Parallel Histories Erasmus Project

Project Title

Parallel Histories

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Ethics, religion and philosophy (incl. Inter-religious dialogue); International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The driving force of this project is the need to address two of the fundamental problems of our age: extremism and fake news. The Parallel Histories project will seek to foster the development of social, civic and intercultural understanding and will also promote online safety through raising awareness of fake news and online misinformation. The theme of the project is that strong democracies rely on citizens who can distinguish between arguments and opinion, between real news and fake news.

Parallel Histories will produce an E-learning platform (O1) which deals with the contested history of the Arab-Israeli conflict as well as a methodology for studying conflict and resources covering the differing perspectives of four other conflicts. Other innovative outputs will be a suggested networking strategy for schools to engage with those from different faiths and cultures (O4), as well as a robust evaluation report (O6).

Parallel Histories teaches the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict from the two totally different perspectives of each side, then asks the students to reach their own conclusions. As the Parallel Histories website states, ‘Don’t shy away from competing perspectives – seek them out, lay them side by side and examine each of them’.

The Parallel Histories project seeks to redress the balance through its theme that strong democracies rely on citizens who can distinguish between arguments and opinion, between news and fake news. Firstly, through teaching the contested history of a current conflict (Arab-Israeli) in order to understand how each side’s historical narrative has been constructed. Secondly, to take those lessons and apply them to a contested history or contemporary issue ‘nearer to home’, creating further useful ‘Parallel Histories’ resources.

The main objective of the project is to complete the Parallel Histories website, with full contextual detail on the Arab-Israeli Conflict alongside the historical sources, and further material on three more contested histories. Through producing this material and delivering the curriculum, students should learn:
– How to detect bias including one’s own
– How to critically evaluate evidence
– How to weigh up the strength of an argument
– How to debate controversial ideas robustly but respectfully

The project will involve around 40 older students (16-17 years old) in the four partner schools who will disseminate the material to about 400 younger pupils (13-15 years old) from partner and associate schools in each country. The younger pupils will be from a variety of faiths and cultures so when they meet to debate the topic, the dispelling of myths and fear about different faiths and cultures will be a key result of the project. For teachers, taking them out of the comfort zone of topics they feel confident in teaching should help them to navigate more difficult concepts, allowing the source material to reveal differing perspectives. Only 2,200 of the 550,000 students sitting GCSE History in 2017 studied the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The Project Methodology will be for students to learn the contested history of a current conflict in order to understand how each historical narrative is constructed, and then take those lessons and apply them to a contested history ‘nearer to home’. Senior students from Partner schools will act as mentors in rolling out elements of the programme to younger students in other schools.

The main result will be the Parallel Histories E-learning platform which will be a fantastic Open Educational Resource giving overviews, context and historical sources from differing perspectives of four contested histories relevant to the three partner schools. This will enable all teachers who access the website to approach history differently, without having to rely on a particular narrative. The results for the older students in the partner schools will be an enhanced understanding of historical perspectives, the ability to mentor effectively and improved leadership and presentation skills. For the younger pupils, an enhanced awareness of other faiths and cultures and an ability to detect fake news and propaganda will be crucial. Teachers from all the schools involved will benefit from professional development through their networking, evaluations and support.

Longer term benefits are alliances with European partners and universities, further potential for growth as other organisations seek to add to the website, and greater help for history teachers struggling with difficult and controversial topics. INSET could be given based on this. The project is wide in its scope and through its innovative methodology and bold theme, it should easily meet the stated priorities of improved social inclusion and innovative practices in a digital era.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 201351 Eur

Project Coordinator

Lancaster Royal Grammar School & Country: UK

Project Partners

• DHE Solutions Ltd
• Lycée Polyvalent Frédéric FAYS
• Sacred Heart School