Compass to History and Civic Education

Abstract

The paper introduces the first results of an ongoing comparative research in the field of education science. Our research group at Mathias Corvinus Collegium Learning Institute was established to conduct a set of exploratory analyses comparing the position of history and civic education in Europe and several Asian countries. The research started with the establishment of the Comparative Framework of History and Civic Education (CFHCE) which is a set of analytical indicators targeting the national content regulatory systems of the reviewed countries in a holistic way. It concentrates on the national curricula, school leaving examination, declared competences, developmental aims and prescribed content of history. The paper also examines the theoretical research concerning historical thinking. The first results of our research show a complex synthesised model of historical thinking. The first version of the model contains aspects of skills, knowledge, perspectives, methods and online interfaces of historical thinking. Among the components of historical thinking summarised on the basis of the international discourse of history didactics, our research group suggests a new element: development of information and media literacy.