What is history education good for? A comparative analysis of students’ conceptions about the relevance of history

Abstract

ABSTRACT Secondary education students do not usually perceive history as a subject connected with their lives, backgrounds and interests. At the same time, prospective and in-service teachers do not always have a coherent vision of this discipline, which can reflect on their students’ perceptions. This study makes use of a theoretical framework developed by Van Straaten, Wilschut and Oostdam to examine the validity and reliability of the model, and to analyse secondary and tertiary education students’ conceptions about the relevance of history using three categories: developing a personal identity, becoming a citizen and understanding the human condition. This quantitative study makes use of the RHMS questionnaire with a sample of 403 participants divided into three groups: secondary education students, pre-service teachers and undergraduate history students. After conducting a confirmatory factory analysis (CFA), a one-way ANOVA indicated statistically significant differences between the groups. While pre-service teachers and history undergraduate students obtained higher scores in all three subscales than secondary education students, fundamental differences were identified between the first two groups. A discussion is presented about the importance of initial teacher training and the necessity to reinforce notions related to the relevance of history in the formative development of prospective teachers.