Historical consciousness matters: national identity, historical thinking and the struggle for a democratic education in Taiwan

Abstract

ABSTRACT While Western and established democracies are wary of teaching students about national identities and aspire to broaden the framework of history education, the Republic of China (Taiwan) is still struggling to construct a Taiwanese identity to safeguard its freedom from the Chinese historical narrative. As the divide between Taiwan and China grew, what would be Taiwan’s preservice teachers’ historical consciousness and purpose of teaching history? Thirty-three preservice history teachers from Teacher Education institutions in different areas of Taiwan were interviewed in order to determine the historical consciousness of their national identity and teaching orientation. The results showed that most preservice teachers have a Taiwanese-oriented historical consciousness, while fewer of them have a mixed or Chinese orientation. Their preferred goals, thinking skills, and contents varied according to their specific historical consciousness. However, pedagogically, most of them believed that they should remain neutral on the issue of national identity. This paper argues that preservice teachers’ historical consciousness matters and teacher educators must help to clarify and develop their ‘narrative competence’ and be aware of how it orients their teaching of history; history education should be based on developing a sound democratic society, in which memories, thinking skills, and future visions come together.