1-3 July 2011 - Teacher Training Workshop in Subotica. The JHP keeps up its pace in Serbia, with its upcoming workshop in Subotica on 2-3 July! The workshop, funded under the IPA programme of the European Commission, will welcome 29 teachers and provide them with an opportunity to learn about the JHP methodologies and familiarise themselves with the workbooks. The participants will be assisted in creating their own model lessons based on the training, so as to consolidate their new skills for further use in class. As with all the JHP workshops, the training will aim at allowing history teachers to provide their pupils with participative, balanced and critical lessons, to foster tolerance and mutual understanding among the next generation of SEE citizens. The workshop, implemented in cooperation with the Croatian National Council in Subotica, will be guided by Goran Miloradovic, from the Association for Social History (Belgrade). Mr. Miloradovic, CDRSEE's long-standing partner and experienced trainer, will work jointly with Kresimir Erdelja, key member of the History Education Committee, and member of the CDRSEE's implementing partner (HUNP) in Zagreb.
June 2011 - JHP in Montenegro. Montenegro is one more country which will join the JHP and which will, in its own language, offer to its teachers and students a new manner of understanding history. Two prominent Montenegrin historians, Zvezdan Folic and Dragutin Papovic, are editors of the Montenegro language edition which will be printed by the end of the year. It is also our pleasure to collaborate with the Ministry of Education and the Institute for textbooks as a co publisher. Click here to read the whole article and see the video files.
30 May -1 June 2011: Set up meetings in Tirana, Albania. CDRSEE kick started the next phase of the Joint History Project (JHP) in Albania, with a series of meetings with partners and local authorities. More specifically, the CDRSEE met important actors in the education sector such as the Center for Democratic Education and the History Teaching Association in Albania, as well as the Educational Advisor of the Prime Minister and the Head of European Integration at the Ministry of Education. The aim of these meetings was to draw up an action plan that will ensure successful implementation of the JHP in an inclusive and cooperative manner. The JHP in Albania strongly benefits from the valuable contributions of its local representatives Mr. Helian Demiri, who is the Editor of the Albanian language version of the JHP Alternative Educational Materials and Dr. Valentina Duka from the Faculty of History and Philology at the University of Tirana.
The joint history project has been made possible through the kind financial assistance of the
following:
Dr Peter Mahringer Fonds,
The Royal Dutch Embassy in Athens,
Two anonymous donors,
Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture,
UK FCO,
Swiss Development Agency,
Cyprus Federation of America,
Winston Foundation for World Peace
News
Successful start to the new year as the Joint History Project book is launched at a press conference in Skopje
On January 21st, 2008 the Macedonian together with the Albanian language edition of the 4 history Workbooks was launched in Skopje. The press conference was a joint initiative of the CDRSEE and its local partner, FOSIM.
Among the special guest speakers were Dr Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact and Head of the Board of Directors of CDRSEE, Ambassador Erwan Fouéré, Head of the Delegation of the EC and EU Special Representative, the Honourable Jovan Lazarev, Deputy Minister of Education and Science, and Prof. Dr. Todor Cepreganov, Director of the Institute for National History.
‘History does teach us a lot,’ began Mr. Lazarev, ‘but history can’t find any pupils.’ ‘We sure are at the beginning, but we are certainly moving in the right direction,’ he continued, reflecting on the meaning of the JHP as a step toward reconciliation in the region.
It is the tendencies to re-write history that often give birth to nationalism, Ambassador Fouéré pointed out, ‘this project however, is of tremendous importance because it comes from the region itself,’ he concluded.
According to Prof. Dr. Cepreganov, ‘the alternative materials break the already existing strategies applied in the education system, and give students a chance, while the teacher becomes the moderator.’ ‘All those against the books, are the ones that have a politicized view of history’, he stressed.
The Training of Trainers Conference opening the next phase of JHP implementation has been scheduled for the end of March 2008, with the first Local Workshop to follow in four weeks time.
*The CDRSEE would like to especially thank the European Union through the European Agency for Reconstruction for the financial support regarding the implementation of this project.
