Recent theories of historical consciousness focus on the role narration plays in contemporary people's attempts to give meaning to the past and orient their practical life as citizens. This article examines the need for probing students' historical ideas and for developing narrative competence as a way to engage them critically in contested…

In recent decades, history and education scholars in the Western world have argued for a constructivist approach to disciplinary thinking in the teaching and learning of History, known as "historical thinking". Yet, there has been little classroom-based empirical research exploring how teachers engage with historical thinking theory,…

It was a quest that began over three decades ago when the author began teaching at the Owen Sound Collegiate and Vocational Institute (OSCVI) in 1984. The school had a long, storied history dating back to 1856 when it first opened its doors to students from Owen Sound and the surrounding area. As a teacher of a survey course in Canadian history…

In sharp contrast to the musings of a senior student, the mandatory history texts follow a narrow provincial orientation. The recently introduced Quebec high school history program offers adolescents a slanted narrative devoid of larger interconnected contexts as hailed; for example, by Oakeshott (2004), MacMillan (2009), and/or Canadine (2013).…

Purpose: This essay engages with scholarship on history as a discipline, curriculum documents and academic and public commentary on the teaching of history in Australian, British and Canadian secondary contexts to better understand the influence of the tension between political pressure and disciplinary practice that drives the history wars in…

This paper explores an arts-based practitioner action research study that explores the artworks made by students from a Grade 11 History of Canada course in response to teaching and learning about the First World War. The practitioner considers the art-things (Bennett, 2015) of his students and the associated thing-power (Bennett, 2004)…

The authors led a workshop during a professional conference gathering French-speaking teachers of Quebec in the fall of 2018 with the aim of describing the learning approaches adopted in social studies teaching within the secondary school context. Their intent in the course of the workshop was to examine how elements associated with learning…

This book examines dominant discourses in multiculturalism and cultural identity globally. It critiques dominant discourses and debates pertaining to multiculturalism and cultural identity, set against the current backdrop of growing social stratification and unequal access to quality education. It addresses current discourses concerning…

Purpose: This article presents a case study exploring how future teachers combine scientific knowledge and practical knowledge during a history didactics course and practicum field experience in history teaching in Quebec high schools. Design: Through a thematic analysis of the written assignments submitted during the practicum and conceptual maps…

Unlike scientific and other academic domains which have recognized international standards, the humanities are generally not governed by such acceptable overarching tenets. This lack of outside independent oversight is specifically evident within the broad arena of the social sciences and, even more particularly, with the domain of History. The…

What do secondary school students in Ontario, Canada, need to know about the world in which they live in? How did a secondary school 'World Politics' course that emerged in Ontario in the 1960s address this question? The 'World Politics' course that emerged in the 1960s clearly came about as a result of societal and educational developments.…

This paper describes the results of two research projects, which were focused upon female students' historical understanding of feminism. In both cases the researchers found that the student participants harbored ambivalent or negative attitudes towards feminism and saw little connection between the present and feminist struggles in the past.…

This article examines the dynamic between educational leadership in terms of school administration and social studies education pedagogy. The article examines the tension between the mandate for school principals in an age of increased school accountability, and the essence and delivery of social studies pedagogy. The data compiled examine the…

What stories of the past do young Canadians tell? What impact does identity have on their ideas and ways of thinking historically? What role does schooling play in transmitting a national narrative? In this paper, we address these questions in a large-scale national study of young French Canadians' understanding of the collective past. Drawing on…

This paper draws on a Canadian qualitative case study grounded in multiliteracies theory to describe the meaning-making processes of four students aged 13-14 years as they created history projects. Students were invited to explore curriculum content in self-chosen ways and to produce presentations in a range of formats. The data we present and…