Schools, Students, and Community History in Northern Ireland

TY - CHAP

T1 - Schools, Students, and Community History in Northern Ireland

AU - McCully, Alan

AU - Barton, Keith C

N1 - Alan W. McCully is a Senior Lecturer in Education (History and Citizenship) at Ulster University. During forty years as a teacher, teacher educator, and researcher spanning the period of conflict and post-conflict transformation in Northern Ireland, he has engaged with interventions in the fields of history and social studies seeking to contribute to better community relations in the province. Recently, he worked with the Consortium for Education and Peacebuilding (Ulster, Sussex, and Amsterdam) on a four-country study (Myanmar, Pakistan, South Africa, and Uganda) to strengthen educational policy and practice which promote sustainable peace. Keith C. Barton is Associate Dean of Teacher Education, Professor of Curriculum & Instruction, and Adjunct Professor of History at Indiana University. He teaches history and social studies teachers and educational researchers, and he has conducted research on the teaching and learning of history in the United States, Northern Ireland, New Zealand, and Singapore. He is co-author, with Linda S. Levstik, of Doing History: Investigating with Children in Elementary and Middle Schools; Teaching History for the Common Good; and Researching History Education: Theory, Method, and Context; and he is also the editor of Research Methods in Social Studies Education: Contemporary Issues and Perspectives.

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - Our work in Northern Ireland has been motivated by the need to understand the impact of school curricula on young people’s ideas. Community division there is justified by differing historical interpretations, but schools aim to provide a balanced and evidence based approach to historical inquiry, rather than a consensual national narrative. But how far does this influence students’ ideas, particularly in relation to the narratives they encounter outside school? Despite methodological challenges, our research provided a hopeful view of students’ willingness and ability to move beyond partisan views of the past. Other critical issues remain unanswered, such as the role of emotions in learning conflicted history, the impact of specific instructional techniques, and the motivation for history teachers to take risks.

AB - Our work in Northern Ireland has been motivated by the need to understand the impact of school curricula on young people’s ideas. Community division there is justified by differing historical interpretations, but schools aim to provide a balanced and evidence based approach to historical inquiry, rather than a consensual national narrative. But how far does this influence students’ ideas, particularly in relation to the narratives they encounter outside school? Despite methodological challenges, our research provided a hopeful view of students’ willingness and ability to move beyond partisan views of the past. Other critical issues remain unanswered, such as the role of emotions in learning conflicted history, the impact of specific instructional techniques, and the motivation for history teachers to take risks.

KW - Northern Ireland, conflict, divided societies, curriculum, pedagogy, students

M3 - Chapter

SN - ISBN 978-1-78533-929-5

VL - 36

T3 - Making Sense of History: Studies in Historical Cultures

SP - 19

EP - 31

BT - Contemplating Historical Consciousness: Notes from the Field

A2 - Clark, Anna

A2 - Peck, Carla

CY - New York

ER -