On September 28 – October 2, 2015 in the premises of Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University the 18 Meeting of the Ukrainian-Polish Committee of Experts on the Improvement of School Textbooks on History and Geography was conducted.
The committee was created in 1998 in order to achieve better mutual understanding between the two peoples. Committee meeting is held once a year, alternately in Poland and Ukraine. The Committee consists of well-known Ukrainian and Polish educators and scholars: Natalya Byeskova, Head of Division of Department of General Secondary and Preschool Education run by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine; Igor Hyrych, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Head of Division of Mykhailo Hrushevsky Institute of Ukrainian Archeology and Source Studies, Chief Editor “Monuments of Ukraine”; Rayisa Yevtushenko, Chief Specialist of the Department of General Secondary and Preschool Education of Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine; Dr Piotr Kroll, Researcher at Historical Institute of Warsaw University; Prof. Stanislav Kulchytsky, Chairman of the Ukrainian part of the Committee, Deputy Director of the Institute of History of Ukraine of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Prof. Włodzimierz Mędrzecki, Chairman of the Polish part of the Committee, Doctor of History, Professor of Warsaw University; Prof. Grzegorz Motyka, Professor of the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, board member of Institute of National Remembrance, Doctor of History; Małgorzata Skórka, Committee Secretary, Chief Specialist of the Department of Strategy and International Cooperation of the Ministry of National Education, Master; Dr Igor Shchupak, “Tkuma” Institute and Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine Director” and others.
Traditionally Ukrainian-Polish Committee focused on problems of common history of the two nations and its reflection in school textbooks, manuals, etc. The discussion about complex and critical points of the Ukrainian-Polish relations, joint analysis of images of neighboring peoples in the social consciousness of the two countries took place in an atmosphere of respect and tolerance to each other.
The main topic of the meeting was the theme of multiculturalism and the problems of its scientific, methodological and methodical comprehension in teaching history and geography.
In the course of Ukrainian-Polish meeting Polish colleagues presented the Ukrainian edition of “Ukraine: Essays on History”, which according to the participants of the meeting will promote mutual cooperation in overcoming cultural and historical stereotypes between the Ukrainian and Polish peoples.
18 Meeting of the Ukrainian-Polish Committee of Experts on the Improvement of School Textbooks on History and Geography resulted in specific recommendations that aim to improve the quality of educational publications. Also, together with representatives of the Institute of National Remembrance of Poland concrete steps to exchange educational publications and didactic materials between the two countries were agreed.
The Committee agreed that the next meeting will take place in Łódź (Poland) in November 2016
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