Papers by Roland Bernhard
The Welsh Government commissioned me to review the current version of the Criteria for the accred... more The Welsh Government commissioned me to review the current version of the Criteria for the accreditation of initial teacher education programmes in Wales (Welsh Government, 2017) and provide it with expert recommendations on issues to consider when revising the Criteria for the purpose of maintaining and improving the quality of initial teacher education provision. This paper outlines my findings.
SQTE-Forschungsmitteilung 01/2021
Lernergebnisse für Schülerinnen und Schüler in London, insbesondere für solche aus benachteiligte... more Lernergebnisse für Schülerinnen und Schüler in London, insbesondere für solche aus benachteiligten Verhältnissen, haben sich in den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten drastisch verbessert (Baars, Shaw, Mulcahy & Menzies, 2018; Greaves, Macmillan & Sibieta, 2014), was zu einer wissenschaftlichen Debatte über die Faktoren hinter diesen Verbesserungen, die als "London-Effekt" in der Literatur diskutiert werden, geführt hat (z. B. Baars et al., 2014; Macdougall & Lupton, 2018). Es besteht ein breiter Konsens über den entscheidenden Einfluss von "effektiver Führung auf allen Ebenen des Systems" (Baars et al., 2014, S. 12; siehe auch Sammons, Matthews, Day & Gu, 2007). Insbesondere Leadership auf der Ebene von Einzelschulen scheint ein entscheidender Treiber dieser Verbesserungsprozesse gewesen zu sein (Baars et al., 2014). Ein Element effektiver Führung, von dem angenommen wird, dass es für die Verbesserung der Ergebnisse benachteiligter Schüler/innen von Bedeutung war, bestand im „rasing aspirations“ von Schüler/innen, Eltern und Lehrpersonen (Baars et al., 2018; Day et al., 2009). („Raising aspirations“ ist ein Ausdruck, der schwierig ins Deutsche übertragen werden kann. „Aspirationen erhöhen“ könnte umschrieben werden mit: das Vertrauen von Schüler/innen, Lehrkräften und Eltern darin erhöhen, dass die Lernenden viel erreichen können; aufbauend auf dieser Überzeugung die Erwartungen und damit auch die Ambitionen und die Lernmotivation erhöhen.)Das Ziel des Artikels ist es, dieses Element wirksamer Schulleitung in hocheffektiven Schulen mit einem hohen Anteil an benachteiligten Schüler/innen in London näher zu untersuchen. Wir werden Einblicke in die Überzeugungen von Schulleiter/innen in solchen Schulen geben und ihre Ansätze zur Steigerung von Aspirationen und Erwartungen untersuchen. Auf diese Weise zielt der Beitrag darauf ab, zum Verständnis effektiver Praktiken in diesem Zusammenhang beizutragen und gleichzeitig Impulse für die Reflexion über die Ausbildung von Schulleiter/innen, die Lehrer/innenausbildung und die kontinuierliche berufliche Weiterentwicklung von Lehrkräften anzubieten.
Paper accepted for American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting 2021 in Orlando
Outcomes for school students in London, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, have... more Outcomes for school students in London, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, have improved dramatically over the last two decades (Baars, Shaw, Mulcahy & Menzies, 2018; Greaves, Macmillan & Sibieta, 2014), giving rise to an academic debate around the factors behind these improvements, also termed the “London effect” (e.g. Baars et al., 2014; Macdougall & Lupton, 2018). There is consensus on the decisive influence of “effective leadership at every level of the system” (Baars et al., 2014, p.12; see also Sammons, Matthews, Day & Gu, 2007). Leadership at the level of individual schools appears to have been a particularly crucial driver of these improvement processes (Baars et al., 2014). One element of this effective leadership, argued to have been significant in boosting disadvantaged students’ outcomes, entailed raising the aspirations and expectations of students, parents and staff (Baars et al., 2018; Day et al., 2009).
The objective of this paper is to further explore this element of effective leadership in highly effective schools with a high proportion of disadvantaged students in deprived areas of London. We will provide insights into the views of leaders in such schools, exploring their approaches to raising aspirations and expectations. In so doing, we aim to increase understanding of effective practices in this field, alongside providing impetus for reflection on headteacher training, teacher education and continuous professional development.
Zwischenbericht zum Forschungsprojekt School Quality and Teacher Education
Im FWF-Projekt „Schoo... more Zwischenbericht zum Forschungsprojekt School Quality and Teacher Education
Im FWF-Projekt „School Quality and TeacherEducation“ (SQTE) werden Schulleiter/-innen erfolgreicher und hochgradig effektiver Schulen in England zu ihren Erfahrungen mit Schulqualitätsentwicklung befragt. Was waren die zentralen Hebel, um ihre Schulen zu verbessern? Wie gelang es ihnen, die Lernergebnisse der Schüler/-innen zu erhöhen? Was können wir von ihren Erfahrungen potenziell für die Praxis der Schulentwicklung, für die Lehrer/-innenbildung, für die Ausbildung von Schulleiter/-innen und für die Bildungspolitik in Österreich lernen? Insbesondere Schulen mit schwierigen Rahmenbedingungen, die trotz eines hohen Anteils benachteiligter Schüler/innen und eines hohen Anteils von Schüler/-innen mit Migrationshintergrund exzellente Lernergebnisse erzielen, stehen im Zentrum des Interesses. Ein besonderes Augenmerk wird auf Brennpunktschulen in London gelegt, die sich im Zuge des „London Effects“ in den letzten 15 Jahren stark verbesserten. Das vom österreichischen Wissenschaftsfond (FWF) geförderte SQTE-Projekt wird an den Universitäten Salzburg und Oxford durchgeführt.
School Quality and Teacher Education Snapshots , 2019
In unseren Interviews mit Schulleiter/-innen hocheffektiver Schulen im Rahmen des SQTEProjektes z... more In unseren Interviews mit Schulleiter/-innen hocheffektiver Schulen im Rahmen des SQTEProjektes zeigte sich, dass in solchen Schulen auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen das, was in der Bildungswissenschaft unter growth mindset diskutiert wird, eine Rolle spielt. In diesem Heft wird daher die bekannte Mindset-Theorie der Motivationspsychologin Carol Dweck (Stanford University) vorgestellt. Die Theorie beschreibt zwei verschiedene Denkweisen, die dafür verantwortlich sein können, warum einige Schüler/-innen die in sie gesetzten Erwartungen übertreffen, während andere ihr Potenzial nicht gut entfalten. Die Theorie beruht auf empirischen Grundlagen (Yeager et al., 2019) und ist insbesondere im Schulkontext bekannt. Sie findet aber auch in anderen Bereichen, wie beispielsweise im Arbeitsleben oder im Sport, Anwendung. Im Zusammenhang mit dem Bereich Schule wurde in mehreren Studien gezeigt, dass spezifische Denkweisen (mindsets) sowohl von Schüler/-innen als auch spezifische Denkweisen von Lehrpersonen einen Einfluss auf Lernergebnisse ausüben können. Eine wachstumsorientierte Denkweise (growth mindest) wirkt sich dabei besonders positiv aus (Blackwell, Trzesniewski & Dweck, 2007; Yeager et al., 2016). Der Inhalt dieses Heftes soll Direktor/-innen und Lehrpersonen die Mindset-Theorie näherbringen und verschiedene Verhaltensweisen und Situationen aufzeigen, in denen sich die jeweiligen Grundeinstellungen bei Schüler/-innen äußern können. Außerdem werden Vorschläge gemacht, wie Lehrpersonen ihre eigene Haltung und die ihrer Schüler/-innen im Sinne des erwünschten growth mindsets entwickeln können.
Objectives
There are different ways to strengthen the research-informed knowledge base in preser... more Objectives
There are different ways to strengthen the research-informed knowledge base in preservice teacher education. We sought to raise preservice teachers' understanding of the relevance of school research by working with them on qualitative data providing exploratory insights into a relatively unknown dimension: school leaders´thinkingleaders´thinking about school effectiveness and school improvement. The structure involved a three-step-approach: (1) investigating school leaders´perspectivesleaders´perspectives in two national contexts; (2) comparing these views in relation to different national frameworks of school improvement; and (3) using the findings with those engaged in preservice teacher education.
