Playing with time: history and the extended present

In this paper we consider how the concept of time is developed in schools. We argue that the teaching and learning of history (despite the emergence of the new history in the 1970s) is still taught and learnt with a temporal bias and it is often positioned in the past. So too, history/SOSE1 student-teachers are exposed to temporal bias in their tertiary education (as is evidenced in ‘Arts Faculty’ history courses). We suggest that there needs to be greater connectedness and balance between the dimensions of time in the teaching of SOSE with specific reference to the teaching of history and futures perspectives. We offer a new conceptualisation of history which we refer to as ‘history as the extended present’ this conceptualisation positions history in multiple temporal domains (the past, present and possible, probable and preferable futures) and emphasises the relevance of teaching and learning history to students life worlds.<br />