Teaching history in Lithuania during the period 1988-2000
ENThere have been two periods in recent Lithuanian history when teaching history in schools has changed considerably. The first was in 1940-1 when the Soviet Union occupied our country. Our history teachers had to denigrate or ignore famous Lithuanian characters and, instead, exalt Stalin and Soviet achievements. Those who refused were exiled to Siberia. The second is this reform period of 1988 to 1993. However, some teachers found it difficult to adapt to the new programmes and so, in 1990, while some adopted new methods, others still adhered to the Soviet patterns. So there have been many innovations during the past decade, but problems too. The major one is that pupils are forced to learn a huge number of historic facts by heart. The majority of textbooks are written by authors who write inappropriately for the age-range. There are some themes which do not hold the interest of Lithuanian pupils. Political history still predominates. Increasingly it is argued that teachers should emphasize a wider range of topics, e.g. cultural and religious matters, inventions. This wider range should increase the interest of pupils in history and help to avoid repetition. In addition, after the ‘integrated history’ textbooks were written, it became apparent that the number of lessons devoted to Lithuanian History was less than the required 30%. Recently several CD-ROMs have appeared which are designed for the teaching of Lithuanian history. The use of such new technologies should help to improve the status of history.