Theoretical framework/perspectives
The paper is rooted in research within school effectiveness and improvement research, focusing on quality of teaching as understood within the dynamic model of educational effectiveness proposed by Creemers & Kyriakides (2006; Armstrong et al, 2012: 49). In accordance with translational educational research (La Velle 2015), we accept that theoretical insights and empirical findings from large-scale assessment or external school inspection have to be transformed into "knowledge for practice" (Guerriero 2017: 30). We therefore explore one particular strategy for translating our findings about the importance of research-informed practice from the head-teachers' perspectives into those of the prospective teachers.
Methods
We used qualitative methodology, allowing us to approach the thinking and reasoning of our population. In the first phase, 16 'expert interviews' were conducted with principals from highly effective and non-selective secondary schools in England (n=8) and Austria (n=8). All interviewees worked in schools in challenging circumstances, most of which had undergone recent processes of improvement. Data from this phase built the foundation for the next in which we conducted three focus group discussions with preservice teachers in Austria (in their third year of study) to examine how they made sense of the headteachers' reasoning about school effectiveness and improvement and the particular value they attributed to research use.
Data
nterviews and focus group discussions provided rich textual data which were subject to content analysis. Research in Austrian was approved both by the Austrian Institute for Research and Development in Education and by an Austrian University. Data collection in England was subject to ethical approval by the university that hosted the researcher.
Results
Phase 1 results show that the school leaders interviewed in England and Austria use different kinds of research insights concerning their “practical reasoning” (La Velle 2015) to improve schools. When teacher candidates compared the data from the two national contexts, they gained considerable insights into the importance of research for school improvement and into the different ways in which research can be used in school practice.
Significance
This study took into account the fact that both educational sectors – schools and university-based teacher education in Austria – have begun building a new knowledge base, derived from school research, to suit both their different frameworks; i.e. with relevance both for improving schools and for educating preservice and early-career teachers. It shows how data from school research can be used, where there is cooperation between different educational stakeholders, in preservice teacher education to foster processes of knowledge transformation.
Results
Phase 1 results show that the school leaders interviewed in England and Austria use different kinds of research insights concerning their “practical reasoning” (La Velle 2015) to improve schools. When teacher candidates compared the data from the two national contexts, they gained considerable insights into the importance of research for school improvement and into the different ways in which research can be used in school practice.
Significance
This study took into account the fact that both educational sectors – schools and university-based teacher education in Austria – have begun building a new knowledge base, derived from school research, to suit both their different frameworks; i.e. with relevance both for improving schools and for educating preservice and early-career teachers. It shows how data from school research can be used, where there is cooperation between different educational stakeholders, in preservice teacher education to foster processes of knowledge transformation.
Paper accepted for AERA 2020 (San Francisco).
Objectives
Outcomes attained by disadvantaged stud... more Paper accepted for AERA 2020 (San Francisco).
Objectives
Outcomes attained by disadvantaged students in London schools have improved considerably in recent decades (Greaves et al., 2014; Blanden et al., 2015). The current implementation of government-designated ‘Opportunity Areas’ represents an attempt to extend this ‘London Effect’ to other regions of England with large numbers of schools in difficult circumstances (Department of Education, 2018). This paper explores the views of headteachers in highly effective and improving schools in London and in the ‘Opportunity Areas’ about strategies for supporting processes of school improvement and fostering better outcomes for disadvantaged students in particular.
Theoretical framework
The paper draws on the growing field of educational effectiveness and improvement research (EEIR) –including earlier research on school effectiveness and improvement. Its conceptual basis derives from the theoretical models of educational effectiveness developed by Creemers and Kyriakides (2008, 2010, 2012): The Dynamic Model and the more recent Dynamic Approach to School Improvement (DASI). These models seek to study schools and their improvement as an inherently dynamic process (rather than adopting a static perspective).
Methods
We drew a sample of non-selective, highly effective and improving schools in deprived local authorities in London and the ‘Opportunity Areas’ based (1) on the inspection judgments of the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), the national inspection agency in England; (2) on the Progress 8 score – the measure of the progress made by pupils between the age of 11 (when they complete primary school) and the age of 16 (when most undertake public examinations across a range of subjects; and (3) on the proportion of disadvantaged students in the school, as measured by numbers receiving free school meals. We conducted face-to-face interviews with 22 headteachers and senior leaders from 11 highly effective schools in difficult circumstances in London and the Opportunity Areas, exploring how these school leaders understood and developed school quality and what they thought worked in raising outcomes, especially for disadvantaged students. The project was approved by the University’s Central Research Ethics Committee.
Data
Interviews were fully transcribed and the interview data was subjected to content analysis. The central dimensions in the answers were identified and explored.
Results
The data shows that the research literature on school effectiveness and improvement had an emphatically inspiring effect on heads of highly effective and improving schools in difficult circumstances. Use of research on effective teaching and learning played an important role in all the schools analysed. Heads placed strong emphasis on research-based professional development. Raising student and staff aspirations, the use of data and whole-school behaviour management systems also appeared in the findings as key factors in improvement.
Significance
This research increases our understanding of successful school improvement by exploring the perspectives of headteachers with successful track records in enhancing outcomes for disadvantaged students in particular. In so doing, it provides practically-relevant stimuli with the potential to inform decision-making at different levels in education systems.
AERA 2020
Symposium accepted for AERA 2020 in San Francisco
Organiser: Roland Bernhard
Chair: Katharine Bu... more Symposium accepted for AERA 2020 in San Francisco
Organiser: Roland Bernhard
Chair: Katharine Burn
Discussant: Maria Teresa Tatto
The objective of this symposium is to bring together different insights into the relationship between school improvement and the use of research by teachers and headteachers in England, Austria and Italy. Recognition of the powerful role that research can play in developing and improving the quality of teaching raises questions about the ways in which high-quality research reaches the practice of schools and informs teachers’ professional learning. Different answers to this question are explored by all the papers within this symposium, which illustrate powerful forms of collaboration intended to mobilise research within and across different types of institution in different contexts.
Overview: School Improvement Through Research-Engagement In Different Contexts
Overview of the presentation
The focus of this symposium is inspired by findings from one of the studies reported within it (paper 1) that use of research to inspire and inform practice has played a very important part in the success of highly effective and improving schools in England. Thus, the first paper (paper 1: Roland Bernhard/Katharine Burn/Pam Sammons: Research-Based School Improvement: How Highly Effective And Improving Schools In England Apply Research) identifies how leaders have themselves used research to underpin both their school improvement and professional development strategies. In England, university-school partnerships play an important role when it comes to ensuring that research reaches practice. Paper 2 (Chris Brown: School/University Partnerships: A Case Study of a Proposed University Training School in England) presents a case-study based on documentary analysis of the plans for one such partnership, using detailed analysis of one proposal for a University Teaching school in order to outline what an outstanding partnership might comprise, as well as the potential benefits of such an approach. Paper 3 (Katharine Burn/Eluned Harries: Sustaining Teachers’ Research Engagement: The Role Of A Research Champion Within A University-School Partnership) explores an alternative approach to university-school partnerships by examining one school’s experience within a local knowledge exchange partnership forged between the state-maintained schools within one local government area and the research intensive university located at its heart (University of Oxford). Central to this partnership is the role of a designated Research Lead within each school (referred to as a “Research Champion”) – a designated teacher in each 2 partnership school who acts as a conduit between school and the university in promoting teachers’ research engagement and facilitating collaborative research. In Paper 4 (Ulrike Greiner/Roland Bernhard/Christian Wiesner: Learning In Initial Teacher Education From School Leaders: Processes Of Knowledge Transformation) the symposium returns to the views of the senior school leaders in effective and improving English schools and compares them to the views of Austrian principals – particularly in relation to the role that they attribute to the use of research in school improvement and professional development. The researchers then examine how the insights generated through this comparative process are understood and used by prospective teachers in a series of focus group discussions as a first step towards exploring how a knowledge of senior leaders’ views of research use might be used in initial teacher education to foster beginning teachers’ continued research engagement. Paper 5 (Monica Mincu/Claudia Mandrile: Improving Schools Through School To School Support In Italy: Results From A Randomised Control Trial) examines how research-based knowledge is shared within a school-to-school network in Italy, and how this process contributed to school improvement in Italy.
