Teaching regional history, through both formal and non-formal education, nurtures a sense of belonging. While global and national narratives are crucial for understanding broad trends and movements, regional history offers a more human-scaled perspective that closely connects young people to their community, culture, and heritage.
Regional history enhances students' critical thinking, including the ability to deconstruct nationalist narratives that assert a unilateral or exclusive claim over a region. It can help young people recognise pseudo-historical arguments employed by states with revisionist ambitions in multi-ethnic regions to justify military invasions, such as Russia's ongoing and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.
However, regional history lacks recognition and is poorly represented in the history curricula and textbooks in most European countries. Teachers often lack training, materials and resources, including access to primary sources. Potential biases and prejudices that often infiltrate local historical narratives.
What regional authorities can do to promote and enhance inclusive and pluralist teaching of regional history for the benefit of teachers, students, and regional communities across the continent, was the focus of a debate at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities today.
How can regional-history teaching be improved?
In the adopted recommendation, the Congress calls on the local and regional authorities to recognise the importance and complementarity of regional history alongside national, European, and broader international history, and to work together with national authorities to ensure the allocation of sufficient time, space and resources for teaching regional history within school curricula. Adequate training of teachers and availability of quality teaching materials, particularly on sensitive, controversial, and traumatic topics in regional history should be ensured, while avoiding one-sided regional narratives or prejudices.
Creation of digital collections of historical sources (written, oral, material, visual), and the compilation of lists and maps of regional monuments, archaeological and historical sites, museums and archives should be supported and promoted. Educational initiatives with local and regional museums, archives and other local heritage partners, should be implemented. It is important to ensure that regional history teaching celebrates regional diversity, including minorities and marginalised communities.
Learn more about the Council of Europe's work concerning history teaching
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
Squeezed out? Bringing regional history teaching to the fore
