Historiska lärdomar i en svensk myndighets undervisningsmaterial

Abstract

This thesis explores the intersection between Swedish history culture and school education by analyzing teaching materials produced by the Swedish public authority The Living History Fo-rum (FLH). Drawing on concepts from the field of history didactics, especially “history culture” and “historical lessons”, the thesis examines how history is used to foster values, norms, and attitudes in classroom-oriented resources aimed at students in lower (classes 7–9) and upper secondary school. The empirical material includes approximately twenty thematic teaching units, consisting of teacher guides, student exercises, films, and multimodal content. A hermeneutic, interpretive method is used, treating the material as part of a wider history culture in which schools both reflect and shape society’s relationship to the past. The study finds that FLH’s material emphasizes what might be called “dark lessons” of history. The Holocaust in particular functions as a central reference point and moral boundary, through which students are urged to value democracy, reject intolerance, and recognize the importance of individual responsibility. The material presents history as a normative resource for shaping civic values. At the same time, this thesis identifies tensions within the material’s treatment of norms and values. While some parts emphasize the changing nature of values and the risks of moralizing the past, others present contemporary values – especially regarding rights and identity – as absolute. The study also shows how certain places and stories, related to the Holocaust and Stalin’s terror, function as “learning sites” that symbolically compress historical meaning. Ultimately, this thesis concludes that FLH’s educational resources aim not only to inform but also to morally engage students, in line with both international trends in Holocaust education and Sweden’s curriculum-based emphasis on democracy and human rights.