Significance
Recognition of the powerful role that research can play in developing and improving the quality of teaching raises questions about the ways in which high-quality research reaches the practice of schools and informs teachers’ professional learning. Different answers to this question are explored by all the papers within this symposium, which illustrate powerful forms of collaboration intended to mobilise research within and across different types of institution in different contexts.
Bramann, Ch. / Kühberger, Ch. / Bernhard, R. (2018): Historisch Denken lernen mit Schulbüchern. Einführung, in: Ch. Bramann / Ch. Kühberger / R. Bernhard (Eds.), Historisch Denken lernen mit Schulbüchern, Frankfurt: Wochenschau Verlag, pp. 5-16.
SQTE School Quality and Teacher Education Bits 02/19
In diesem Heft wird eine Übersicht über die empirischen Grundlagen der Bewertungsstrategie von Ge... more In diesem Heft wird eine Übersicht über die empirischen Grundlagen der Bewertungsstrategie von Geschichtsunterricht in Lehrveranstaltungen von Roland Bernhard vorgestellt.
Effektiver Unterricht wird verstanden als ein Unterricht, der empirisch nachweisbar einen guten Effekt auf messbare Lernergebnisse von Schüler/innen zeitigt und der gleichzeitig historische Denkprozesse zu initiieren imstande ist. Bei der Beobachtung und Bewertung von Unterricht müssen immer sowohl fachspezifische als auch allgemeine Komponenten berücksichtigt werden. Grundlage der Ausführungen sind daher geschichtsdidaktische und bildungswissenschaftliche Standardbeiträge zu gutem Unterricht.
This chapter provides a definition of historical myth from the perspective of history education r... more This chapter provides a definition of historical myth from the perspective of history education research and asks how myths can be dealt with in history education in order to foster historical thinking.
There is probably no country in the world where someone has claimed that the ‘discovery of Americ... more There is probably no country in the world where someone has claimed that the ‘discovery of America’ is down, not to Christopher Columbus or Leif Eriksson, but to a German – Martin Behaim of Nuremberg. Except, that is, for Germany. The figure of the man who created what has been alleged to be the world’s first globe is the epitome of a German lieu de mémoire; his fame extends far beyond his city of birth, which has a monument to Martin Behaim, a street and a school named after him. In 1992, the German federal postal service issued a stamp commemorating Behaim. It should be of little surprise to us, then, that such a household name appears in numerous textbooks from various German states. Recent work in international textbook research has demonstrated that the Behaim narrative has served the ‘generation of meaning via mythomotor’ within historical culture. This chapter will cast light on the patterns in accordance with which this generation of meaning takes place in relation to the Behaim myth as it lives in societal historical consciousness, and its narrative structures. It will further explore the functions served by this narrative within historical culture, focusing primarily on textbooks, understood in this context as manifestations of historical culture. Additionally, the chapter, drawing on the myth of Behaim as an exemplary case, will examine how teachers might harness the potential of historical myths in textbooks to encourage pupils to develop a mature and self-reflective historical consciousness.
History Education Research Journal, 2019
This special edition of HERJ (number 16.1) sprang from an international symposium in Salzburg, A... more This special edition of HERJ (number 16.1) sprang from an international symposium in Salzburg, Austria on 11 and 12 May 2017, called Triangulation in History Education Research (H-Soz-Kult, 2019). It includes 12 articles on mixed-methods research and triangulation in history education research from seven different countries: Australia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
History Education Research Journal, 2019
Empirical research on history education “has grown dramatically in the past 35 years and exponent... more Empirical research on history education “has grown dramatically in the past 35 years and exponentially in the last 15”. (Epstein, 2018: 61) History education is a growing area of inquiry conducted by researchers in the whole world. Also, Mixed Methods and Triangulation designs are on the rise (to cite only a few Mixed Methods Studies in History Education from the last three years: Bernhard and Kühberger 2018; Rantala, Manninen and van den Berg, 2016, Baron, 2016; Harris and Burn 2016; Cohen 2016; Harris and Martinez, 2016; Sant, Gonazalez-Monfort, Fernandez, Blanch and Freixa, 2015; Yemini, Yardeni-Kuperberg and Natur, 2015; Shear, Knowles, Soden and Castro, 2015). This movement towards Mixed Methods or Triangulation designs seems to reflect a general boom. It has been noted recently that for receiving competitive grants for research projects from funding agencies, a Mixed Methods research design is not only very helpful but has nearly become a precondition since there are “expectations and requirements on the side of funding agencies that research in many fields should include a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods and a readiness to preferring such projects and proposals” (Flick, 2017: 1).
History education research deals with many elaborated and complex concepts such as “epistemological beliefs”, “historical consciousness”, “historical thinking”, “historical culture”, “historical learning” and “historical understanding”, among others. The discipline therefore includes many different aspects of research in various contexts. Mixed Methods research and Triangulation are conceived as ways to account for such complexity (Ponce and Pagán-Maldonado, 2015) and to compensate for the methodological weaknesses of partial research approaches (McKim, 2017: 213; Gorard and Taylor, 2004: 4). We will argue in this introductory article that in our discipline there has not been much theoretical reflection about the application of Triangulation and Mixed Methods so far. With this special edition we thereby wish to stimulate the methodological discussion within the community and, in doing so, try to contribute to the sharpening and strengthening of the discipline ́s research profile. Our paper also aims at overcoming emerging paradigm wars, which are perceived by some authors at this moment in history education research (see Köster/Thünemann in this special edition). Another aim of the Special Issue is to stimulate discussion between the German Speaking History Education and the international community.
In the first section of this introductory article, some lines of discussion about the question of which methods to use in research about social phenomena in general will be presented. In this context, strengths and weaknesses of the different paradigms will be examined. In the next section it is shown how “paradigm wars” were overcome by promoting Triangulation and Mixed Methods. Secondly, some lines of the development within History Education Research in the German speaking countries in the 20th and 21st century will be laid out. In the last section, we will present a brief review of international research into history teachers’ beliefs, also addressing the question of how Triangulation and Mixed Methods is dealt with in our discipline.
In international methodological literature, and in the literature about research in education in ... more In international methodological literature, and in the literature about research in education in general, mixed-methods research (MMR) has been identified as a means to get deeper and broader insights, and to validate findings in research projects. Nevertheless, so far there has not been much reflection upon mixed methods in the history education research community. In this article, some advantages of the concept will be presented, drawing on international methodological literature. It will ask how these advantages may be used in research projects in history education to get richer findings. This paper will present an Austrian mixed-methods project, and will reflect upon the experience of using qualitative and quantitative methodology in it. The Competence and Academic Orientation in History Textbooks (CAOHT) and Epistemic Beliefs of Austrian History Teachers after the Paradigm Shift to Historical Thinking (EBAHT) projects researched the beliefs of history teachers and history teaching nearly a decade after the reform that changed the Austrian history curriculum from content orientation to domain-specific competence orientation (historical thinking). Sequential qualitative-quantitative triangulation study has made it possible to capture some of the complexity of such an undertaking, more than would have been possible using a mono-method design. To base a survey on a previous qualitative study can help to interpret the context of the statistical results, put into perspective the answers and see relations that are difficult to detect when relying on a mono-method design. Also, when there is corroborating evidence from qualitative and quantitative data, conclusions may be drawn with more confidence, and generalization of qualitative findings becomes possible.
Empirical results: Textbook as key medium in History education in Austria
A case study on a highly popular twenty-first-century Austrian textbook came to the startling con... more A case study on a highly popular twenty-first-century Austrian textbook came to the startling conclusion that one of its pages alone contained nineteen factual errors. That page revolved around the topic of the transatlantic slave trade. This alarming state of affairs has found virtually no response, however, in textbook research, which thus far has paid scant attention to the slave trade’s depiction in educational media. Work on racism has touched upon the topic in the context of analysing images of Africa in German and Austrian textbooks. Those studies which have appeared to date point to the sensitivity of textbook depictions of Africa and the risk that they might perpetuate colonial discourses tinged with racism, frequently without conscious intent and even in depictions which aim to critique colonialism. Such discourses emerge in one-sided portrayals of Africa as a continent of catastrophes whose inhabitants are passive victims of history without their own history or agency. The research literature has coined the term ‘Afro-pessimism’ to describe this phenomenon. A comprehensive, specialist academic study of textbook chapters on the transatlantic slave trade remains a lacuna in historical research, specifically research into historical didactics; a cooperative, Austrian, German, English and Swiss project, currently in its preparatory phases, will aim to fill it. This chapter will provide an exploratory analysis of one aspect of this issue, the idea, and concomitant visualisation, of the transatlantic slave trade as a ‘triangular trade’ and the associated discourses.
