In modern, pluralist and heterogeneous societies, teaching history may not mean to narrate to learners the (presumably) one and only accepted “master narrative” — in most cases a narrative of pride and pain (EURCLIO), but rather to enable learners to actively reflect both on the past (thus creating history) and on the spectrum of histories present in their everyday lives and their societies. The same holds true for memory culture.
In a more methporical way one can say that the “subject matter” of history teaching can no longer be “the past” but rather “historical Thinking” as a mental (cognitive as well as affective and aesthethic) tool for orientation within time. This thought also lies behind the concepts of “competency orientation” of history teaching, which is a
In the Article “Historical Thinking and Historical Competencies as Didactical Core Concepts” therefore, concepts of Historical Thinking and Historical Competencies are presented which will help teachers (to be) to address memory culture as a subject of history teaching in a reflective way.
The concepts are based on the model of historical competencies developed by the project group “FUER” (Förderung und Entwicklung reflektierten Geschichtsbewusstseins; Prof. Dr. Waltrauf Schreiber, Prof. Dr. Bodo von Borries; Prof. Dr. Andreas Körber, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hasberg and others) in another COMENIUS project between 2001 and 2007 (cf. SCHREIBER/KÖRBER 2006; KÖRBER/SCHREIBER/SCHÖNER Eds., 2007; English: KÖRBER in BJERG/LENZ/THORSTENSEN 2008).
