What History Do Future Teachers of Early Childhood Education Think Is Relevant?

Abstract

The present study examines the perception of historical relevance that student teachers of Early Childhood Education have at the University of Zaragoza (Spain). Six hundred and sixty historical stories written by the students are analyzed in conjunction with texts that justify the choice of one historical event or another. The research seeks to determine the major historical contents that are considered relevant and relate them to the typology of the narratives. Historical relevance is a second-order concept of basic historical thinking in Early Childhood Education teacher training as, although the curriculum for this stage does not include historical content, it does include objectives that enable these topics to be addressed.

Students’ views of historical significance – a narrative literature review

“…Three overarching themes emerged during analysis of students' use of significant history, or histories: vernacular history (here defined as local history and/or history close to the students' family life), official history and history of other places. In nine articles, students point to the significance of vernacular history in different ways: as cultural history, or as a wide range of unofficial strands of history (Apostolidou, 2012;Grever et al, 2008;Lévesque, 2005;Rivero and Pelegrín, 2019;Sant et al, 2015), or the history of refugees' home country (Virta, 2016). Levstik (2000: 300) points to a tension regarding students' interest in alternative histories, including, for example, 'race, dissent, gender and class', when interviewed teachers and teacher candidates rejected these, and avoided possibly divisive or coercive histories.…”

“…Most results concerning significant substantive knowledge seem to be influenced by the national context, where historical figures and events are chosen from an ethnocentric and nationalist perspective (for example, Apostolidou, 2012;Avarogullari and Kolcu, 2016;Olofsson et al, 2017;Rivero and Pelegrín, 2019;Sant et al, 2015). One example of this is the choice of Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America as the most significant historical person and event in Spanish and Portuguese history (Rivero and Pelegrín, 2019). Informants also choose significant substantive knowledge of a political kind, although still with an influence from the national context (Bergman, 2020;Egea Vivancos and Arias Ferrer, 2018;Levstik and Groth, 2005;Sant et al, 2015;Serrano and Barca, 2019).…”

“…These narratives are told in different ways. Students in some articles recount positive historical narratives about the country, described either as stable or improving: 'a national narrative of national uniqueness and progress' (Terzian and Yeager, 2007: 76); emancipation and progress (Levstik, 2000); national development and continuous success (in regard to the US students in previous research with which Barton [2005] compares the results); unity and social cohesion (Rivero and Pelegrín, 2019); and (1) the long peace and (2) narrative of progress (Olofsson et al, 2017). There are also narratives that tell a tale of regression or conflict: continuous, political conflicts in history (Barton, 2005), and a patriotic and dualistic historical narrative including traumatic events which together gives a plot of decline in Catalunya (Sant et al, 2015).…”

“…I will now turn the focus to the students and their positioning(s) in relation to significant history and the narratives described above. There are examples of research where the historical narratives that the students express are in harmony with the official historical narrative and history curricula (Bergman, 2020;Rivero and Pelegrín, 2019;Terzian and Yeager, 2007). Flemish students use a supranational, Western-oriented identification and a sense of belonging that lies very close to the aims of the history curriculum (Van Nieuwenhuyse and Wils, 2015), while students in New Zealand express a self-perception that the country, and its history, are situated on the margins (Levstik, 2001).…”

Desarrollo del Holocausto a través de fuentes históricas y pensamiento ético. Percepciones del alumnado en enseñanza secundaria

“…Auschwitz ha de repensarse, enjuiciarse y criticarse siempre, en aras de construir conciencia colectiva. Así, el metaconcepto relacionado con la dimensión ética está relacionado con la conciencia histórica, y lo está en la línea de los asuntos difíciles o conflictivos en el aula, y no solo como un término estructurante del pensamiento histórico (Rivero & Pelegrín, 2019). Este trabajo aborda la temática, fusionando el trabajo con fuentes históricas y el pensamiento ético para desarrollar la memoria y la crítica colectiva.…”