Roland Bernhard, Susanne Grindel, Felix Hinz and Christoph Kühberger (eds.). Myths in German-language Textbooks: Their Influence on Historical Accounts from the Battle of Marathon to the Élysée Treaty. Eckert. Dossiers 4 (2019).
Across the globe, historical myths exert a decisive influence on the processes by which we make s... more Across the globe, historical myths exert a decisive influence on the processes by which we make sense of our past and present. This volume, the result of a joint international research effort, represents an attempt to comprehensively explore and identify the presence of myths in history textbooks from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The findings it presents are indicative of the substantial relevance of this issue, neglected hitherto in research into educational media. Our intent is for the volume to serve as initial inspiration for systematic, critical analysis of textbooks and educational media with regard to the potential presence of myths and for the purpose of those myths’ interrogation, a process which we hope this English translation will help initiate worldwide. The current lively interest in research into myth has yet to extend into the field of international history education research; yet in our age of ubiquitous ‘fake news’, teachers need now more than ever to be able to equip their pupils with tools for recognising and deconstructing myths. The capacity to critically analyse culture in general, and historical culture in particular, is part of the mature historical consciousness which all involved in history teaching seek to develop in learners, and an integral component of the politically aware citizen’s skill
Eine Fallstudie zu einem äußerst populären österreichischen Schulbuch des 21. Jahrhunderts führte... more Eine Fallstudie zu einem äußerst populären österreichischen Schulbuch des 21. Jahrhunderts führte zu dem erstaunlichen Ergebnis, dass auf einer einzigen Schulbuchseite 19 sachliche Fehler vorhanden sein können. Das Thema dieser einen Seite war der transatlantische Sklavenhandel. Dennoch hat die Darstellung des Sklavenhandels in der Schulbuchforschung bisher kaum Beachtung gefunden. Innerhalb der Rassismusforschung wurde das Thema im Kontext von Analysen des Afrikabilds in deutschen und österreichischen Schulbüchern gestreift. Die bis jetzt vorliegenden Studien weisen darauf hin, dass die Darstellung Afrikas in Schulbüchern ein sensibles Thema darstellt. Es besteht die Gefahr, dass koloniale, rassistisch gefärbte Diskurse (oft unbewusst und sogar in Darstellungen mit kritischer Absicht) fortgeschrieben werden, indem Afrika aufbauend auf nicht-triftige Deutungen lediglich als Kontinent der Katastrophen und Afrikaner/innen als die Geschichte erleidende Opfer ohne eigene Geschichte dargestellt werden – in der Literatur wird der Begriff „Afro-Pessimismus“ für solche Darstellungen gebraucht. Eine umfassende fachwissenschaftliche Untersuchung der Kapitel zum transatlantischen Sklavenhandel in Schulbüchern, ist daher ein Desiderat der geschichtsdidaktischen/historischen Forschung und ein entsprechendes Projekt in einer deutsch-österreichischen Kooperation ist in Vorbereitung.
In diesem Beitrag soll explorativ ein Aspekt der Thematik behandelt werden – namentlich die Vorstellung und Visualisierung des transatlantischen Sklavenhandels als „Dreieckshandel“ und die damit im Zusammenhang stehenden Diskurse. Für diesen Beitrag wurde ein Corpus von sechs deutschen und zehn österreichischen Schulbüchern erstellt. Diese Untersuchung wurde als explorative Studie konzipiert und erhebt keinen Anspruch den Diskurs in österreichischen und deutschen Schulbüchern vollständig repräsentativ abzubilden. Es wurde vielmehr explorativ erkundet ob aus Sicht der Fachwissenschaft problematische Diskurse in Schulbüchern anzutreffen sind, um auf diese Weise erste Einblicke in ein bisher schlecht aufgearbeitetes und wenig reflektiertes Problem der Schulbuchforschung zu ermöglichen.
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Papers by Roland Bernhard
The objective of this paper is to further explore this element of effective leadership in highly effective schools with a high proportion of disadvantaged students in deprived areas of London. We will provide insights into the views of leaders in such schools, exploring their approaches to raising aspirations and expectations. In so doing, we aim to increase understanding of effective practices in this field, alongside providing impetus for reflection on headteacher training, teacher education and continuous professional development.
Im FWF-Projekt „School Quality and TeacherEducation“ (SQTE) werden Schulleiter/-innen erfolgreicher und hochgradig effektiver Schulen in England zu ihren Erfahrungen mit Schulqualitätsentwicklung befragt. Was waren die zentralen Hebel, um ihre Schulen zu verbessern? Wie gelang es ihnen, die Lernergebnisse der Schüler/-innen zu erhöhen? Was können wir von ihren Erfahrungen potenziell für die Praxis der Schulentwicklung, für die Lehrer/-innenbildung, für die Ausbildung von Schulleiter/-innen und für die Bildungspolitik in Österreich lernen? Insbesondere Schulen mit schwierigen Rahmenbedingungen, die trotz eines hohen Anteils benachteiligter Schüler/innen und eines hohen Anteils von Schüler/-innen mit Migrationshintergrund exzellente Lernergebnisse erzielen, stehen im Zentrum des Interesses. Ein besonderes Augenmerk wird auf Brennpunktschulen in London gelegt, die sich im Zuge des „London Effects“ in den letzten 15 Jahren stark verbesserten. Das vom österreichischen Wissenschaftsfond (FWF) geförderte SQTE-Projekt wird an den Universitäten Salzburg und Oxford durchgeführt.
There are different ways to strengthen the research-informed knowledge base in preservice teacher education. We sought to raise preservice teachers' understanding of the relevance of school research by working with them on qualitative data providing exploratory insights into a relatively unknown dimension: school leaders´thinkingleaders´thinking about school effectiveness and school improvement. The structure involved a three-step-approach: (1) investigating school leaders´perspectivesleaders´perspectives in two national contexts; (2) comparing these views in relation to different national frameworks of school improvement; and (3) using the findings with those engaged in preservice teacher education.
Theoretical framework/perspectives
The paper is rooted in research within school effectiveness and improvement research, focusing on quality of teaching as understood within the dynamic model of educational effectiveness proposed by Creemers & Kyriakides (2006; Armstrong et al, 2012: 49). In accordance with translational educational research (La Velle 2015), we accept that theoretical insights and empirical findings from large-scale assessment or external school inspection have to be transformed into "knowledge for practice" (Guerriero 2017: 30). We therefore explore one particular strategy for translating our findings about the importance of research-informed practice from the head-teachers' perspectives into those of the prospective teachers.
Methods
We used qualitative methodology, allowing us to approach the thinking and reasoning of our population. In the first phase, 16 'expert interviews' were conducted with principals from highly effective and non-selective secondary schools in England (n=8) and Austria (n=8). All interviewees worked in schools in challenging circumstances, most of which had undergone recent processes of improvement. Data from this phase built the foundation for the next in which we conducted three focus group discussions with preservice teachers in Austria (in their third year of study) to examine how they made sense of the headteachers' reasoning about school effectiveness and improvement and the particular value they attributed to research use.
Data
nterviews and focus group discussions provided rich textual data which were subject to content analysis. Research in Austrian was approved both by the Austrian Institute for Research and Development in Education and by an Austrian University. Data collection in England was subject to ethical approval by the university that hosted the researcher.
Results
Phase 1 results show that the school leaders interviewed in England and Austria use different kinds of research insights concerning their “practical reasoning” (La Velle 2015) to improve schools. When teacher candidates compared the data from the two national contexts, they gained considerable insights into the importance of research for school improvement and into the different ways in which research can be used in school practice.
Significance
This study took into account the fact that both educational sectors – schools and university-based teacher education in Austria – have begun building a new knowledge base, derived from school research, to suit both their different frameworks; i.e. with relevance both for improving schools and for educating preservice and early-career teachers. It shows how data from school research can be used, where there is cooperation between different educational stakeholders, in preservice teacher education to foster processes of knowledge transformation.
