During September this year, Prof Johan Wassermann from the Department of Humanities Education, presented papers at two international conferences held on the Iberian Peninsula.

The first of these was the History Educators’ International Research Network (Heirnet) Conference hosted by the Faculty of Education of the University of Murcia in Spain. The conference theme was ‘History Education in a changing world: The past as a tool for the future’, and Prof Wassermann presented a paper on ‘Public discourses on history as a statutory, compulsory subject up to Grade 12 – the South African experience, 2015–2016’.

At this conference, Prof Wassermann was reappointed to the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research. The UNESCO publication Oral history education: Dialogue with the past, which contains a chapter co-authored by Prof Wassermann and entitled ‘Violence and History teaching – the personal story of a South African History teacher’, was also launched on this occasion.

The second conference he attended was hosted by the International Research Association for History and Social Sciences Education (IRASSHE) and was held in Portugal, at the University do Minho in Braga. Prof Wassermann was one of the founding members of the Association and currently serves on its Scientific Committee. The conference theme was ‘Time and Space in History and Social Sciences Education’, and the paper he presented was titled ‘This is what really happened - first-year university students’ version of the history of South Africa’. At the same conference he was reappointed to the editorial board of the International Journal for History and Social Sciences Education.

Prof Wassermann also presented the closing plenary session.