Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 237 (2017) 452 – 457
7th International Conference on Intercultural Education “Education, Health and ICT for a Transcultural World”, EDUHEM 2016, 15-17 June 2016, Almeria, Spain
Student teachers’ understandings and practices for teaching “controversial issues” in the high school History curriculum Ricardo Iglesiasa*, David Aceitunoa & María Isabel Toledob a
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Av. Brasil 2950, Valparaíso, Chile b Universidad Diego Portales, Manuel Rodriguez Sur 415, Santiago, Chile
Abstract To prepare active citizens for participation in national and global societies, schools cannot remain on the sidelines of controversial issues that may divide society. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study to characterize the teaching practices of secondary History student teachers when addressing controversial issues in recent History. Findings show that participants understood that addressing controversial issue was problematic and evidenced a linear, chronological and sequential conception of History. This can be explained by how university faculty models the teaching of History and student teachers’ vulnerability to criticism if they depart from prevailing practices. ©2017 2016The TheAuthors. Authors. Published Elsevier © Published by by Elsevier Ltd.Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EDUHEM 2016. Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EDUHEM 2016. Keywords: initial teacher education; student teachers; History didactics; controversial issues; social science methods
1. Introduction The current study is part of a tradition on teacher research that focuses on understanding and describing teachers’ mental processes and implicit conceptions about teaching (Clark & Peterson, 1997), such as Jackson’s (1990) classic book “Life in classrooms. The current study examines secondary pre-service teachers’ thinking and practices for addressing controversial issues in Chile’s recent history.
* Ricardo Iglesias. Tel.: +56 32 227 4447 E-mail address:
[email protected]
1877-0428 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EDUHEM 2016. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2017.02.089
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“Controversial issues” are topics on which there is no consensus, that express conflict, and divide society since different groups produce different interpretations, explanations, and/or solutions (Cotton, 2006; Hess, 2005, 2009; Lockwood, 1996). The importance of studying recent history in the school curriculum, including content related to topics of social conflict and human rights, has been highlighted as a way of strengthening democracy (Toledo & Gazmuri, 2009; Toledo & Magendzo, 2009). These prior studies have focused on how school age students and practicing teachers think about the benefits and limitations of including those topics in the curriculum. The current study extends prior work by examining how student teachers address controversial issues when teaching History to high school students. Controversial issues have an impact on the present and future of students’ lives. Traditionally in Chile the school curriculum has avoided controversies in recent history. Currently, there are those who resist and others who acknowledge the benefits of engaging students in understanding controversial issues. This latter group of educators posits that schools must prepare students to grapple with controversial issues in order to form committed and effective citizens in national and global societies. Thus, the school institution cannot stay on the sidelines of controversies generated as an inevitable result of diversity in a democratic society. These issues have greater complexity in societies that have undergone severe conflict. When teaching controversial issues, different strategies are adopted, namely, avoidance, indoctrination, neutrality and active neutrality (Cotton, 2006). The current study examines the strategies employed by secondary History student teachers as they recognize and address “controversial issues” within their classroom and their rationale for the strategies employed. 2. Method 2.1 Design This exploratory study uses a mixed method approach. This design combines the strengths of both paradigms (qualitative and quantitative) to obtain complementary data regarding the research problem (Tashakkori, & Teddlie, 1998). 2.2. Participants Thirteen student teachers enrolled in one university program that prepares secondary teachers in History, Social Sciences and Geography agreed to participate in the study. Among them, 7 men and 5 women. 2.3 Data sources Three data production techniques were used. First, a content analysis of the national curriculum for 9th and 10th grade History programs for secondary schools was performed to identify controversial issues in the content to be covered as well as the disciplinary skills students are expected to develop. Second, a self-administered questionnaire ascertained participants’ thinking about history and the teaching of controversial issues. Third, focus groups allowed triangulating questionnaire results and delving deeper into the concerns, if any, student teachers had regarding the teaching of controversial issues. 3. Results 3.1 History and teaching History as a curricular content Regarding the teaching of History all student teachers considered that it should aim to develop generic and disciplinary competencies in students. When asked about their beliefs regarding the teaching of history, all participants agreed that “controversial issues should be taught in school.”, that “History is an interpretative science.” and that “The teacher should promote debate and discussion among their students.” (see Table 1). The group was divided on statements such as “The teacher should teach history in an objective manner” (46.2%), and “The teacher should state their position when teaching History” (53.8%)
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Ricardo Iglesias et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 237 (2017) 452 – 457 Table 1 Percentage of Student Teachers Agreeing with Statements Conceptualizing History and the Teaching of History Statements regarding the teaching of History
Yes (Percent)
The teacher must teach History in and objective manner.