Results
Phase 1 results show that the school leaders interviewed in England and Austria use different kinds of research insights concerning their “practical reasoning” (La Velle 2015) to improve schools. When teacher candidates compared the data from the two national contexts, they gained considerable insights into the importance of research for school improvement and into the different ways in which research can be used in school practice.
Significance
This study took into account the fact that both educational sectors – schools and university-based teacher education in Austria – have begun building a new knowledge base, derived from school research, to suit both their different frameworks; i.e. with relevance both for improving schools and for educating preservice and early-career teachers. It shows how data from school research can be used, where there is cooperation between different educational stakeholders, in preservice teacher education to foster processes of knowledge transformation.
Objectives
Outcomes attained by disadvantaged students in London schools have improved considerably in recent decades (Greaves et al., 2014; Blanden et al., 2015). The current implementation of government-designated ‘Opportunity Areas’ represents an attempt to extend this ‘London Effect’ to other regions of England with large numbers of schools in difficult circumstances (Department of Education, 2018). This paper explores the views of headteachers in highly effective and improving schools in London and in the ‘Opportunity Areas’ about strategies for supporting processes of school improvement and fostering better outcomes for disadvantaged students in particular.
Theoretical framework
The paper draws on the growing field of educational effectiveness and improvement research (EEIR) –including earlier research on school effectiveness and improvement. Its conceptual basis derives from the theoretical models of educational effectiveness developed by Creemers and Kyriakides (2008, 2010, 2012): The Dynamic Model and the more recent Dynamic Approach to School Improvement (DASI). These models seek to study schools and their improvement as an inherently dynamic process (rather than adopting a static perspective).
Methods
We drew a sample of non-selective, highly effective and improving schools in deprived local authorities in London and the ‘Opportunity Areas’ based (1) on the inspection judgments of the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), the national inspection agency in England; (2) on the Progress 8 score – the measure of the progress made by pupils between the age of 11 (when they complete primary school) and the age of 16 (when most undertake public examinations across a range of subjects; and (3) on the proportion of disadvantaged students in the school, as measured by numbers receiving free school meals. We conducted face-to-face interviews with 22 headteachers and senior leaders from 11 highly effective schools in difficult circumstances in London and the Opportunity Areas, exploring how these school leaders understood and developed school quality and what they thought worked in raising outcomes, especially for disadvantaged students. The project was approved by the University’s Central Research Ethics Committee.
Data
Interviews were fully transcribed and the interview data was subjected to content analysis. The central dimensions in the answers were identified and explored.
Results
The data shows that the research literature on school effectiveness and improvement had an emphatically inspiring effect on heads of highly effective and improving schools in difficult circumstances. Use of research on effective teaching and learning played an important role in all the schools analysed. Heads placed strong emphasis on research-based professional development. Raising student and staff aspirations, the use of data and whole-school behaviour management systems also appeared in the findings as key factors in improvement.
Significance
This research increases our understanding of successful school improvement by exploring the perspectives of headteachers with successful track records in enhancing outcomes for disadvantaged students in particular. In so doing, it provides practically-relevant stimuli with the potential to inform decision-making at different levels in education systems.
Organiser: Roland Bernhard
Chair: Katharine Burn
Discussant: Maria Teresa Tatto
The objective of this symposium is to bring together different insights into the relationship between school improvement and the use of research by teachers and headteachers in England, Austria and Italy. Recognition of the powerful role that research can play in developing and improving the quality of teaching raises questions about the ways in which high-quality research reaches the practice of schools and informs teachers’ professional learning. Different answers to this question are explored by all the papers within this symposium, which illustrate powerful forms of collaboration intended to mobilise research within and across different types of institution in different contexts.
Overview: School Improvement Through Research-Engagement In Different Contexts
Overview of the presentation
The focus of this symposium is inspired by findings from one of the studies reported within it (paper 1) that use of research to inspire and inform practice has played a very important part in the success of highly effective and improving schools in England. Thus, the first paper (paper 1: Roland Bernhard/Katharine Burn/Pam Sammons: Research-Based School Improvement: How Highly Effective And Improving Schools In England Apply Research) identifies how leaders have themselves used research to underpin both their school improvement and professional development strategies. In England, university-school partnerships play an important role when it comes to ensuring that research reaches practice. Paper 2 (Chris Brown: School/University Partnerships: A Case Study of a Proposed University Training School in England) presents a case-study based on documentary analysis of the plans for one such partnership, using detailed analysis of one proposal for a University Teaching school in order to outline what an outstanding partnership might comprise, as well as the potential benefits of such an approach. Paper 3 (Katharine Burn/Eluned Harries: Sustaining Teachers’ Research Engagement: The Role Of A Research Champion Within A University-School Partnership) explores an alternative approach to university-school partnerships by examining one school’s experience within a local knowledge exchange partnership forged between the state-maintained schools within one local government area and the research intensive university located at its heart (University of Oxford). Central to this partnership is the role of a designated Research Lead within each school (referred to as a “Research Champion”) – a designated teacher in each 2 partnership school who acts as a conduit between school and the university in promoting teachers’ research engagement and facilitating collaborative research. In Paper 4 (Ulrike Greiner/Roland Bernhard/Christian Wiesner: Learning In Initial Teacher Education From School Leaders: Processes Of Knowledge Transformation) the symposium returns to the views of the senior school leaders in effective and improving English schools and compares them to the views of Austrian principals – particularly in relation to the role that they attribute to the use of research in school improvement and professional development. The researchers then examine how the insights generated through this comparative process are understood and used by prospective teachers in a series of focus group discussions as a first step towards exploring how a knowledge of senior leaders’ views of research use might be used in initial teacher education to foster beginning teachers’ continued research engagement. Paper 5 (Monica Mincu/Claudia Mandrile: Improving Schools Through School To School Support In Italy: Results From A Randomised Control Trial) examines how research-based knowledge is shared within a school-to-school network in Italy, and how this process contributed to school improvement in Italy.
Significance
Recognition of the powerful role that research can play in developing and improving the quality of teaching raises questions about the ways in which high-quality research reaches the practice of schools and informs teachers’ professional learning. Different answers to this question are explored by all the papers within this symposium, which illustrate powerful forms of collaboration intended to mobilise research within and across different types of institution in different contexts.
Effektiver Unterricht wird verstanden als ein Unterricht, der empirisch nachweisbar einen guten Effekt auf messbare Lernergebnisse von Schüler/innen zeitigt und der gleichzeitig historische Denkprozesse zu initiieren imstande ist. Bei der Beobachtung und Bewertung von Unterricht müssen immer sowohl fachspezifische als auch allgemeine Komponenten berücksichtigt werden. Grundlage der Ausführungen sind daher geschichtsdidaktische und bildungswissenschaftliche Standardbeiträge zu gutem Unterricht.
History education research deals with many elaborated and complex concepts such as “epistemological beliefs”, “historical consciousness”, “historical thinking”, “historical culture”, “historical learning” and “historical understanding”, among others. The discipline therefore includes many different aspects of research in various contexts. Mixed Methods research and Triangulation are conceived as ways to account for such complexity (Ponce and Pagán-Maldonado, 2015) and to compensate for the methodological weaknesses of partial research approaches (McKim, 2017: 213; Gorard and Taylor, 2004: 4). We will argue in this introductory article that in our discipline there has not been much theoretical reflection about the application of Triangulation and Mixed Methods so far. With this special edition we thereby wish to stimulate the methodological discussion within the community and, in doing so, try to contribute to the sharpening and strengthening of the discipline ́s research profile. Our paper also aims at overcoming emerging paradigm wars, which are perceived by some authors at this moment in history education research (see Köster/Thünemann in this special edition). Another aim of the Special Issue is to stimulate discussion between the German Speaking History Education and the international community.
In the first section of this introductory article, some lines of discussion about the question of which methods to use in research about social phenomena in general will be presented. In this context, strengths and weaknesses of the different paradigms will be examined. In the next section it is shown how “paradigm wars” were overcome by promoting Triangulation and Mixed Methods. Secondly, some lines of the development within History Education Research in the German speaking countries in the 20th and 21st century will be laid out. In the last section, we will present a brief review of international research into history teachers’ beliefs, also addressing the question of how Triangulation and Mixed Methods is dealt with in our discipline.
