Training pre-service secondary teachers in historical thinking: analysis of levels and discourses

Abstract

This article analyses the levels of training of pre-service secondary teachers in historical thinking and their discourses on the matter. It’s examined a written exercise on knowledge and application of historical thinking skills carried out by 156 history teachers in training, students of the Master's Degree in Secondary Education Teacher (MAES) of the University of Valencia between 2019 and 2022. The exercise demands the analysis argued from a real exam of secondary education based on historical thinking: the capacity and levels are examined to recognize historical competences, explain how they are used and design a rubric for their evaluation. Through a qualitative analysis of the answers based on the grounded theory, training levels are categorized in this regard (null, declarative and applicative) putting them in relation to their discourses on practical and critical curricular or didactic models and with educational innovation in the teaching of the history. It is confirmed that in different courses and training contexts, the majority of future teachers show declarative levels as disciplinary knowledge of the content; only a minority have more complex levels of application or pedagogical content knowledge. The participants with applicative levels are, for the most part, those who have taken better advantage of the MAES: both their theoretical training, reaching a critical vision of the contents and uses of school history and educational innovation, above a mere methodological vision; as their educational practices, arguing the difficulties of the historical thinking approach in the classroom.