European Association of History Educators

The Historical Association is a founding member of EUROCLIO. EUROCLIO was established in 1992 at the request of the Council of Europe to build bridges between history education professionals from all parts of the then recently reunited Europe.

From 17 founding member associations, EUROCLIO is now (in 2019) comprised of 83 full and associate member associations representing 47 countries. There is small permanent office of staff based in The Hague in the Netherlands.

The HA is fully supportive of EUROCLIO’s mission to inspire and empower educators to engage learners in innovative and responsible history and citizenship education. The vision of EUROCLIO is for all learners to become more responsible and contributing citizens through engaging in history and citizenship education for mutual understanding and peace.

EUROCLIO began by focusing its work on countries in political transformation and transition, in particular those with inter-ethnic and inter-religious tensions such as Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Russia and Ukraine. It also had worked in depth in places with recent experience of violent conflict such as the former Yugoslavia, Cyprus, Lebanon, and the Caucasus.

Today EUROCLIO’s work is also focused on the creation of transnational educational materials and the encouragement of collaboration between countries as part of ambitious partner projects. The work has brought together hundreds of historians and history educators to share experiences, to implement innovative learning about the past, discussing also sensitive and controversial issues, and therefore creating new and inclusive historical narratives.

Many British teachers have worked with EUROCLIO over the years and the HA is keen to encourage the development of further, deeper connections between the two organisations.  

• EUROCLIO organises an annual conference, thematic seminars and online meetings. Details of upcoming events and other news can be found on the EUROCLIO website.

• EUROCLIO has a website called Historiana that provides a wealth of materials that enable teachers to move beyond their own nation’s narrative and to present a wider variety of perspectives on the past. For example, there are units and key moments, such as World War One, Changing Europe, World War Two and the Cold War. There are also rich source collections on a wide variety of topics. Their new e-activity builder is an online resource for history teachers that is being developed with the subject and historical thinking firmly in mind. Visit the Historiana website.

• There are opportunities for short internships for university students, who can apply for a traineeship position to enrich their knowledge with the practical experience of working for an International NGO in the field of History Education. More information about these can be found on the trainee section of their website.

• There is an active and lively Facebook Group that connects teachers from many countries to exchange ideas and resources. See the EUROCLIO Facebook group.

Richard Kennett and Helen Snelson are the HA’s current link representatives with EUROCLIO. They can be contacted for further information via enquiries@history.org.uk.