English
The question about the relevance and applicability of historical knowledge becomes particularly urgent in the context of local history and regional history. Learners are currently not very motivated to occupy themselves with local and state history as far as centralised examinations are concerned. Life designs based on migration und multiple localities also give rise to the very practical, everyday problem of transferring what has been learned.
No Place for Local History
Centralised examinations and performance measurements have led to a marginalisation of contents related to local and regional history[1] because, as is well known, these are hard to generalise and their specifics run contrary to the trend towards standardisation in educational policy. Locations that have Roman ruins or medieval buildings offer a variety of starting points that differ from those in towns and villages that have contemporary monuments or a memorial site dedicated to the history of the 20th century. If, nevertheless, local or regional history does make an appearance in the textbooks or syllabi of the 16 German states, then it usually serves to illustrate and concretise history in general, and with the aim of strengthening the identity of the inhabitants of Saxony, Bavaria, or Brandenburg etc.
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