Students' Attitudes to History and Its Relevance: A Contribution to an International Survey

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Teaching and Learning History Within Classroom Contexts

Abstract

This paper reports findings from a survey conducted students (age 13 to 16) in two major Swedish cities. The objective for was two-fold: First, to explore students’ attitudes on school history, in general, and in relation to the multicultural society, in particularly. Second, to problematize relevance as a concept with importance for the discussion on how history as a subject should relate to tensions between disciplinary standards, students’ expectations and goals that relates to the public good. A previous survey by Grever et al. is used as a stepping stone. The empirical significance is that the study substantiates and adds to previous research. Our study also makes a conceptual contribution to identify different dimensions of relevance.

Authors

• Kenneth Nordgren, Karlstad University

• Maria Johansson, Karlstad University