1 History Education and Identity

One of the problems of contemporary history teaching is ethnocentrism. Most researchers in the field of history education believe that style and utterance of history curriculum, textbooks and of teachers should be changed in the modern world. There are a lot of interests in the world about the meanings attached to the concepts of ‘us ’ and ‘the other ’ and how to construct national history approach in the light of globalisation. There have been an increasing number of research studies on this subject. The main reason for this interest is the new social structure which has became a reality because of new social relations and cultural interactions that also influence traditional history teaching. However, there has been little research on the understanding of perceptions of prospective history teachers about ‘us ’ and ‘the other ’ in Turkey. So, the aim of this study is to investigate candidate teachers ’ perceptions about the above concepts and the meanings attached in the learning and teaching process of history. Then, the research question is ‘What are the perceptions of prospective history teachers about the concepts of ‘us ’ and ‘the other ’ with which they are confronted in learning- teaching practices?’ Assessment of the action part of the study was made by using qualitative research techniques. Data were collected through open-ended questionnaire questions, notes of interviews with candidate teachers, reflective field notes of the researcher and document analysis. This study suggests that when historical consciousness is constructed there is a need for skills of critical thinking on the meanings of ‘us ’ and ‘the other’. Additionally history teachers should have skills to practice their critical thinking skills effectively in coherent and unbiased ways