46.2
The teacher should state their position when teaching History
53.8
When teaching History the teacher should avoid influencing the ideas of the students.
69.2
The teacher is a facilitator of the student learning.
84.6
Controversial issues should be taught in school
100
History is an interpretative science
100
The teacher should promote debate and discussion among their students.
100
3.2 The relative importance of addressing various controversial issues Figure 1 shows the distribution of questionnaire responses when participants were asked to rank order a list of controversial issues according to its relevance. These are all topics addressed in the national curriculum for ninth and tenth grades. “Human rights violation”, “Distribution of wealth” and “The Holocaust” appeared as the most important issues. The least important issues correspond to “Frontiers and Borders of Chile”, “Arms build-up”, “Russian Revolution”, and “Population Planning”. In the focus group, student teachers noted that a current topic with high levels of sensitivity is a controversial issue. In the case of Human Rights violations committed by the dictatorship that governed Chile between 1973 and March 1990, the issue is controversial since victims consider that justice has not been served. With respect to the dictatorship, controversy stems from lack of consensus regarding the causes that originated the coup. Regarding economic growth and wealth distribution, the controversy lies on the existing inequality in Chile. Frontiers and borders are not considered controversial although there are unresolved issues. All of these issues have an impact on everyone, because they are related to the right to life and life conditions. 3.3 Teaching controversial issues Regarding the teaching of controversial issues, opinions were divided on its contributions to students’ disciplinary learning (see Figure 2). For example, about half considered that it promotes greater reflectivity and students’ classroom engagement (58,3%) and an empathetic understanding of History (41,7%). All disagreed on its contribution to the conceptual development of History and Social Sciences, understanding of space, and the appropriate use of History and Social Sciences-related concepts.
Figure 1 Controversial Issues Covered in the national Curriculum for 9th and 10th grade History
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Figure 2 Percentage of Participants in Agreement with Potential Contributions of Teaching Controversial Issues
A majority of the student teachers reported preparing lesson plans in order to teach controversial issues (62.5%). When they design a lesson to deal with a controversial issue they use written sources (75%), specialized bibliography (66.7%) and documents (66.7%). To a lesser extent, they use oral sources (33.3%), music (41.7%) and film (41.7). Regarding learning activities to work with controversial issues, student teachers prefer document analysis (83.3%), iconographic analysis (50%), documental workshops using historical sources (50%) and debates (50%). Among the activities used least are writing essays (16.7%), concept building (16.7%) and bibliographic workshops (33.3%). The most common cognitive abilities promoted through these activities include: analysis and criticism of historical sources (83.3), debates (58.3%) and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) (50%) (see Table 2). Cognitive skill seldom used include: the application of temporary categories (0%), application of historical concepts (16.7%) and the identification of causes and consequences (16.7%). Table 2 Types of Cognitive Skills Promoted when Teaching Controversial Issues in History Cognitive Skills
YES (Percent)
Analysis and criticism of historical sources
83.3
Debates
58.3
Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
50.0
Hypothesis formulation
41.7
Identification of similarities and differences within the theoretical framework.
25.0
Communication of results of research work.
25.0
Role-playing
25.0
Identification of causes and consequences.
