, scientific and methodological
seriousness of OHTE's work.
6. The Committee of Ministers has taken note of the Assembly’s
proposal to develop co-operation with the European Union, UNESCO
and other relevant international organisations through the Observatory’s
activities and welcomes that the European Union and UNESCO participated
in the OHTE annual conference in December 2021. The Committee of
Ministers has also noted the Assembly’s recommendation on co-operation between
European professional associations and institutes active in the
field of history teaching. In this respect, it wishes to inform
the Assembly of a joint project between the Observatory and the
European Commission to set up a Transnational History Education
and Co-operation Laboratory (HISTOLAB) which will bring together academic
experts, research institutes and networks specialising in a multidisciplinary
and multi-perspective approach to history teaching in Europe.
