Compass to History and Civic Education

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Compass to History and Civic Education gives a useful comparative overview of how history and civic education are regulated and interpreted in different school systems around the world.
Although volumes of this kind inevitably start to become outdated at the moment of publication due to the swiftly changing regulations, they remain important "diagnostic" documents. They illustrate how global education research is viewed at a given moment. A strength of the book is that it applies a shared framework (indicators, document analysis), which makes the country chapters readable in comparison, not only individually.
The scope is also notable: 16 countries is a large selection in comparative curriculum research, and it allows broader patterns to be observed.
The combination of Central European, Western European and Asian cases is not only "colourful", but also analytically relevant.
For researchers and teacher educators, it is an interesting point of orientation; for policymakers, it can function as a mirror, showing alternative institutional logics.
(Prof. Gábor Halász, Professor Emeritus, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE); Head of Research at Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), former president of CIDREE)

The Learning Institute's Compass to History Education research group, led by Richárd Fodor, has carried out sustained comparative research on history and civic education in recent years.
This volume is a concrete outcome of this academic work, prepared with the valuable involvement and careful eyes of Judit Tóth and Áron Fekete, alongside a broad international network of experts.
The book is based on systematic content analysis of curricula, syllabi and examination standards, supported by a shared set of indicators.
15-20 years ago, the dominant weight of history education in school curricula was still taken for granted. Today, however, tectonic changes are taking place in the world, and taking stock has become strategically important. This book sets out to do exactly that. The international team-based research process is not a "background detail": it is a key condition of credible comparison across different education systems.
The Asian studies are not only additional "examples" in this book: in several respects, they create instructive parallels for Hungarian and European readers.
The volume also documents current tensions in history education, including debates between traditional chronology-based and thematic approaches.
Its main contribution is to make differences and similarities visible in a structured way, without forcing simplified policy conclusions.
(Dr. János Setényi, education consultant, director of MCC Learning Institute)

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