The Observatory on History Teaching in Europe, set up as an enlarged partial agreement in November 2020, has the mission to promote practices of history teaching that strengthen and promote the Council of Europe’s values.
 

It builds on the Organisation’s decades-long experience in history education, offering new insights into the way that history is taught in member states in the light of recommendations and guidelines in this field. The observatory seeks to achieve this by collecting and making available factual information on the state of history teaching in all participating countries through a series of regular and thematic reports.

The observatory draws on external expertise to realise its mission, so there are several possibilities for NGOs to co-operate. Occasional calls for tender for experts and consortia to support the drafting of thematic and regular reports are published on the observatory’s website. There is also the possibility to get involved on a more regular and continuous basis through the co-operation platform which was formally launched in December 2021. Its objective is to bring together networks and organisations who share the observatory’s vision that the knowledge, skills, and values that young people acquire through history teaching contribute to the fostering of peace, democracy and respect for human rights. It will enable knowledge to be shared from national, regional, and European experiences through discussion of case studies and exchange of innovative practices. Co-operating organisations may actively engage in the process by organising seminars and other events, and by participating in the drafting of guidelines and documents. Through these activities, NGOs have several opportunities to actively take part in the work and development of the platform and the observatory.