Purpose.

History education should have as its goal the development of free individuals capable of independent democratic and socially responsible judgment, rather than overt or covert indoctrination. Through international professional cooperation history educators ought to promote an understanding of world history as an integral part of history education in all forms and at all levels, not only through schools and other educational institutions but also through the mass media. A new historical awareness is needed today so that we can understand how the world arrived at its present state, how to build bridges across past and present divisions, how to articulate an understanding and appreciation for cultural differences, and how to make the world a better and safer place in which to live.

Foundation.

On March 4, 1980 the organizational meeting of the International Society for History Didactics took place in Tutzing near Munich in Germany. Piet Fontaine for the Netherlands, Walter Fuernrohr from Germany, and Adriano Gallia took the initiative and invited colleagues. Representatives came from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Cameroon, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Statutes were discussed and adopted, and can be found on the Society's homepage www.int-soc-hist-didact.org in the three languages of the Society, English, French, and German.

Membership.

By the year 2004 membership had grown to 275 members from 42 countries in 4 continents.

Recent Annual Conferences

1998 Moscow, Russia

1999 Kreisau, Poland

2000 Oslo, Sweden, in conjunction with the 19th International Congress of Historical Sciences

2001 Lyon, France

2002 Dresden, Germany, in conjunction with the Polish Historical Teachers

Association and the German Conference for History Didactics

2003 Tutzing, Germany

2004 Rabat, Morocco

2005 Sydney, Australia, in conjunction with the 20th International Congress of Historical Sciences. In the main program was 'Textbooks, from the Narrative of the Nation to the Narrative of the Citizen,' organized by ISHD member Prof. Masao Nishikawa (Tokyo). President Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Erdmann, Nürnberg, and Prof. Luigi Cajani (Rome) participated in this round table. In addition to that the ISHD organized two particular sections.

2006 Tallinn, Estonia

2007 Thessalonike, Greece

Publications

1. Members receive free of charge the Society's yearbook Jahrbuch/ Yearbook/ Annales, published by Wochenschau-Verlag in Schwalbach, Germany, a specialist in political, historical and didactic publications.

2. i. Historical Culture - Historical Communication: International Bibliography, edited by Karl Pellens, Siegfried Quandt and Hans Suessmuth, 1994.

3. Historical Consciousness and History Teaching in a Globalizing Society. Geschichtsbewusstsein und Geschichtsunterricht in einer sich globalisierenden Gesellschaft, edited by Karl Pellens together with Goeran Behre, Elisabeth Erdmann, Frank Meier and Susanne Popp, Frankfurt/Main 2001.

4. Identités, Memoires, Conscience Historique: Textes rassemblées par Nicole Tutiaux-Guillon et Didier Nourisson, Lyon 2003.

5. Elisabeth Erdmann, Robert Maier, Susanne Popp (eds.): Geschichtsunterricht international - Bestandsaufnahme und Visionen, Worldwide Teaching of History - Present and Future; L'enseignement de l'histoire dans le monde - Bilan et visions, Hannover 2006.

Board of Directors:

There are seven members from different countries and continents, elected every three years. The president and vice-president are elected from the members of board.

Presidents: Walter Fuernrohr, a founder of ISHD, 1980 - 1990

Karl Pellens 1991 - 2001

Elisabeth Erdmann since 2002

Copyright