This is an issue that has been discussed before, but it remains an important but difficult issue for any history teacher, and especially for teachers wishing to establish international links. Tackling sensitive issues head-on, therefore, can be particularly difficult in short exchanges, where time is limited. There was considerable discussion about the potential attitude of governments to this sort of international exchange of ideas and interpretations of controversial and sensitive issues, and some anecdotal evidence was offered of governments being particuarly cautious about how particular issues might be discussed. The group felt, however, that it would be more common for international contacts to throw into doubt some generally accepted versions of the past, and teachers need to be aware that this will not necessarily be well received. In particular, this can be misunderstood, even resented, by parents or by the media.
Most European countries have some form of association for history teachers.
However, these associations remain one of the most important channels for activities involving history teachers, and members of the network are well advised to get in touch with their own national associations in order to promote international initiatives. This national element is extremely important, but it is not, and never has been, the full picture. Frequently, studying the past as the history of a particular modern state is to distort the past. It is very frequently the case that an international approach to history is not a luxury, or an exercise essentially of academic interest, but a more honest and a more accurate approach than the prevailing orthodoxy. In this way, international links and exchanges in history can be seen as serving not just the wider aims of the Council of Europe and its education programme, but also the central core demands of the historical discipline.