In diesem Beitrag soll explorativ ein Aspekt der Thematik behandelt werden – namentlich die Vorstellung und Visualisierung des transatlantischen Sklavenhandels als „Dreieckshandel“ und die damit im Zusammenhang stehenden Diskurse. Für diesen Beitrag wurde ein Corpus von sechs deutschen und zehn österreichischen Schulbüchern erstellt. Diese Untersuchung wurde als explorative Studie konzipiert und erhebt keinen Anspruch den Diskurs in österreichischen und deutschen Schulbüchern vollständig repräsentativ abzubilden. Es wurde vielmehr explorativ erkundet ob aus Sicht der Fachwissenschaft problematische Diskurse in Schulbüchern anzutreffen sind, um auf diese Weise erste Einblicke in ein bisher schlecht aufgearbeitetes und wenig reflektiertes Problem der Schulbuchforschung zu ermöglichen.
The objective of this paper is to further explore this element of effective leadership in highly effective schools with a high proportion of disadvantaged students in deprived areas of London. We will provide insights into the views of leaders in such schools, exploring their approaches to raising aspirations and expectations. In so doing, we aim to increase understanding of effective practices in this field, alongside providing impetus for reflection on headteacher training, teacher education and continuous professional development.
Im FWF-Projekt „School Quality and TeacherEducation“ (SQTE) werden Schulleiter/-innen erfolgreicher und hochgradig effektiver Schulen in England zu ihren Erfahrungen mit Schulqualitätsentwicklung befragt. Was waren die zentralen Hebel, um ihre Schulen zu verbessern? Wie gelang es ihnen, die Lernergebnisse der Schüler/-innen zu erhöhen? Was können wir von ihren Erfahrungen potenziell für die Praxis der Schulentwicklung, für die Lehrer/-innenbildung, für die Ausbildung von Schulleiter/-innen und für die Bildungspolitik in Österreich lernen? Insbesondere Schulen mit schwierigen Rahmenbedingungen, die trotz eines hohen Anteils benachteiligter Schüler/innen und eines hohen Anteils von Schüler/-innen mit Migrationshintergrund exzellente Lernergebnisse erzielen, stehen im Zentrum des Interesses. Ein besonderes Augenmerk wird auf Brennpunktschulen in London gelegt, die sich im Zuge des „London Effects“ in den letzten 15 Jahren stark verbesserten. Das vom österreichischen Wissenschaftsfond (FWF) geförderte SQTE-Projekt wird an den Universitäten Salzburg und Oxford durchgeführt.
There are different ways to strengthen the research-informed knowledge base in preservice teacher education. We sought to raise preservice teachers' understanding of the relevance of school research by working with them on qualitative data providing exploratory insights into a relatively unknown dimension: school leaders´thinkingleaders´thinking about school effectiveness and school improvement. The structure involved a three-step-approach: (1) investigating school leaders´perspectivesleaders´perspectives in two national contexts; (2) comparing these views in relation to different national frameworks of school improvement; and (3) using the findings with those engaged in preservice teacher education.
Theoretical framework/perspectives
The paper is rooted in research within school effectiveness and improvement research, focusing on quality of teaching as understood within the dynamic model of educational effectiveness proposed by Creemers & Kyriakides (2006; Armstrong et al, 2012: 49). In accordance with translational educational research (La Velle 2015), we accept that theoretical insights and empirical findings from large-scale assessment or external school inspection have to be transformed into "knowledge for practice" (Guerriero 2017: 30). We therefore explore one particular strategy for translating our findings about the importance of research-informed practice from the head-teachers' perspectives into those of the prospective teachers.
Methods
We used qualitative methodology, allowing us to approach the thinking and reasoning of our population. In the first phase, 16 'expert interviews' were conducted with principals from highly effective and non-selective secondary schools in England (n=8) and Austria (n=8). All interviewees worked in schools in challenging circumstances, most of which had undergone recent processes of improvement. Data from this phase built the foundation for the next in which we conducted three focus group discussions with preservice teachers in Austria (in their third year of study) to examine how they made sense of the headteachers' reasoning about school effectiveness and improvement and the particular value they attributed to research use.
Data
nterviews and focus group discussions provided rich textual data which were subject to content analysis. Research in Austrian was approved both by the Austrian Institute for Research and Development in Education and by an Austrian University. Data collection in England was subject to ethical approval by the university that hosted the researcher.
Results
Phase 1 results show that the school leaders interviewed in England and Austria use different kinds of research insights concerning their “practical reasoning” (La Velle 2015) to improve schools. When teacher candidates compared the data from the two national contexts, they gained considerable insights into the importance of research for school improvement and into the different ways in which research can be used in school practice.
Significance
This study took into account the fact that both educational sectors – schools and university-based teacher education in Austria – have begun building a new knowledge base, derived from school research, to suit both their different frameworks; i.e. with relevance both for improving schools and for educating preservice and early-career teachers. It shows how data from school research can be used, where there is cooperation between different educational stakeholders, in preservice teacher education to foster processes of knowledge transformation.
Results
Phase 1 results show that the school leaders interviewed in England and Austria use different kinds of research insights concerning their “practical reasoning” (La Velle 2015) to improve schools. When teacher candidates compared the data from the two national contexts, they gained considerable insights into the importance of research for school improvement and into the different ways in which research can be used in school practice.
Significance
This study took into account the fact that both educational sectors – schools and university-based teacher education in Austria – have begun building a new knowledge base, derived from school research, to suit both their different frameworks; i.e. with relevance both for improving schools and for educating preservice and early-career teachers. It shows how data from school research can be used, where there is cooperation between different educational stakeholders, in preservice teacher education to foster processes of knowledge transformation.
Objectives
Outcomes attained by disadvantaged students in London schools have improved considerably in recent decades (Greaves et al., 2014; Blanden et al., 2015). The current implementation of government-designated ‘Opportunity Areas’ represents an attempt to extend this ‘London Effect’ to other regions of England with large numbers of schools in difficult circumstances (Department of Education, 2018). This paper explores the views of headteachers in highly effective and improving schools in London and in the ‘Opportunity Areas’ about strategies for supporting processes of school improvement and fostering better outcomes for disadvantaged students in particular.
Theoretical framework
The paper draws on the growing field of educational effectiveness and improvement research (EEIR) –including earlier research on school effectiveness and improvement. Its conceptual basis derives from the theoretical models of educational effectiveness developed by Creemers and Kyriakides (2008, 2010, 2012): The Dynamic Model and the more recent Dynamic Approach to School Improvement (DASI). These models seek to study schools and their improvement as an inherently dynamic process (rather than adopting a static perspective).
Methods
We drew a sample of non-selective, highly effective and improving schools in deprived local authorities in London and the ‘Opportunity Areas’ based (1) on the inspection judgments of the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), the national inspection agency in England; (2) on the Progress 8 score – the measure of the progress made by pupils between the age of 11 (when they complete primary school) and the age of 16 (when most undertake public examinations across a range of subjects; and (3) on the proportion of disadvantaged students in the school, as measured by numbers receiving free school meals. We conducted face-to-face interviews with 22 headteachers and senior leaders from 11 highly effective schools in difficult circumstances in London and the Opportunity Areas, exploring how these school leaders understood and developed school quality and what they thought worked in raising outcomes, especially for disadvantaged students. The project was approved by the University’s Central Research Ethics Committee.
Data
Interviews were fully transcribed and the interview data was subjected to content analysis. The central dimensions in the answers were identified and explored.
Results
The data shows that the research literature on school effectiveness and improvement had an emphatically inspiring effect on heads of highly effective and improving schools in difficult circumstances. Use of research on effective teaching and learning played an important role in all the schools analysed. Heads placed strong emphasis on research-based professional development. Raising student and staff aspirations, the use of data and whole-school behaviour management systems also appeared in the findings as key factors in improvement.
Significance
This research increases our understanding of successful school improvement by exploring the perspectives of headteachers with successful track records in enhancing outcomes for disadvantaged students in particular. In so doing, it provides practically-relevant stimuli with the potential to inform decision-making at different levels in education systems.
