School Textbooks on the National History of Russia and EU Countries in the late XX – early XXI Century as a Dialogue Between Science and Politics
Authors: Arsentyev Nikolay M. 
Published: July 2022

Introduction. One of the priorities in the development of modern historical education in the context of the globalization of the humanities space has become the formation of social practices that make it possible to discuss and coordinate world, national, regional and local content in the content of textbooks on Russian history. When organizing the system of teaching history in schools in Russia and EU countries, the position of the state is still decisive everywhere. The need to form a consensus in the interpretation of the past is caused by the growth of confrontation due to the polarization of public discourse and the growth of international tension. The increased attention of the world community to the politics of memory has intensified the interest of researchers in this topic.

Methods. The methodological basis of the work was formed by modern methods of analysis of the historical and cultural heritage of the past. The study was carried out in line with the concepts that substantiate the periodic replacement of the ideals of education and upbringing, depending on the nature of state authorities. When studying the meanings of the ongoing modernization of historical education, the content analysis of media publications was widely used. The principles of historicism, objectivity, and consistency made it possible to fully, deeply and comprehensively consider the object of study in the context of modern development.

Discussion and Conclusion. The study has showed that school history education in the early 2020s still remains a conflict field in which the interests of states, interstate associations, public and confessional structures oppose in a variety of manifestations of influence on the formation of the worldview of young people. From 1996 to 2006, the modernization of historical education in Russia took place within the framework of the project “European Dimension in the Study of History”. Since 2007, a new intergovernmental educational project “Image of the Other in History Teaching” has been planned for three years, aimed at adapting the school process to the conditions of growing cultural diversity. However, in 2006, with the creation of a new historical and cultural educational standard on behalf of President Vladimir Putin, the reform of the school system of historical education no longer fit into the program for creating Greater Europe. Nevertheless, cooperation with the European Union in coordinating the content of school textbooks was continued. To prevent the deepening radicalization of public consciousness, our country, among 17 participating states, became a co-organizer of the Observatory for the Teaching of History, created at the initiative of France in November 2020, and on October 4–5, 2021, the First World Congress of School Teachers of History was held in Moscow. A study of the significant experience of cooperation between the Russian Federation and the European Union in the field of school education that has been accumulated since 1996 shows that a coordinated policy of memory is possible only with the expansion of cooperation between historians, a dialogue of specialists in the search for consensus on the most debatable and difficult to resolve issues in the history of Greater Europe, as well as the desire of politicians to peaceful coexistence and stability, the development of guarantees of equal security.