SEMINAR FOR BOSNIAN HISTORY TEXTBOOK AUTHORS HELD IN GERMANY

BRAUNSCHWEIG, Germany (August 29,2007) – A seminar for history textbook authors from seven countries, including Bosnia, was organized by the Georg Eckert Institute (GEI) for International Textbook Research, in cooperation with the OSCE Mission to Bosnia. The aim of the seminar, which took place in Braunschweig, Germany, from 20-27 August 2007, was to raise the quality of history teaching in Bosnia.

The participants came from Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Turkey, Greece and Northern Ireland. Sixteen experts from Bosnia participated. The OSCE Mission to Bosnia, Council of Europe (CoE), GEI and the Bosnian education authorities used the seminar to discuss how to improve the quality of modern history teaching, as well as that of textbooks in Bosnia.

“This seminar was an important step forward. It showed that the work of international organizations like the OSCE, CoE, GEI and local partners is a successful results-oriented partnership”, stated Falk Pingel, Deputy Director of GEI. “The participants developed teaching models which would suit innovative history teaching in Bosnia the best”, concluded Pingel.

At the seminar the participants could both present their experience on textbook writing, as well as dispel certain dilemmas on teaching controversial subjects.” The topics discussed led the participants to undertake a detailed analysis of the existing textbooks from Bosnia and other countries.

They also helped to create teaching models on very sensitive topics, which we certainly need”, stated Milija Marjanovic, a history teacher from the Bosnian city of Banja Luka.

The diversity of the topics discussed such as the Ottoman period, Socialist Yugoslavia, War and the Dayton period, was useful: “We learned how modern textbooks could be written, and about working models applicable to the classroom”, concluded Arna Torlakovic, a history teacher from Sarajevo.