16.7
Use and application of historical concepts
16.7
Application of temporary categories
0.0
Most student teachers identify themselves as “neutral-active”, since they declare to have different interpretations of a same event, but avoid expressing their personal opinions. Only a reduced number reported expressing their own interpretation of the events to their students. Participants acknowledge they fear expressing their opinion. These student teachers were born after the restoration of democracy; notwithstanding they fear sanctions imposed by
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authorities in the local environments, school leadership and the school’s owner. They did not want to get caught in the ideological battles confronting political parties in the wider society: In some contexts it is possible to deal with History as controversial, since they don’t have an ideological or value charge that prevents us from doing so. The only pressure factor is the amount of content to cover. (Student teacher) It depends on the issue. Controversial topics in the contemporary History of Chile continue to be difficult to address because these are issues that have not been socially resolved. (Student teacher) It depends on what grade level it is being taught because you must be aware of the different perspectives on the issue. (Student teacher) 4. Discussion Controversial issues affect the life of teachers, which explains the “avoidance” position taken when they must teach them. They acknowledge the presence of controversial issues in the school curriculum but fail to teach those topics in ways that encourage students to take a stance. This shows fear of questioning the standing social structures, which probably has its origin in the fact that they are part of a society that, as Lechner (2002) indicates, is afraid of conflicts that stem from lack of social consensus. Student teachers are part of a society that has not yet overcome fear, which was used in recent history as resource to control political actions. We observed a distance between the declaratory level and the enacted actions and practices. Student teachers strongly declare their “neutrality”, but their actions did not correspond to such a stance. Instead, they combine actions pertaining to different positions. When they cover a “controversial issue” they do not position themselves as “avoiding”, “objective”, “denying”, “neutral”, “critical”, or “indoctrinating”. Their actions can be contradictory or can cancel each other out. Cotton’s (2006) typology of position strategies for the teaching of “controversial issues”, however, is based on the premise that one cannot engage in two or more categories simultaneously. The contradictions observed are interpreted as an absence of a specific pedagogical model for addressing controversial issue in the classroom. Participating student teachers lack the theoretical knowledge of the different stances a teacher could take. The curriculum of their initial teacher preparation program does not explicitly address how to teach controversial issues. A “neutral-active” position could be related to student teachers’ vulnerable position in the school. We must consider that student teachers tend to be especially careful with what they teach, because of the control of the university (tutor), and school (mentor). Through this control teachers may be socialized to believe that historical knowledge must be restricted to agreed upon and “objective” knowledge. This finding reveals the social representation of the school as a space where either politics or conflicts have a place. 5. Conclusions The implications of the current exploratory study for the initial teacher preparation in History, Geography and Social Sciences programs are evident. First, at the university where participants received their professional preparation the current curriculum does not include addressing “controversial issues” or disputed content. As instructors in this preparation program we know that in University participants have experienced traditional teaching practices, a traditional conception of history and its corresponding pedagogical strategies: lecture of historical sources, an emphasis on the detailed description of facts, memorization, and reproduction of the knowledge imparted by the course instructor. These practices were reinforced at the schools where they did their student teaching. Student teachers replicate the pedagogy they experienced as students and this reduces the chances of looking at the content of the national high school curriculum framework and designing pedagogical actions from an analytical standpoint. The linear, chronological and sequential conception of History makes it harder to develop a deeper understanding of the opportunities the school curriculum offers to develop higher order cognitive skills in students. An integrated approach to teaching History has a higher probability of engaging students in the learning activities proposed by their teacher as it starts from students’ interests about social life. If History is a discipline that seeks to prepare students to become active citizens, further research needs to explore how disciplinary content is currently taught to prospective teachers at the university. For example, the curriculum
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could be analyzed to determine if readings include authors who present alternative interpretations, if the methodologies encourage debate of current social issues using concepts from social sciences or if these are avoided because the focus is on past history. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the support of the Performance Agreement Project for Strengthening Initial Teacher Education (Grant MECESUP CD UCV-1203). References Clark, C.M. & Peterson. P. L. (1997). Procesos de pensamiento de los docentes. In M. Wittrock, La investigación de la enseñanza III: profesores y alumnos (pp. 444-537). Barcelona: Paidós/MEC. Cotton, D. (June, 2006). Teaching controversial environmental issues: neutrality and balance in the reality of the classroom. Educational Research, 48(2), 223-241. Hess, D. (2005). How do teachers political views influence teaching about controversial issues? Social Education, 69, 47-57. Hess, D. (2009). Controversy in the classroom: The democratic value of discussion. New York: Routledge. Jackson, P. (1990). Life in the classroom. New York: Teachers College Press. Lechner, N. (2002). Las sombras del mañana. La dimensión subjetiva de la política. Santiago: LOM. Tashakkori, A. & Teddlie. C. (1998). Mixed methodology: combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. (Applied Social Research Methods). California: SAGE Publications Toledo, M. I. & Gazmuri, R. (2009). Obedientes memoriones o reflexivos pensantes: tensiones entre objetivos identitarios y cognitivos en enseñanza de la historia reciente de Chile en 6o año de enseñanza básica. Estudios Pedagógicos, 35(2), 155-172. Toledo, M. I. & Magendzo, A. (2009). Educación en derechos humanos: currículum historia͒y ciencias sociales del 2° año de enseñanza media. Subunidad Régimen militar y transición a la democracia. Estudios Pedagógicos, 35(1), 139-154.
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