Beginner Teacher Students' Views on History and History Education

Author(s):

Anna-Lena Lilliestam(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching

Format:

Paper

Session Information

27 SES 05 A, Teacher Professional Developement through Didactics and History of Education

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-23

13:30-15:00

Room:

K3.02

Chair:

Carole Le Hénaff

Contribution

In this paper I present a study about Swedish teacher students’ views History and History teaching. Scholars throughout Europe see that History in school has a potential of developing knowledge and abilities that are important for citizens of a democratic society (Lee, 2005). But if History is to fulfill its potential, the teachers have to be well educated and well prepared for their task, and the Teacher education has a central part to play to make this possible. Previous research indicates that students chose to become history teachers not because they want to become teachers, but because of their deep interest in History as a discipline (Hicks, 2008; Ludvigsson, 2011; Virta, 2002). This indicates that there are quite a number of History teachers in European schools that really don’t want to be teachers. However, in many teacher education systems the students first study the discipline and in the end of their studies get a year of education in pedagogy and didactics. Does the way Teacher education is organized make the students want to become historians, rather than History teachers? In the University of Gothenburg, the disciplinary and the pedagogic- didactic courses are studied in parallel. The students also do an internship in school at an early stage of their teacher education. Does this make a difference in how the teacher students see their professional future? The first research question is: Do the students who study history and pedagogy-didactics in parallel primarily want to become History teachers, or does the discipline attract them, too, to a higher extent than the teaching profession?

The becoming teachers will probably start their teacher education with common-sense views on the didactic questions: Why study History in school? What should be studied? How should the instruction be organized? What difficulties might the pupil face studying History and how can they be mastered? The two didactic traditions of History didactics, the British-American cognitive tradition (Lee, 2005) and the German-Scandinavian tradition focusing historical consciousness (Thorpe, 2015) have different answers to the didactical questions. The two traditions have had an impact on the Swedish History Curriculum, and the study of these traditions also gives an opportunity for teacher education to challenge the students’ everyday conceptions of History in school. During their training they should get opportunities to develop their skills and their understanding of History in school (Husbands, Kitson & Pendry, 2003). In teacher training they should get the opportunity to leave their everyday thinking about the didactic questions, to meet the science-based didactics that enables them to make informed choices in their own teaching.

If the teacher educator is aware of different views on the didactic questions, likely to be found in a group of teacher students, she can form instruction that makes it possible for students to develop their understanding (Marton & Booth, 1997; Shulman, 1986). The second research question is: What are the teacher students’ views on the Why, What, and How of History in school and what do they think will be difficult for their future pupils in their study of History in school? How can their ideas be understood in relation to the two didactical traditions? Which consequences do the conceptions expressed by the students have for Teacher education?

This study will be extended to a longitudinal investigation that raises a third question: Does teacher students’ views on the Why, What, How and for Whom of History in school change during their years in teacher training? If there is a difference, how can it be described?

Method

Earlier research has explored teacher students’ view on the profession after some years of professional training. In this study, the timing is an important part of the design. The first part of the empirical material is collected the first day at the History department, in order to catch the students’ views on the didactical questions before they have had any history instruction. The students were asked to write an essay on their views of their future profession and of History as a school subject. To guide their writing, they were given questions. Why do you want to become a teacher? Why do you want to become a History teacher? In your opinion, why should History be studied in schools? What topics should be studied and what abilities do you think the pupils should develop? What do you imagine will be the hardest part of History studies for your future pupils? How should History instruction be carried out? Three subsequent groups of History teacher students at the University of Gothenburg wrote these essays in January 2015, 2016, and 2017. In total, 127 (35+39+53) students participated. After 9 months of integrated History and History didactic, the students wrote on the same questions. So far 71 students have written this second text. Finally, starting in March 2017, they will write a third text after the next 9 months of history studies and an internship in school. In this paper I discuss the results from the first essay. I search for the different views on the didactic questions expressed by the new teacher students. My main interest is to catch the variety of views, and therefore a Phenomenographic (Marton & Booth, 1997) analysis is suitable, since this kind of analysis searches for different conceptions of a topic in a group. In this case, the texts written by the students are seen as manifestations of these conceptions. A basic assumption is that the conceptions found in one group are likely to be found in another group of the same kind, but it is never possible to claim that the researcher has found all the conceptions possible on the phenomenon in question. In another group, fewer or more conceptions could be found. A Phenomenographic analysis focuses on variety, and not on quantitative measures. However, when I see that a quantitative measure can enhance the understanding the material, I comment it in these terms, too.

Expected Outcomes

The students in this study want to become teachers and they express idealistic motives of helping and supporting young people. This result differs strongly from previous research and might depend on the organization of Teacher Education in the University of Gothenburg. In the material History in school is seen either as “the past” or as a relation between the past and present. The students express views that the study of History should develop the pupils morally or intellectually. On group of conceptions stresses the importance of fostering antiracist attitudes, respect and understanding of others. It appears to be taken for granted that enlarging the canon, also studying non-western societies facilitates the development of these desirable attitudes. The conceptions about History as intellectual training stresses “critical thinking”, but uses the concept in various ways. “Critical thinking” seems to mean interpreting texts, training pupils’ intellect, reproducing analyses, or even criticizing people from the past for their actions. In the texts, lecturing stands out as the essential type of History teaching, often together with pupils’ independent work in areas of personal interest. The concept “source” is only used in relation to independent work, using secondary sources for synthesises, judging their trustworthiness. No text puts forward work with primary sources. The views on the future pupil’s problems in learning history focus on the memorizing problems. Teaching history is lecturing, presenting facts and analyses- learning history is memorizing. There are some traces of the didactical traditions in the material, but the academic lecturing tradition comes out strongly. In Teacher training, the German-Scandinavian tradition can challenge the students’ views about collective memory and the temporal and ethical dimensions. The British-American tradition can contribute with intellectually challenging tasks on critical thinking, the use of primary sources and a consciousness around progression in historical thinking.

References

Hicks, D. (2008). Continuity and constraint: Case studies of becoming a teacher of History in England and the United States. I W. J. Warren & D. A. Cantu (red.) History education 101: The Past, present, and future of teacher preparation. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Husbands, Chris, Kitson, Alison & Pendry, Anna (2003). Understanding history teaching. Teaching and learning about the past in secondary schools. Maidenhead: Open university Press. McGraw- Hill Education. Lee, Peter (2005). Putting principles into practice: Understanding history. I Donovan & Bransford (red.) How students learn. History in the classroom. National Research Council of the National Academies. Washington DC: The National Academies Press. Ludvigsson, David (2011). Lärarstudenters relation till historieämnet. Nordidactica. Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education, 2011: 1(1). s. 40-57.(Teacher students’ relation to the school subject History) Marton, Ference. & Booth, Shirley. (1997). Learning and awareness. Malwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Shulman, Lee (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge Growth in teaching. Educational Researcher 1986, 15 (4). Thorp, Robert (2015). Historical consciousness, historical media and History education. Diss. Umeå: Umeå universitet. Virta, Arja. (2002). Becoming a history teacher: observations on the beliefs and growth of student teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 687-689.

Author Information

Anna-Lena Lilliestam (presenting / submitting)

University of Gothenburg

Dep of pedagogy, curricular and professional studies

Göteborg

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