This research program was financed by the Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research (NWO) and consisted of three projects and a synthesis. It examined the views of Dutch teachers and heritage educators (project 1), Dutch and English heritage educational resources (project 2), and Dutch students' entrance narratives and their learning experiences (project 3). The research projects focused on the same topics as contexts of analysis: Transatlantic Slave Trade and World War II.
Research team
Prof. Maria Grever (Program and Research Leader)
Prof. Carla van Boxtel (Research Leader)
Dr Stephan Klein (Postdoctoral Researcher)
Pieter de Bruijn (PhD Candidate)
Geerte Savenije (PhD Candidate)
Duration of the programme: 2009-2014
Publications
Books
- M. Grever & C. van Boxtel, Verlangen naar tastbaar verleden: erfgoed, onderwijs en historisch besef (Hilversum, Verloren, 2014).
- C. van Boxtel, S. Klein, E. Snoep (eds.), Heritage Education: Challenges in Dealing With the Past (Amsterdam, Erfgoed Nederland, 2011).
Dissertations
P.A.C. de Bruijn, Bridges to the Past: Historical Distance and Multiperspectivity in English and Dutch Heritage Educational Resources (Unpublished PhD Thesis, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2014).
- G.M. Savenije, Sensitive History under Negotiation: Pupils' Historical Imagination and Attribution of Significance while Engaged in Heritage Projects (Unpublished PhD Thesis, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2014). ISBN/EAN: 978-94-6108-722-5.
Awarded ‘Best PhD thesis of the year 2014 - Graduate School Award for PhD Excellence’ by the Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities.
Articles
G.M. Savenije, C. van Boxtel, M. Grever, 'Learning about sensitive history: 'Heritage' of slavery as a resource', Theory and Research in Social Education 42;4 (2014) 516-547.
G.M. Savenije, C. van Boxtel, M. Grever, 'Sensitive ‘Heritage’ of Slavery in a Multicultural Classroom: Pupils’ Ideas Regarding Significance', British Journal of Educational Studies 62;2 (2014) 127-148.
P.A.C. de Bruijn, 'The Holocaust and Historical Distance. An Analysis of Heritage Educational Resources', in: J. Hodel, M. Waldis, B. Ziegler (eds.), Forschungswerkstatt Geschichtsdidaktik 12. Beiträge zur Tagung «geschichtsdidaktik empirisch 12» (Bern, hep Verlag, 2013) 204-213.
M. Grever, 'Paradoxes of Proximity and Distance in Heritage Education', in: J. Hodel, M. Waldis, B. Ziegler (eds.), Forschungswerkstatt Geschichtsdidaktik 12. Beiträge zur Tagung «geschichtsdidaktik empirisch 12» (Bern, hep Verlag, 2013) 192-203.
M. Grever, P. de Bruijn, C. van Boxtel, ‘Negotiating Historical Distance. Or, How to Deal With the Past As a Foreign Country in Heritage Education’, Paedagogica Historica 48;6 (2012), 873-887.
S. Klein, M. Grever, C. van Boxtel, 'Zie, denk, voel, vraag, spreek, hoor en verwonder. Afstand en nabijheid in geschiedenisonderwijs en erfgoededucatie in Nederland', Tijdschrift voor geschiedenis 124 (2011) 380-395.
C. van Boxtel, P. de Bruijn, M. Grever, S. Klein, G. Savenije, 'Dicht bij het verleden. Wat kunnen erfgoedlessen bijdragen aan het leren van geschiedenis?', Kleio 51;7 (2010) 18-23.
Conferences
In 2013 together with the National Centre of Expertise for Cultural Education and Amateur Arts (LKCA) an international conference was organised on heritage education and history learning, entitled Tangible Pasts? Questioning Heritage Education. Are the uses of heritage as primary instructional resources in education compatible with critical historical thinking? If so, how can we use heritage in history education? More than 100 scholars, heritage professionals and history teachers – from the Netherlands and abroad - discussed these and other questions at the conference, which was held in Rotterdam.
In paper sessions research was discussed on various topics, such as teaching and learning about sensitive heritage, the museum experience and authenticity, colonial heritage, and expressions of the past in public culture. Interactive workshops and panel discussions developed these themes further through concrete examples from practice. In their keynotes, Maria Grever (NL), Peter Seixas (Canada), Peter Aronsson (Sweden), Bruce VanSledright (US), Carla van Boxtel (NL) and Brenda Trofanenko (Canada) provided the framework, reflecting on the theme of the conference from the angle of cultural heritage and history education.
For a full report: “On the use of heritage in history education”
In 2011 an International Master Class was organised together with The Netherlands Institute for Heritage at De Bazel in Amsterdam. The main theme of this meeting was the meaning of heritage for youngsters in a globalizing and multicultural society. During the morning programme several international experts delivered a lecture revolving around the themes of heritage and education. The afternoon program featured workshops on 'identity and meaning-making' and 'learning through experience'.
This master class was intended for education officers of heritage institutions, developers of educational resources who work for heritage institutions and regional heritage consultants. Participants received the publication Heritage Education. Challenges in Dealing With the Past with contributions by the experts and the research team.