Organiser: Roland Bernhard
Chair: Katharine Burn
Discussant: Maria Teresa Tatto
The objective of this symposium is to bring together different insights into the relationship between school improvement and the use of research by teachers and headteachers in England, Austria and Italy. Recognition of the powerful role that research can play in developing and improving the quality of teaching raises questions about the ways in which high-quality research reaches the practice of schools and informs teachers’ professional learning. Different answers to this question are explored by all the papers within this symposium, which illustrate powerful forms of collaboration intended to mobilise research within and across different types of institution in different contexts.
Overview: School Improvement Through Research-Engagement In Different Contexts
Overview of the presentation
The focus of this symposium is inspired by findings from one of the studies reported within it (paper 1) that use of research to inspire and inform practice has played a very important part in the success of highly effective and improving schools in England. Thus, the first paper (paper 1: Roland Bernhard/Katharine Burn/Pam Sammons: Research-Based School Improvement: How Highly Effective And Improving Schools In England Apply Research) identifies how leaders have themselves used research to underpin both their school improvement and professional development strategies. In England, university-school partnerships play an important role when it comes to ensuring that research reaches practice. Paper 2 (Chris Brown: School/University Partnerships: A Case Study of a Proposed University Training School in England) presents a case-study based on documentary analysis of the plans for one such partnership, using detailed analysis of one proposal for a University Teaching school in order to outline what an outstanding partnership might comprise, as well as the potential benefits of such an approach. Paper 3 (Katharine Burn/Eluned Harries: Sustaining Teachers’ Research Engagement: The Role Of A Research Champion Within A University-School Partnership) explores an alternative approach to university-school partnerships by examining one school’s experience within a local knowledge exchange partnership forged between the state-maintained schools within one local government area and the research intensive university located at its heart (University of Oxford). Central to this partnership is the role of a designated Research Lead within each school (referred to as a “Research Champion”) – a designated teacher in each 2 partnership school who acts as a conduit between school and the university in promoting teachers’ research engagement and facilitating collaborative research. In Paper 4 (Ulrike Greiner/Roland Bernhard/Christian Wiesner: Learning In Initial Teacher Education From School Leaders: Processes Of Knowledge Transformation) the symposium returns to the views of the senior school leaders in effective and improving English schools and compares them to the views of Austrian principals – particularly in relation to the role that they attribute to the use of research in school improvement and professional development. The researchers then examine how the insights generated through this comparative process are understood and used by prospective teachers in a series of focus group discussions as a first step towards exploring how a knowledge of senior leaders’ views of research use might be used in initial teacher education to foster beginning teachers’ continued research engagement. Paper 5 (Monica Mincu/Claudia Mandrile: Improving Schools Through School To School Support In Italy: Results From A Randomised Control Trial) examines how research-based knowledge is shared within a school-to-school network in Italy, and how this process contributed to school improvement in Italy.
Significance
Recognition of the powerful role that research can play in developing and improving the quality of teaching raises questions about the ways in which high-quality research reaches the practice of schools and informs teachers’ professional learning. Different answers to this question are explored by all the papers within this symposium, which illustrate powerful forms of collaboration intended to mobilise research within and across different types of institution in different contexts.
Effektiver Unterricht wird verstanden als ein Unterricht, der empirisch nachweisbar einen guten Effekt auf messbare Lernergebnisse von Schüler/innen zeitigt und der gleichzeitig historische Denkprozesse zu initiieren imstande ist. Bei der Beobachtung und Bewertung von Unterricht müssen immer sowohl fachspezifische als auch allgemeine Komponenten berücksichtigt werden. Grundlage der Ausführungen sind daher geschichtsdidaktische und bildungswissenschaftliche Standardbeiträge zu gutem Unterricht.
History education research deals with many elaborated and complex concepts such as “epistemological beliefs”, “historical consciousness”, “historical thinking”, “historical culture”, “historical learning” and “historical understanding”, among others. The discipline therefore includes many different aspects of research in various contexts. Mixed Methods research and Triangulation are conceived as ways to account for such complexity (Ponce and Pagán-Maldonado, 2015) and to compensate for the methodological weaknesses of partial research approaches (McKim, 2017: 213; Gorard and Taylor, 2004: 4). We will argue in this introductory article that in our discipline there has not been much theoretical reflection about the application of Triangulation and Mixed Methods so far. With this special edition we thereby wish to stimulate the methodological discussion within the community and, in doing so, try to contribute to the sharpening and strengthening of the discipline ́s research profile. Our paper also aims at overcoming emerging paradigm wars, which are perceived by some authors at this moment in history education research (see Köster/Thünemann in this special edition). Another aim of the Special Issue is to stimulate discussion between the German Speaking History Education and the international community.
In the first section of this introductory article, some lines of discussion about the question of which methods to use in research about social phenomena in general will be presented. In this context, strengths and weaknesses of the different paradigms will be examined. In the next section it is shown how “paradigm wars” were overcome by promoting Triangulation and Mixed Methods. Secondly, some lines of the development within History Education Research in the German speaking countries in the 20th and 21st century will be laid out. In the last section, we will present a brief review of international research into history teachers’ beliefs, also addressing the question of how Triangulation and Mixed Methods is dealt with in our discipline.
In diesem Beitrag soll explorativ ein Aspekt der Thematik behandelt werden – namentlich die Vorstellung und Visualisierung des transatlantischen Sklavenhandels als „Dreieckshandel“ und die damit im Zusammenhang stehenden Diskurse. Für diesen Beitrag wurde ein Corpus von sechs deutschen und zehn österreichischen Schulbüchern erstellt. Diese Untersuchung wurde als explorative Studie konzipiert und erhebt keinen Anspruch den Diskurs in österreichischen und deutschen Schulbüchern vollständig repräsentativ abzubilden. Es wurde vielmehr explorativ erkundet ob aus Sicht der Fachwissenschaft problematische Diskurse in Schulbüchern anzutreffen sind, um auf diese Weise erste Einblicke in ein bisher schlecht aufgearbeitetes und wenig reflektiertes Problem der Schulbuchforschung zu ermöglichen.
In this talk, there will be presented empirical evidence about the use of digital and traditional media in the history classroom in Austria that was gained in the framework of the project Competence and Academic Orientation in History Textbooks (CAOHT). This large scale Mixed Methods study, funded by the Austrian Science Fund, combined participant observation in history lessons (n=50), qualitative interviews (n=50) and quantitative surveys with history teachers (n=250), as well as quantitative surveys with students (n=1,000). Although some digital media are used at occasions in history lessons, both, the qualitative and the quantitative data prove the unbroken dominance of the traditional textbook as leading medium or “key medium” in history education. Until today the expected digital revolution in the (history-)classroom hasn´t taken place. In the presentation, it will be shown which (digital and traditional) media are used for which purposes and with which aims in history lessons in Austria. Also the question will be raised to what extend traditional or digital media are used to develop domain specific competences of historical thinking during the history lessons.
In diesem Vortrag wird die qualitativ-empirischen Studie des CAOHT-Projektes vorgestellt. Im Zuge derselben fanden ethnographisch-teilnehmende Beobachtungen in Geschichtsstunden von rund 40 verschiedenen Lehrkräften der Sekundarstufe I (Gymnasium und Neue Mittelschule/ ehem. Hauptschule) in Wien statt. Im Feld wurden darüber hinaus Geschichtsschulbücher und Hefte von Schüler/innen durchgesehen und auf diese Weise weitere für die Forschungsfragen relevante Daten erhoben. Im Anschluss an die teilnehmenden Beobachtungen wurden die Lehrer/innen in qualitativen Experteninterviews nach Bogner et al. 2014 über ihre Zugänge zu Geschichtsunterricht, historischem Denken und ihrer Verwendung von Lehr-und Lernmittel befragt. Dabei wurde auch die Nutzung neuer Medien, wie Internet, Handy etc. zum Thema gemacht.
