A/68/296 (a) History teaching should aim at fostering critical thought, analytic learning and debate; stressing the complexity of history, it should enable a comparative and multiperspective approach. It should not serve the purpose of strengthening patriotism, fortifying national identity or shaping the young in line with either the official ideology or the guidelines of the dominant religion; (b) Processes for reforming curricula and formulating history teaching standards must be transparent and include the input of practitioners and professional associations. Appointments to and the functioning of committees and sections of ministries dealing with such matters should also be transparent and ensure that there is no conflict of interest. A good practice is contracting out such work to professional pedagogical institutions independent from ministries. The adoption of these programmes requires a wide debate among professional bodies, associations and organizations; (c) Official standards should determine the goals and outcomes of history teaching without prescribing the content of teaching material. Such standards should be made publicly available. Political control exercised through official guidelines, including direct recommendations regarding which periods are to be stressed, how they are to be interpreted and ready-made directives on the conclusions, must be avoided. Guidelines for writing textbooks should be developed to enable authors to offer various interpretations and include various standpoints in textbooks; (d) A wide array of textbooks by a range of publishers should be accredited, thereby allowing teachers to choose from among them. In addition, the curriculum should allocate a certain amount of time (ideally at least 30 per cent of the time) for teachers to introduce supplementary material, in particular authentic historical sources, without prior approval by the ministry; (e) Approval and accreditation procedures and the criteria for textbook selection should be clear and rely on expertise in history and education, not on particular ideological and political requirements. Good practices in terms of approving and accrediting textbooks consist of open tenders in which all publishers are able to bid equally and independent expert committees reviewing and approving those meeting the required standards; (f) The content of assessment and examinations should be reformed to match the reform of curricula and the establishment of history teaching standards; (g) While diverse communities and groups should be consulted, the elaboration of history textbooks should be left to historians; decision-making by others (especially politicians or thinkers from religious, literary or wider intellectual circles) should be avoided. 89. The Special Rapporteur recommends that States review their legislative frameworks to ensure that they fully respect academic freedoms for teaching staff, researchers and pupils and that they ensure the autonomy of universities. In particular: (a) States should ensure that university staff are recruited and promoted without discrimination based on national, linguistic or ethnic affiliation, religion or political opinion. Conditions for employment and promotion in 13-42291 23/27