Knowledge, skills and dispositions:educating history teachers in a divided society

Alan McCully, Alison Montgomery

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This paper addresses the challenges of educating teachers during the initial teacher education phase to teach history in a society which is emerging from a sustained period of violent communal conflict. Briefly, it draws attention to the reluctance of manyeducators in Northern Ireland to engage directly in potentially sensitive cultural and political debate, and to previous obstacles encountered when introducing controversial issues tostudent teachers. The paper then outlines the strengths and limitations of history teachers’ responses to teaching history in a divided society to date. It focuses on one initiative, which encourages student history teachers to acknowledge the influence that their own backgroundsmay have on how they view, and, subsequently, teach about the past. From an analysisof the qualitative data collected, the authors identify a range of knowledge, skills and dispositions required by teachers to address issues relating to a post-conflict environment.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)92-105
    JournalInternational Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research
    Volume8
    Issue number2
    Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - Oct 2009

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    Keywords

    • Divided Societies
    • Teacher Education
    • Teaching Cultural Difference

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