Nyblivna lärarstudenters syn på historia och historieundervisning

The study explores new student teachers’ understanding of history and history teaching. During the first lesson of their teacher training program, 35 students wrote about their motives for becoming history teachers and of their conceptions of the purpose and the content of history in school. The students express a strong commitment to the teaching profession as such, rather than to the subject of history. Common views expressed on the purpose of history are to help pupils understand how we got here; not to repeat the mistakes from the past; to learn about other cultures; to learn to respect others; to work against racism; and to develop specific abilities. Results show a view of history as a memorization of facts, connections, and analyses. A curriculum focusing on the West appears to be taken for granted. The concept "critical thinking" is used in diverse ways: analyzing texts, criticizing people in the past for their actions, and evaluating sources. Studying the Holocaust and other genocides is supposed to help pupils develop a democratic disposition. The students point out the importance of criticizing secondary sources in relation to individual in-depth studies, but the use of primary sources is not discussed. Results indicate that teacher training should challenge the idea of history as memorization, as well as problematize the connections between certain historic content and desired outcomes. Students should also get an opportunity to develop their ability to reason historically, e.g. to make analyses, to adopt different perspectives, to think critically and to use primary sources