The Voice of History and the Message of the National Curriculum: Recontextualising History to a Pedagogic Discourse for Upper Secondary VET

In the reform by the liberal-conservative government of Swedish upper secondary education in 2011, history was recognized as an important part of citizenship education and was introduced into the curriculum for vocational education and training (VET) tracks. Through the concepts of classification and framing, this article explores the process of constructing the history syllabus for VET. The data consist of archived material from the working group responsible for the history curriculum under the Swedish National Agency for Education. The analysis shows that there are competing discourses concerning the relative emphasis on competencies and skills and concerning the emphasis on contemporary and modern history. Although historians, history teachers and other agents are invited to respond to the content of the curriculum, the respondents have no influence on the knowledge structure of the curriculum, which is controlled by agents of the dominant educational ideology. From a critical perspective, this article suggests that the curriculum reflects the instrumental and neoconservative message of the reform through strong classification and framing and through the emphasis on general abilities and a contemporary history that has a more direct explanatory value to contemporary society.

Dimensions of historical empathy in upper secondary students’ essays

This article examines upper secondary school students’ understanding of historical empathy. The focus is on how and to what degree they displayed in their essays historical contextualisation, perspective taking and affective connection. The study was based on the essays written by 96 students, using resource-material that comprised background information and historical sources. The students reflected on the controversial issue of Finnish children who were sent to Sweden during World War II. All the three dimensions of empathy were expressed at some level, but contextualisation was most often superficial. The dimension the students managed best was perspective taking, which was related to the affective dimension of the topic. They also applied psychological terminology to this historical issue. It could be concluded from the findings that students need instruments for and have interest in dealing with sensitive and affective historical issues.

Education for Sustainable Development in Norwegian Geography curricula

In Norway, environmental education (EE) has been part of schools’ curricula since the 1970s. The concept of education for sustainable development (ESD) was introduced after Agenda 21 was introduced at the UN conference on environment and development held in Rio in 1992. The article shows there has been little change in the geography curricula since the concept ESD was introduced, and no important differences are found between curricula for mandatory schooling (classes 1–10) and curricula for upper secondary schools. ESD is mentioned in the geography curricula but without explanation and implementation. Core goals in the general national core curricula may indicate a change to ESD, but they have not been followed in the development of geography curricula in Norway.

Skolan är en lättköpt arena - livskunskap i kritisk belysning

During the last decade a school subject with the designation of Life Competence Education ("Livskunskap" in Swedish) has emerged in many Swedish schools. The aim of this article is to describe and analyse the subject Life Competence Education, its historical and ideological roots and current place in the curricula of some selected schools. The article is based on analyses of policy documents, interviews and participant observations from fieldwork in two upper secondary schools and in one course for further training of teachers arranged by a municipality. Work by Foucault, especially on governmentality, is used as an analytic tool, as well as work developed from Foucault by Nicolas Rose and Stephen J. Ball. The analyses show that the subject Life Competence Education is constructed in many varied ways in Swedish schools due to different influences, both from the state, but also from private policy entrepreneurs (Ball, 2006). It is also shown that the SET-programme, which is only one example of programmes used for this type of education, is quite widely used in Life Competence Education in Swedish schools. In light of analyses from Foucault and Rose, I suggest that these programmes can be seen as the "psy", i.e. the "psychological domains" (Rose, 1999), entering into the educational arena and with the help of behaviouristic theories constructing "governable subjects" (Foucault, 1988, 1991). This raises questions regarding what kind of subjects are constructed in Life Competence Education, with what kind of methods, as well as how these methods are construed in the light of the Swedish National Curriculum

En splittrad historia : Sambandet mellan kursplaner i historia för gymnasieskola och högre utbildning

This quantitative and qualitative analysis of syllabuses indicates difficulties in the relation between history teaching in upper secondary schools and in higher education. Using analytical tools stemming from research of education and history didactics we highlight problematic differences between universities. It is evident that history education in many ways lacks a progression from upper secondary school to higher education. Judging from the formulations in the syllabuses, the grading demands on the students in upper secondary schools are in some cases even higher than in the universities. The results from this study suggest a need for further analysis of the teaching of history, and other subjects, in higher education in relation to teaching in upper secondary schools.

Drama – viktig resurs eller hämmare för undervisningen i samhällskunskap?

The aim of this article is to discuss and problematize how teachers in civics in upper secondary school construct drama, and how it relates to teaching, and students’ knowledge formation in civics. A study like this is important as the aesthetic subjects are becoming more prominent in young people’s everyday life at the same time as school by recent reformations is increasing the adjustment to efficiency and measurability. The theoretical framework is built on discursive psychology, which emanates from social constructionist and poststructuralist theory. Data consists of interviews with four upper secondary teachers in civics. Findings show that drama can be a valuable resource for teaching and learning civics, but also a problem when it comes to assessment. The position of the student as an object, teaching as entertainment and the domination of text is also discussed and problematized. Findings are considered as problematic as drama in civics, in relation to assessment, rather enhances a text-focused three-subject school than offering an alternative challenge

Att möta det förflutna i de historiska källorna. Ett utforskande av lärande och meningsskapande genom två källtolkningsuppgifter i historia.

