Call for Expert Contributors for the History Textbook Workshop
A Teaching Stipend for the Summer Term 2026
The University of New Europe and Off University invite applications from colleagues to form a team delivering a 12-week online course titled “History Textbook Workshop”, starting in February 2026. We are looking for colleagues who are committed to exploring new and interactive teaching formats. More specifically, we invite applications from educators with a background in history with a minimum of three years’ teaching experience in the Academic or High school sector, who have recent or current experience of risk from war, political persecution, and displacement.
The team behind the “History Textbook Workshop” will consist of two historians who act as lead convenors and four teachers/experts from either the High school or University sectors. Our aim is to form a team of colleagues coming from different national and methodological backgrounds. Expert contributors will receive a contribution of €250 per session. Each expert will teach one session. This course is supported with funding from the EU under the framework “Project 2022/Eastern Academic Alliance”.
As a discipline, History is increasingly under attack by antidemocratic political movements around the world. One of the core vulnerabilities for democratic societies is Education, where basic skills are often conveyed to young people alongside narratives of the past in a way that can deeply shape their political alignments. While schools and universities are supposed to arm students with critical skills, their facilities can also be instrumentalised for disarming democracies.
This innovative course engages participants coming from different national and methodological traditions of teaching history through a joint reflection on History Textbooks from different countries. It promotes the development of core literacy skills, from source criticism to understanding the uses of history in strategic narratives. Tailored to the age group 14-25, it constitutes a unique attempt to connect different generations of high school and first-degree students as they transition from learning primarily with textbooks to engaging with history without only one specific textbook. The course will create a space of connection for high school leavers and university undergraduates, as well as educators of any age.
Twelve selected international course participants will be encouraged to critically examine how history is presented, interpreted, and politicized through textbooks from different countries and contexts. Rather than accepting textbooks as neutral sources of historical knowledge, participants will analyse how these educational materials reflect the political, cultural, and ideological frameworks of their time and place of production. Through comparative analysis of national narratives, omissions, and emphases across various textbook traditions, students will develop sophisticated skills in source criticism while gaining insight into how historical memory is constructed and transmitted. The course serves several purposes: To foster critical thinking about historical representation while preparing younger participants for the transition from textbook-based learning to independent, university-level historical research. Since the course initiators actively encourage applications from students as well as educators whose careers have been put at risk by wars, political repressions, and exile, the course also contributes to the resilience of the Education sector in the context of (hybrid) wars.
Accredited by the Historisches Seminar at Zurich University (3 ECTS), the course takes place fully online and is being hosted on a secure digital platform managed by Off University. All regular and successful participants will receive a 3 ECTS point certificate. The platform enables participant anonymity where required. The teaching team is appointed and supported by an advisory board associated with the academic solidarity network University of New Europe, comprising experts in History and other Social Sciences from leading international schools and universities.
Application Requirements for Expert Contributors
- Being (1) politically persecuted and/or displaced and (2) unemployed and/or in material need
- Proven ability to facilitate an online workshop of 12 sessions of 90 minutes each in English, with an emphasis on interactive and collaborative teaching methods
- PhD and a minimum of 3 years teaching experience in History, especially in the related field of textbook research and nationalism
- Experience with teaching literacy skills, source criticism, and critical thinking
- Instructors are required to act in accordance with the Off University Code of Conduct, which can be found here in German, English and Turkish.
Application Materials for Courses (in English)
This link leads you to a questionnaire that asks:
- A short personal statement, which should include notes on the nature of persecution, displacement, material condition and/or immigration status (max. 500 words)
- A short text in which you provide an example of a History Textbook that you would want to discuss in class and how you would approach it (max. 500 words)
Application Process
Please complete the questionnaire as set out above and submit it with your full CV and lesson plan as a PDF. The application has to be submitted in English.
Your security as a scholar is our uppermost priority. We therefore save your data only on our own servers and only communicate with you in secure ways: the messaging app Signal and Proton email. For your application, the information on your risk status will be handled confidentially, but we encourage you not to disclose any details that might increase your risk further. In order to notify you about the outcome of your application, please leave your Signal handle, the number you use on Signal, or a Proton mail address only.
Please answer the questionnaire and upload your CV here.
If you have questions, you can reach us on our proton mail account at mail@offuniversity.org or on Signal with the handle @offuniversity.17. Please note, that for reasons of confidentiality all communication will take place only via Proton and Signal.
All applications should be submitted by November 16th, 2025 at 23:59 (CET/Central European Time).
