Intrinsic and extrinsic patriotism in school: Teaching history after Estonia's critical juncture

History Teaching as ‘Propaganda’? Teachers’ Communication Styles in Post-Transition Societies

“…3 Considering the long history and global resilience of identity and patriotism building aims of history teaching, the rarity of such aims and intentions in spontaneous discourse was quite conspicuous. All the more so, as these same aims were implied in teachers' comments on the importance of teaching national history (Kello and Masso 2012) and teachers agreed with the importance of these aims when asked explicitly (Kello and Wagner 2014).…”

“…2 In fact, as elsewhere, there is some division between social and professional representations regarding the aims and essence of history teaching. Among the broader public, a traditional identity, patriotism and/or factual knowledge-oriented representation of history teaching prevails (Kello and Harro-Loit 2014), whereas in professional and official explicit discourse, the traditional identity-and patriotism-related representation seems to be pushed back, while lingering no less powerfully under the surface (Kello and Wagner 2014). For reasons that we will explain shortly, this division seems to be more pronounced in Estonia than in Latvia.…”

“…Therefore, as long as one talks about the academic or more cognitive bundle and is not reminded about 'identity bundle', they just don't come into mind. They simply do not fit so well into the interlinked range of 'enlightened' aims that most Estonian teachers offered spontaneously (Kello 2010(Kello , 2014Kello and Wagner 2014). Not just in Estonia but also elsewhere the enlightened and disciplinary discourses are stronger among history educators.…”

“…On the one hand, more is 'allowed' for majority teachers as they are not suspected of lacking loyalty to the country in case they take a critical view towards a dominant national perspective (Kello 2016). On the other hand, teachers from a 'minority camp'-both in ethnic terms and those who personally disagree with a dominant narrative-perceive their 'state servant' role when being history teachers more emphatically (Kello and Wagner 2014). Those who disagree, either from ethnic majority or from ethnic minority, are more aware of their precarious position in between different conceptions, institutions and communities.…”

“…Other analyses of the same data have been published in Kello 2010, Kello and HarroLoit 2012, Kello and Masso 2012, Kello and Wagner 2014and Kello 2016. We use the same pseudonyms as in previous publications to refer to the interviewees.…”