The dark pages of our history are not discussed enough in pre-vocational secondary education, says Gijs Korenblik. He advocates removing them from obscurity and treating them prominently.
We already knew that history education in the Netherlands is Eurocentric. Unfortunately, this takes the cake in pre-vocational secondary education. Slavery plays no role in the upper grades and the focus of the history exam is mainly on the Second World War.
In recent decades, both the Dutch slavery past and our colonial history have played a major role in the social debate. These are matters that are quite abstract for the average young person, which means they have many questions about them.
Fortunately, history exists to answer this question. Extremely important, because with knowledge of the past, young people can better understand the present. Moreover, it teaches them to use sources critically. But there is still a lot to tinker with and update the curriculum.
Review of history education partly successful
In recent years, several authors have called for a revision of the history curriculum. In my opinion, this has been successful, at least as far as the development of history education in HAVO/VWO is concerned.
For example, non-European subjects have become part of the history exam. In addition, the Time Reference Framework working group has presented a new reference framework for both primary education and lower secondary education to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. But pre-vocational secondary education remains a neglected subject, because a new frame of reference may be developed for the upper grades.
Unfortunately, we already knew that history education at pre-vocational secondary education does not play a prominent role on the political agenda. This is very strange, because they make up 60 percent of all students in secondary education. In addition, teaching hours are under pressure and pre-vocational secondary education students often only receive a maximum of two years of history.
Not adjusted
Moreover, the curriculum has not or hardly been adapted, with the result that it has remained classically Eurocentric. Topics related to slavery and colonialism are included in the learning objectives for the lower grades, but these are discussed very briefly.
In practice, the history subject at pre-vocational secondary education is often replaced by the learning area People and Society (combination of subject subjects).
Unfortunately, things are even worse in the upper grades, because history is an optional subject in only one of the ten profiles. In general, MAVO students can take exams, but this is often not the case for basic vocational and managerial students. In addition, the entire colonial past in the Dutch East Indies is not compulsory reading (just like slavery). Only the decolonization process is part of the exam material for MAVO students.
Angel
And herein lies the sting of the problem. In pre-vocational secondary education history education, black pages and colonialism are seen as enrichment material. As a result, they do not play a present role in the classroom.
Remove these topics from the shadows and give them a prominent role in the curriculum. For example, make them a mandatory part of the history exam.
And also ensure that the subject regains its value in pre-vocational secondary education and anchor the subject in education. This way, the undiscussed past will at least receive the attention it deserves.
Gijs Korenblik is chairman of the pre-vocational secondary education committee of the Association of History Teachers in the Netherlands (VGN)