What Preservice Social Studies Teachers (Don't) Know About Politics and Current Events—And Why It Matters

Abstract

This article reports findings from a 3-year study on preservice middle and secondary social studies teachers' common content knowledge of politics and current events. Surveys showed that both groups were generally uninformed about these issues, and on almost all measures, the middle-grades preservice teachers performed worse than those in the secondary program. Interviews were conducted with preservice teachers in both groups, and although they articulated a vision of teaching social studies that included relating content to politics and current events, most of the preservice teachers admitted that their habits related to acquiring this type of content knowledge were not sufficient to enact that vision in their classrooms. The author argues that these preservice teachers' lack of political and social awareness is a product of their intellectual dispositions as opposed to a deficiency in their content preparation.