Controversial issues are inevitable in today’s history classrooms and, therefore, history teachers must be able to handle them. Thus, this paper aims to provide knowledge about controversial issues in history teaching. To do this, a systematic review is used to answer which issues history teachers and pupils perceive as controversial, why controversial issues should be taught, which history teachers avoid or teach controversial issues, and how history teachers can go about teaching them. Firstly, the results show that immigration and history teachers and pupils’ backgrounds can make issues controversial. Secondly, the findings highlight that controversial issues should be taught since they can develop democratic values among pupils and foster critical thinking. Thirdly, history teachers teach controversial issues if they are supported, want their pupils to criticize the nation’s past, and value the benefits of such teaching. Contrary, history teachers avoid controversial issues if they aren’t supported, worry that controversial issues can threaten the national image, fear strong reactions from their pupils, and when they doubt their ability to deal with multiple perspectives. Lastly, the results demonstrate that when teaching controversial issues, history teachers should use their own and their pupils’ experiences, allow pupils to express their emotions, and thoroughly explain the connection between past and present. The findings are discussed in relation to theories of use of history, collective memory, teacher agency and, finally, the Swedish national curriculum.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-175942 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Airas, Jesper, Selini, David |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för kultur och samhälle |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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