The article uses a form of content focused conversation analysis to explore processes of learning and attributing meaning when upper secondary students work with two primary source assignments in history. Empirical data was collected through audio recordings of students’ collaborative work on the assignments, which consisted in analysing two primary sources in small groups. The article addresses one primary research question: what is characteristic for the processes of learning and meaning-making when students work with two source analysis assignments? As a first step, the students’ learning processes, understood as a change in participation in the learning activity, are described. As a second step, the article describes how the students’ construct meaning when working with the primary sources. The main results are descriptions of the students’ learning, and meaning-making, processes. Based on the analysis of the students’ conversations it is suggested that the temporal aspect is discerned in a contrastive process between the present and the past in terms of values, ideas and societal conditions. In relation to the human aspect the students experienced a difficult balancing act in contrasting their own perspective with the historical actor’s perspective. However, a successful strategy was to take on the role of hypothetical historical agents. Finally, in relation to the contextual aspect once the students were involved in a process of inquiry and reasoning they managed to discern subtexts of the sources in relation to the historical context. It is suggested that certain aspects of school culture might inhibit the students’ learning of primary source analysis, as they occasionally strive to find the "right answers" rather than engaging in interpretative work. One interesting finding was the vital role of the students’ life-world perspective in creating meaning while working with the primary sources, and it is suggested that this perspective should be regarded in educational design.

Digitala primärkällor i historieundervisningen: En utmaning för elevers historiska tänkande och historiska empati

In this study, 110 Swedish upper secondary students use a historical database designed for research. We analyze how they perceive the use of this digital tool in teaching and if they are able to use historical thinking and historical empathy in their historical writing and presentations. Using case-study methodology including questionnaires, observations, interviews and text analysis we find this to be a complex task for students. Our results highlight technological problems and problems in contextualizing historical evidence. However, students show interest in using primary sources and ability to use historical thinking and historical empathy, especially older students in more advanced courses when they have time to reflect upon the historical material.

Samhällskunskap och historia i svensk gymnasieskola: ämnenas roll och relation i diskurs och ämnesplaner

The adoption of new syllabuses in history and social science in the new Swedish curriculum raises questions on the relationship between the two subjects. Social Science and History as school subjects have previously been described as both competing and complementary. The competing aspect has mainly been descibed in terms of citizenship education and the complementary aspect has been described in terms of content, abilities, and temporality. This article discusses how history and social science relate to these four topics in didactic discourse and in the new syllabuses. In the didactic discource both subjects underline the importance of making subject matter useful in life outside school. However, the new syllabuses are very differently formulated in this sense. History is closely connected to citizenship education and describes content, abilities and temporality in such a context. Social Science on the other hand downtunes the traditional role as a subject important for citizenship. Instead, focus is aimed at disciplinary thinking and using knowledge to understand social science methods and theories. This development is seen as very problematic and challenging for a meaningful teaching of Social Science in upper secondary school. In response to this challenge, the author proposes interdisciplinary didactic development, especially in developing "dynamic concepts" within Social Science didactics.

Significant history and historical orientation : Ugandan students narrate their historical pasts

In 2012, Uganda celebrated 50 years of independence. The postcolonial era in the country has been marked by political turmoil and civil wars. Uganda, like many other postcolonial states in Africa, cannot be described as an ethnically or culturally homogenous state. However, history education has globally been seen as a platform for constructing national identities in contemporary societies. At the same time, it is assumed that specific historical experiences of countries influence historical understanding. This study takes its starting point in the theories of historical consciousness and narrativity. A narrative could be viewed as a site where mobilization of ideas of the past to envisage the present and possible futures is made and hence the narrative expresses historical orientation. Through the concept of historical orientation historical consciousness can be explored, i.e. what history is viewed as significant and meaningful. The aim in the study is to explore in what ways students connect to their historical pasts.   The study explores 219 narratives of 73 Ugandan upper secondary students. Narratives elicited through written responses to three assignments. Designed to capture different approaches to history: either to start from the beginning and narrate history prospectively or to depart from the present narrating retrospectively. The colonial experience of Uganda affected the sampling in the way that students were chosen from two different regions, Central and Northern Uganda. The comparison was a way to handle the concept of ‘nation’ as a presupposed category. Narrative analysis has been used as a method to explore what the students regarded as historically significant and what patterns among the narratives that point towards particular historical orientations.   The empirical results show how different approaches to history, a prospective or a retrospective approach, influence the student narratives. For instance, valued judgments on past developments were more common with the retrospective approach. The results also show differences in evaluating past developments according to regional origin. Students from northern Uganda were generally more inclined to tell a story of decline. Also, it is argued that the student narratives were informed by a meta-narrative of Africa. It was as common to identify oneself as African as it was to identify as Ugandan.