School History Textbooks in the 21st Century

: In many places the school history textbook has remained the leading medium for teaching history in schools, and the number of school history textbooks sold mostly exceeds that of all other non-fiction books with historical themes many times over. Will this remain the case in the future also? And how do school history textbooks deal with the new challenges?


As an Obsolescent Model
But is this the future? [7] Or has the school history textbook not long since become a relic of bygone days when (national) history was presented as a static narration for going it through chronologically? Because the weak points of this leading medium are obvious: Firstly, the space available limits the scope and number of texts and materials, and thus the selection options for a differentiated presentation of the past. Secondly, present-world and lifeworld references are difficult to implement in the school history textbook: Historical-cultural phenomena remain underrepresented and (daily) current history-related debates do not take place or only with a time delay in the next edition. Thirdly, school history textbooks are permanently lagging behind the digital development. Fourthly, school history textbooks generally seem to fail to meet the required high standards: They are characterized as either too complicated or too banalsometimes both at the same time. Fifthly, school history textbooks regularly disappoint the expectations of all specialists because exactly those topics which these experts focus on are either not included or insufficiently implemented.
In brief: the good school history textbook does not exist! No wonder, then, that it has long been called an obsolescent model! The inadequacy of school history textbooks in relation to a wide variety of demands is also related to the fact that a school history textbook is always the result of many compromises.

As a Compromise
The saddle function of school history textbooks -on the one hand, as a mirror of society and, on the other hand, as a driver of historical education -makes their development a challenging enterprise which can be analyzed [9] in three fields of tension following the Aarau curriculum standard by Rudolf Künzli and Stefan Hopmann [8]: Firstly, in school history textbooks it is about finding a balance in the field of tension between tradition, for example the cultural heritage of a society, and emancipation, for example in the mediation of key problems of the future. Secondly, it is about taking use of orders and findings of the historical sciences and, at the same time, to keep an eye on the teachability and also by means of elementarization and didactic reconstruction to identify a plausible mediation sequence and acquisition opportunity. Thirdly, this balancing out of factual orientation and child orientation must succeed in such a way that the school history textbook is accepted by the sciences as well as approved by politicians and embraced by practitioners. Such mediations between the parties involved and this target-oriented search for compromises are strengths of history didactics. [10] As a Hub School history textbooks have to address a wide variety of audiences in order to reach the classroom at all: They must demonstrate to those responsible for education that they implement the curricula and reflect the social consensus. They must make the teachers' difficult task of teaching history well easier. They must provide learners with stimulating and meaningful learning processes.
Since school history textbooks are used differently in everyday teaching [11] and in the various forms of teaching -from direct instruction to independent learning of the students -and should guide and support the mediation of history, three different spheres move into focus: Firstly, the school history textbook opens up a factually correct and rich space of offerings with comprehensible presentation texts and diverse sources. This space of offerings must be well structured and clear so that teachers and learners do not get lost in the analog and digital school history textbook which usually consists of several components. Secondly, the school history textbook provides a space for communication that must be designed in a way that individual and collaborative learning in the classroom in a target-oriented way is supported. Also more recent and especially digital school history textbooks still neglect the fact that school learning takes place in the community and that this very feature is a great advantage for unlocking meaning, for negotiating and building significance. Thirdly, the school history textbook provides a space for appropriation, to enable learners to, for example, engage in meaningful learning processes by means of task culture and to hold on to what they have learned.

As a Battlefield
Because the school history textbook serves as a hub for a wide variety of concerns and as a meeting place for many parties involved, disputes over school history textbooks also arise frequently. [12] On the one hand, debates regularly escalate about the appropriate presentation of certain facts such as the period of imperialism and colonialism or National Socialism. [13] Differing opinions on the appropriate implementation of certain social or educational concerns, for example, how to deal with racism or anti-Semitism [14], occasionally lead to disputes as well. And finally, textbooks become the battleground when nations are divided or involved in conflicts with neighbors. [15] It is therefore only logical that the most different specialized institutions engage in the peace-building impact of school history textbooks. [16] And the Council of Europe also established an Observatory on History Teaching in November 2020 which is intended to be "a valuable tool in the fight against dangerous revisionism and attempts to falsify historical truth." [17] For History Education School history textbooks are still autobiographies of nations also in the 21st century [18], but, moreover, they are, thanks to recent pedagogical developments and competence orientation, first and foremost, well-balanced learning media. Furthermore, they have far more functions than imparting knowledge to students and enabling them to solve problems. In particular when it comes to school history textbooks, the focus often lies on additional concerns, for example, "the linking of our ego with the world", as Wilhelm von Humboldt already formulated it in 1793 when he described "education." [19] History education is not about mere adaptation of the individual to a world given to him and therefore not exclusively about solving certain problems in this world. Much rather, it is a matter of a multi-faceted confrontation "in which the individual can develop his or her own form of being human in this world -hence educates himself or herself." [20] Education -thus it can be summarized briefly and popularly -mirrors a reflective approach to oneself, to others and to the world [21].
Thus, in the 21st century also, school history textbooks then have the central task of enabling learners to deal with history, with society and with themselves. What particular challenges arise in this field is the topic of this month on Public History Weekly. The following articles on the topic will be published: In her article, Sabrina Schmitz-Zerres deals with descriptions of the future in current German school history textbooks. In the narrative texts, not only the past and its consequences for the present are described, but also possible future developments. An analysis reveals narrative concepts and proposes to focus on contingency as a principle of history narration. DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1515/phw-2021-17627 Roland Bernhard is dedicated to the connection between Fake News, conspiracy theories and school history textbooks. The spread of fake news and conspiracy theories in the public sphere represents a social challenge of the future. The leading medium of textbooks 5/14 can be part of the answer to this challenge if it consistently aims to initiate criticalhistorical thinking.
Felicitas Macgilchrist asks what happens to content and historical knowledge when the materiality or mediality of history textbooks changes over time. Her observation is that school history textbooks need to be "elatic", holding different fields together like a rubber band. The particular focus is on the connection between school history textbooks and the representation of national history.
In his contribution, Mario Carretero takes up current research findings on historical maps in textbooks and describes them as a missing link between history and memory. The misunderstandings found among schoolchildren when dealing with present and past territories suggests a favouring of silenced colonial processes.
As every month, new and trenchant contributions can be found in the Speakers' corner in March, which hopefully, just like the focal contributions, will bring new insights and stimulate discussion.
Dirk Vaihinger answers the questions of the editors of this theme month in an interview. He is the programme manager of Lehrmittelverlag Zürich and has many years of experience in management positions in the publishing industry. The conversation with him opens up new perspectives: How do educational publishers meet the great challenges of the present and the future?
In his contribution, Daniel Schumacher [author page follows] takes on the German culture of remembrance, using the example of the controversy surrounding the "Friedensstatue" erected in Berlin at the end of 2020. In his view, this culture of remembrance is self-contained and therefore offers hardly any points of contact for the integration and negotiation of multi-layered "problematic histories" of minority groups. He would like to encourage reflection on what is understood by "German" culture of remembrance in the 21st century, who is allowed to help shape it and what social role it can play. Gautschi