CDRSEE :: Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe

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16-18 December, 2011 – History Education Meeting in Belgrade, Serbia. The Joint History Project's History Education Committee finalised its push to expand this highly successful history book series to cover more recent times. During a two-day meeting in Belgrade, the editors and contributors discussed the publication within a larger circle of participants and received input from a renowned international expert in the field of Southeast European History. The fruitful meeting was the last in a series of three meetings made possible by the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Institute for Sustainable Communities.

2 – 4 December, Dynamic Teaching Tools Concept Meeting in Thessaloniki – Some of the most accomplished educators and researchers from the region and from the United States gathered in Thessaloniki to create the framework for a new dynamic teaching methodology tool. This talented, multi-faceted group will ultimately publish a manual that will provide teachers with the latest research on teaching methods and ideas on how these methods can be used in their classrooms. While this project builds upon CDRSEE's highly successful Joint History Project, the information and ideas within will not be limited to history classes, but rather will be focused on the art of teaching in a rapidly changing society. The manual will be translated into six different languages. This was the first meeting, with the next scheduled for spring 2012 in Tirana. The project is funded by the European Union, under the IPA Programme.

1 December, 2011 – CDRSEE and the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB) will kick off a new project in December, organising a series of lively debates about controversial regional issues and broadcasting these debates via major local TV stations throughout the region. The idea of “Similarities Between Differences” is to foster an exchange of ideas and a real debate about the issues that are plaguing these countries, impeding EU accession and reconciliation. This is not your everyday talk show. This series will bring together untainted, well-respected and unbiased individuals from a wide field of social sciences, including anthropology, ethnology, cultural studies, applied ethics and many others. The topics will not be easy or comfortable, but the wider debates that spring from this series can lead to real solutions and a mutual understanding. More information on the EFB is available at www.balkanfund.org.

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News - Teacher Training in Novi Sad, 2-4 February 2007

Dr. Dubravka Stojanovic On 2-4 February the CDRSEE, in cooperation with Euro Clio Serbia and the Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, organised the fourth of a series of Workshops to introduce history teachers to a multi-perspective approach to looking at history.

Nenad Sebek (CDRSEE), Dr. Dubravka Stojanovic (Euro Clio Serbia) and Danica Stefanovic (Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina) welcomed participants to the Hotel Aleksandar in Novi Sad. Dr. Bozo Repe (University of Ljubljana) and Irena Stefoska (Institute of History, Skopje) joined the event as guest trainers.

32 participants discussed multi-perspective ways of teaching history and worked intensively on the “Alternative Educational Material: Teaching Southeast European History” developed by the CDRSEE.

This seminar was the closing event of a series of teacher training workshops which started in September 2006. The seminars also included an internal evaluation and participants were asked to fill in a standardised questionnaire assessing the four history books and the quality of the seminars.

In Novi Sad, 85 % of teachers agreed that the workbooks have a lot of positive aspects, while 75 % of them also mentioned that there is room for improvement in the books. Nevertheless 90 % of the teachers confirmed that they will definitely use the material in class to enrich history teaching and open up new perspectives.

4 of the teachers had already used the material in class and half of them agreed that it was easy for them to use the books. All teachers agreed that it was the right decision to participate in the workshop and declared that they were very satisfied with the materials. 90 % confirmed that they learned something useful to their profession. No participant responded in the negative, when being asked whether s/he now felt ready to train colleagues in the use of the books, but only 50% explicitly agreed that it would be within their capacity to conduct this training.

Open questions in the questionnaire allowed for free comments and suggestion, which can be summarised as follows: Many participants emphasised that it was important and pleasant to socialise with their colleagues and debate history teaching. The books were assessed to be of great value to critical thinking skills and democratic views, nevertheless teachers also felt that it would be a challenge to make students think about multiple perspectives towards historical events. There was a strong expression of interest in holding more teacher training workshops and to enrich the material and seminars with multimedia tools.

For 2007 and 2008, more seminars are planned in Serbia, depending on funding being secured for an expansion of activities.