On Friday 13 March 2026, the tenth National History Education Conference took place at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, under the theme Boundless History: Migration Through the Ages. The conference, organised by the History department of Erasmus University Rotterdam together with VGN, the Association of History and Civics Teachers in the Netherlands, was completely sold out.
This anniversary edition focused on migration as both a timely and timeless historical theme. The conference offered a varied programme of lectures and interactive workshops. As in previous years, participants explored both theoretical frameworks and practical applications for the classroom. On this occasion, the 150 attendees dedicated to history education were inspired to enrich their lessons with the boundless stories that migration has to offer.
Keynotes by migration historian Leo Lucassen (Leiden University/IISH) and Valika Smeulders (Head of History, Rijksmuseum/University of Groningen) set the tone, followed by a lively panel discussion that also featured the history teacher of the year, and a varied programme of workshops. Participants engaged with topics ranging from geographical datasets in the classroom to children's literature as a historical source, and from palaeogenetics to conflicting perspectives on the Nakba.
The choice of the Rijksmuseum as venue was no coincidence: it was also the location of the very first conference. The collaboration between EUR and VGN came about in 2015, when a professional development event organised by the History department happened to coincide with plans for the first National History Education Conference – and the decision was made to join forces. Since then, the conference has become an established annual event, with one exception: in 2020, the planned conference date fell on the first day of the national lockdown.
Ten editions later, the conference has grown into a central meeting place and professional development opportunity for history teachers from across the country.
