On 6th December 2022, we gathered in Warsaw for a public discussion event on “Teaching Post-Socialist Transition: the challenges facing museums, schools and non-formal educators.” This discussion was hosted in partnership with Stowarzyszenie 61 at their base and held with experts from museum education departments, teachers from schools, and educators from NGOs and other organisations. We were also joined by our partners from our Transition Dialogue network, comprising education experts and NGO coordinators from Sofia Platform , Znanje na djelu, the Open Lithuania Foundation and Congress of Сultural Activists, with whom we had been holding a series of workshops in Warsaw to develop the next phases of our project.

Moderated by Alicja Pacewicz, and after hearing from our Ukrainian partner, Oleksandra Stopnyk, about how the current war in Ukraine has already affected approaches to this topic, our fishbowl-style discussion launched into raising questions about the different angles through which transition can be viewed: through the lens of nation-building, democracy-building or even Europe-building? How can we not lose multiperspectivity in our teaching of history in order to build a community that can be both proud and critical of its past? How do we uphold the pluralisation of narratives? What are the roles of teachers in this, and how can they encourage critical thinking?

A recording was made of our event and can be made available for viewing.