What is history education research? Why is it important? How can we strengthen it?

What is history education research? Why is it important? How can we strengthen it?

Katharine Burn / Arthur [email protected][email protected]

What is history education research?

What is research?

What is research?

‘…a process of investigation leading to new insights, effectively shared’

Characteristics of research….

What is history education research?

What is history education research?

Systematic and robust enquiry into teaching and learning in history in schools, colleges, universities and in wider society focused on:

• Curriculum / Didactics (What are the aims of history education, what is taught and how is it selected / conceptualised / organised?)

• Pedagogy (How is history taught?)• Progression (What do learners learn in history and how is

this measured, evaluated, understood; what do learners do with what they learn?)

Why is history education research important?

• Representative?• Rigorous?

• Relevant?• Representative?• Rigorous?

• [W]e cannot treat reading and writing as empty skills, independent of specific knowledge. The reading skills of a person may vary greatly from task to task. The level of literacy exhibited in each task depends on the relevant background information that the person possesses. (1988: 8)

• Aristotle’s idea that each discipline has its own distinctive and autonomous method has been widely and inappropriately applied to the various disciplines of textual interpretation…. A lawyer usually interprets the law better than a literary critic not because he applies special canons of statutory construction but because he possesses a wider range of immediately relevant knowledge. The accurate form of Aristotle’s conception, as applied to hermeneutics, is that each interpretive problem requires its own distinct context of relevant knowledge. (Hirsch, 1966: vii)

• To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must (a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge, (b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and (c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application.

(Donovan, M.S. and Bransford, J.D, Eds., 2005, p.1)

Subject Disciplines

Forms of Knowledge Bodies of Knowledge

• Two high school students answered more of the identification questions (‘What was Fort Tichonderona?’, ‘Who was George Grenville?’, ‘What were the Townshend Acts?’) than one of the historians, and another historian got only one more answer than most students.

• (Wineburg, 2001: 76)

• The differences in each group’s approach can be traced… to sweeping beliefs about historical inquiry, or what might be called an epistemology of the text. For students reading history was not a process of puzzling about author’s intentions or situating texts in a social world but of gathering information, with texts serving as bearers of information…

• (Wineburg, 2001: 76)

• The differences in each group’s approach can be traced… to sweeping beliefs about historical inquiry, or what might be called an epistemology of the text. For students reading history was not a process of puzzling about author’s intentions or situating texts in a social world but of gathering information, with texts serving as bearers of information…

• (Wineburg, 2001: 76)

How can we strengthen history education research?

The main activities of SIGs revolve around:• BERA’s annual conference;• Activities such as workshops and seminars;• Communication, discussion and networking

via email / the BERA Community website etc;• Promotion and dissemination of SIG-related

research interests.

The main activities of SIGs revolve around:• BERA’s annual conference;• Activities such as workshops and seminars;• Communication, discussion and networking

via email / the BERA Community website etc;• Promotion and dissemination of SIG-related

research interests.

The main activities of SIGs revolve around:• BERA’s annual conference;• Activities such as workshops and seminars;• Communication, discussion and networking

via email / the BERA Community website etc;• Promotion and dissemination of SIG-related

research interests.

SIGs receive an annual allocation from the Executive Council for the development of relevant and appropriate activities or resources throughout the year. This may be spent on any legitimate activity during the present year….

Financial and administrative support

• Arts Based Educational Research • Comparative and International

Education • Creativity in Education • Curriculum, Assessment and

Pedagogy • Early Childhood Education and

Care • Educational Effectiveness and

Improvement • Educational Research and

Educational Policy-making • Higher Education • Inclusive Education • Leadership and Management in

Education • Literacy and Language • Mathematics in Education

• Mentoring and Coaching • Neuroscience and Education • New Technologies in Education • Philosophy of Education • Physical Education and Sports Pedagogy

• Post-compulsory and Lifelong Learning • Practitioner Research • Race, Ethnicity and Education • Religious and Moral Education • Research Methodology in Education • Science Education • Sexualities • Social Justice • Social Theory and Education • Socio-cultural and Cultural-historical

Activity Theory • Teacher Education and Development • Youth Studies and Informal Education

• Arts Based Educational Research • Mathematics in Education• Physical Education and Sports Pedagogy • Religious and Moral Education • Science Education

• Identify a field of research interest that complements the range of SIGs;• An individual or group willing to lead the development of the proposal

and act as convenor/s;• A completed proposal (see Appendix) that sets out clear aims and

rationale that also considers issues of potential overlap with other existing SIGs;

• Sufficient active support declared from BERA membership – 20 names, their organisations and BERA membership numbers to be provided;

• Endorsement by BERA Executive Council

The following steps need to be undertaken to develop and constitute a new SIG:

Aims

The History Education SIG aims:

• to strengthen and extend collaborative links between history education research and scholarly activity in schools, colleges and universities;

• to develop, extend and enhance disciplinary research and discussion in history education in the United Kingdom and internationally;

• to raise the profile of history education research and practice and to enhance the quality of public and policy debate about teaching and learning in history.

Complementing Existing SIGs?• Many of the interests of the proposed SIG complement the work of

existing SIGs – our interest in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, for example, complements the work of the Curriculum, Assessment and Pedagogy (CAP) SIG.

• The History Education SIG will enhance the existing portfolio of SIGs within BERA focused on discipline and domain specific teaching and learning.

• The History Education SIG intends to form close links with a range of organisations and research bodies in the UK and internationally, including, the Scottish Association of Teachers of History (SATH), Scottish History Forum, the Royal Society of Edinburgh History in Schools Working Group, the Historical Association, the Royal Historical Society, the History Teacher Education Network, the International Society for History Didactics, the AERA History SIG, EUROCLIO, the History Educators International Research Network, the Schools History Project and the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) History SIG (currently in development).

Next steps?

• Deciding whether or not a History SIG is a good idea?

• Agreeing a SIG proposal• Recruiting 20 sponsors• Submitting a proposal

[email protected]