The Use of the Term History of Modern Times in the Educational Context (through the Prism of Foreign Studies)

Abstract

The article covers the analysis of foreign historical sources written by French and German authors (Patrick Garcia, Emmanuel Droit, Franz Reichherer). It was found out that such notions as history of modern times, history of recent past, direct history, and close history have already been put into a wide scientific circulation. Such direction of the historical science has been developing for more than 40 years; as a result a number of papers have been published, appropriate research institutes have been organised, periodicals and monographs are issued, subjects and courses were included to curricula of higher and secondary educational establishments in foreign countries. The moving boundaries of this direction are revealed: an ascending one – a person’s lifetime (a real witness), and a descending one – a striking event of the present time being discussed in press, media and social networks. The key concepts of the history of modern times such as witness, memory, social enquiry, event, and peculiarities of their usage are characterised. The comparative analysis of the Ukrainian and foreign studies of the recent history shows that the Ukrainian scientists do not pay enough attention to the methodology of such studies. The same
situation is with the arrangement of glossary and research methods, the choice of research objects, subjects and content, the selection of sources and materials. Therefore, the history of modern times should be taken seriously and studied properly in order to use research findings in history of pedagogy and education studies.