Torn between patriotic, civic and disciplinary aspirations. Evolving faces of Belgian and Flemish history education, from 1830 to the future

History education worldwide faces competing, rival visions and even contrasting expectations. Those expectations can be clustered in three main groups, each pursuing a different main goal for and a different approach towards studying the past: ‘nation-building and social cohesion’, ‘democratic participation and civic behavior’, and ‘disciplinary understanding’. This contribution examines how secondary school history education in Belgium (since its establishment in 1830) has been given shape, and how its main goals have evolved. Belgium (and later on Flanders) serves as an interesting case study, as the country testifies to a difficult, contested past, has evolved into a nation-state in decline, and is increasingly characterized by intercontinental immigration. Using the three clusters of rival expectations as an analytical framework, it is analyzed what the consecutive main goals for the school subject of history have been, which changes occurred throughout the past two centuries and why, and what have been the effects of these different types of history education on young people. The analysis allows to discern three main stages in the history of history education in Belgium/Flanders. For all three, the main goals are explained, and their effects examined. This contribution concludes with critically discussing the different aims, and, while reporting on the current reform of the school subject of history in Flanders, setting a fourth aim to the fore.