Trust building for history interpretation

The training for contextual work and group building was held between 24^th and 27^th of August 2020, on the program for video communication – ZOOM.

We have built a solid group of History teachers from primary and secondary schools. They, as a group will work together on establishment of a dialogue about the interpretation of the modern history.

The training was attended by 16 teachers from various cities: Skopje, Bitola, Gostivar, Kumanovo, Prilep, Kavadarci, Strumica, Veles and Kochani, and one historian, currently working at the “Museum of Macedonia”, also a former history teacher.

While we were in the planning phase of the program, we were strongly guided by the project goal, significantly focusing on providing a space for the teachers to get to know echoer, given the different ethnic background. The group was discussing for our conflict past, in a safe environment sharing mutual space, spending time together for work and free activities.

The topics that were discussed and worked on were: getting to know each other more closely, nonviolent communication, perception (fact or opinion), context and identity. These topics were discussed on daily bases through interactive workshops, providing a mutual space for listening and opinion sharing. The final result is that now there is a trustworthy group and according to one of the participants the need for such training is (quote) “To think over my own positions for these topics as well as to increase the knowledge linked to the topics. Also we are building partnerships and alliances for a social change”.

The training has opened a space for interaction among the participants, have opened a dialogue and is a good introduction in the following project process – Dialogue circles.

The training team was consisted of Goran Taleski and Emrah Rehxepi from Peace Action (PA) and Mire Mladenovski from the History Teachers Association of Macedonia (HTAM).

The training is part of the project” Interpretation of the mutual history of modern time “, in implementation of Peace Action and History Teachers Association of Macedonia, and financially is supported by the Civica Mobilitas Program and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and  Development  – Germany through Peace Action partners- KURWE, Wustrow from Germany.