Durch die umfassenden, im Feld erhobenen qualitativen Daten wurde, erstens, eine umfassende, präzise und gegenstandsnahe Beschreibung der Verwendung von traditionellen und digitalen Lehr- und Lernmittel im Geschichtsunterricht möglich. Im Rahmen des Vortrags werden in diesem Zusammenhang einige zentrale Befunde und Einsichten vorgestellt. Da die qualitativen Erhebungen im Rahmen eines sequenziellen Triangulationsdesigns stehen, wurden, zweitens, deren Ergebnisse auch zur Generierung von Hypothesen verwendet, die in einer nachfolgenden quantitativen Fragebogenstudie mit Lehrer/innen (n=250) und Schüler/innen (n=1.000) getestet werden. In diesem Sinne erfolgte der Vorgang der Hypothesengenerierung methodisch kontrolliert auf der Basis qualitativ empirischer Daten. Im Vortrag werden einige durch die qualitative Studie generierte Hypothesen vorgestellt und in diesem Zusammenhang auch die Frage nach dem traditionellen Schulbuch als Leitmedium des Geschichtsunterrichts thematisiert.
In this presentation we will share some findings of the qualitative study that gives an answer to the question of how textbooks are used in the History Classroom and especially how they are used to foster scientific and critical thinking. Are textbooks used in a content oriented manner to teach facts or (national) master narratives or are they used to teach skills or competencies of scientific historical thinking?
We will draw upon rich data already generated in the framework of the CAOHT-project by ethnographic participant observations in 50 history lessons in Vienna and qualitative expert interviews with 50 history teachers, regarding their approaches to history lessons, critical and scientific thinking, and their use of teaching and learning materials, particularly textbooks. It will be shown that there is a huge influence of textbooks on history lessons. It is very common that history lessons are completely based on textbooks and organised around materials teachers find in them. We will argue that since textbooks are so dominant in teaching and since they mainly present history in a traditional way, also in history lessons the orientation on scientific or critical historical thinking plays a minor role in the Austrian context.
Im Rahmen des CAOHT-Projektes werden mit zwei Studien zwei Desiderate der geschichtsdidaktischen Schulbuchforschung eingelöst. Erstens werden alle in Österreich zugelassenen Geschichtsschulbücher für die Sekundarstufe I exemplarisch auf die Frage hin analysiert, ob und wenn ja auf welche Weise auf den angesprochenen Paradigmenwechsel reagiert wurde. Zweitens wird mithilfe eines qualitativ-quantitativen Triangulationsdesigns die Nutzung von Geschichtsschulbüchern seitens der Geschichtslehrer/innen und Schüler/innen erhoben. Es wird generell die Frage danach gestellt, wie das Geschichtsschulbuch zur Vorbereitung von Unterricht und im Unterricht der Sekundarstufe I angewandt wird und im Speziellen, ob und wenn ja wie Schulbücher dazu verwendet werden, um historisches Denken anzubahnen. In dem Vortrag werden Teilergebnisse der zweiten Erhebung referiert, die eine Antwort auf die Frage geben, welche Einstellungen zu historischer Kompetenzorientierung unter den Lehrer/innen vorhanden sind bzw. was Lehrer/innen unter Kompetenzorientierung verstehen.
Um diese Fragen zu beantworten wurden neben teilnehmende Beobachtungen im Geschichtsunterricht (n= 50) auch Experteninterviews nach Bogner et al 2014 mit Geschichtslehrer/innen (n=50) durchgeführt. Die Daten wurden in der Sekundarstufe I in Schulen in Wien (Gymnasien und Neue Mittelschulen) erhoben, wobei für die Beantwortung der oben genannten Fragestellung insbesondere die Interviewdaten relevant sind. Die Interviews wurden auf Tonband aufgenommen, voll transkribiert und mit MaxQDA analysiert.
In den Daten zeigt sich, dass viele Lehrer/innen zwar jene Zugänge und Haltungen, die im Rahmen der fachspezifischen Kompetenzorientierung gefordert werden, wie beispielsweise kritisches Hinterfragen von Geschichtsdarstellungen und das Fördern von Orientierung in der Gegenwart durch Rückgriff auf die Vergangenheit als zentrale Elemente des Geschichtsunterrichts erkennen. Dennoch werden solche Zugänge oft nicht mit dem Begriff „Kompetenzorientierung“ verbunden.
Zwei Punkte fallen in diesem Zusammenhang besonders auf: (1) Das Verständnis von Kompetenzen vonseiten vieler Geschichtslehrer/innen ist nicht fachspezifisch sondern allgemeinpädagogisch. Unter Kompetenzorientierung wird vielfach Förderung von „Computerkompetenz“, sozialer Kompetenzen, Lesekompetenzen etc. verstanden. Die Daten deuten (2) darauf hin, dass die historische Kompetenzorientierung und damit das kritische historische Denken von dem schlechten Ruf in Mitleidenschaft gezogen wird, den Kompetenzorientierung generell hat. Kompetenzorientierung wurde im deutschsprachigen Raum als Reaktion auf nicht zufriedenstellende Ergebnisse beim PISA-Test eingeführt. Lehrer/innen verbinden mit dem Begriff daher eine Verordnung „von oben“, die als Kritik an ihren Leistungen gedeutet wird.
Dies ist insofern aus Sicht der Geschichtsdidaktik problematisch, als der schlechte Ruf, der dem Begriff vorauseilt auf die Anliegen einer historischen Kompetenzorientierung und damit auf historisches Denken abfärbt. Daher stellt sich die Frage, was zu tun ist, damit kritisches historisches Denken, das für die Mündigkeit von Heranwachsenden einen essentiellen Faktor darstellt und deren Zugänge prinzipiell von Lehrer/innen als etwas Erstrebens angesehen werden, nicht aufgrund einer Fehldeutung im Schulsystem in den Hintergrund tritt.
In this talk it will be reflected upon how Mixed Methods/Triangulation approaches may enrich projects within history education research to gain a broader and deeper understanding concerning the objects of study. Experiences in an Austrian project will be shared.
Der vorliegende Sammelband gibt einen Einstieg in den aktuellen Diskurs der geschichtsdidaktischen Schulbuchforschung. Neben kategorialen Schulbuchanalysen werden Einblicke in die Produktion und Rezeption von Geschichtsschulbüchern gegeben. In kritischer Auseinandersetzung geht der Band der Frage nach, inwiefern Schulbücher dazu beitragen (können) im Geschichtsunterricht historisches Denken zu fördern, um damit letztlich die Ausbildung eines (selbst-)reflektierten Geschichtsbewusstseins zu unterstützen.
Mit der Präsentation aktueller Forschungsergebnisse über Geschichtsschulbücher möchte der Sammelband im Rahmen des vom österreichischen Wissenschaftsfonds (FWF) geförderten Projektes „Competence and Academic Orientation in History Textbooks“ (CAOHT) den aktuellen Diskurs nicht nur begleiten, sondern darüber hinaus zu weiteren Forschungen innerhalb der Geschichtsdidaktik anregen.
Europe was saved at Marathon, Tours and Poitiers; Hermann the Cheruscan was proto-Germanic; the Middle Ages believed the earth was flat; Switzerland never collaborated with the National Socialists in any way; Hitler as the Führer and the Élysée Treaty as the foundation of Franco-German friendship – these are just a few of the myths that continue to shape our historical consciousness and our history textbooks. As narratives, they offer orientation and help us interpret the world today, serving as sources of identification and meaning.
But which narratives are condensed to myth, and how do they change throughout their reception history? These questions are relevant not only to research in cultural studies on myths but also to historical learning in the history classroom. This volume brings together both arenas by turning its attention to history textbooks and their myths.
The contributions by German, Austrian and Swiss authors delve into the forms of European and national myths in German-language textbooks, as well as their functions for historical consciousness in society. The aesthetic dimension of myths is just as central here as the question of their political utility: their mobilising, motivating and orientating force, a myth-driven construction of meaning and identity.
Der Mythos war in der internationalen geschichtsdidaktischen Diskussion bisher ein blinder Fleck, was sich daran zeigt, dass auch in der internationalen Geschichtsdidaktik noch keine elaborierte Definition des Begriffs „Geschichtsmythos“ existiert. So wird in diesem Sammelband auch der Mythenbegriff umfassend reflektiert und einleitend ein Vorschlag zu einer geschichtsdidaktischen Definition des Begriffs Mythos unterbreitet, die ihre kulturwissenschaftlichen Grundlagen nicht verleugnet und weit darüber hinaus geht, Mythen lediglich als „unwahre Geschichten“ aufzufassen. Durch den englischsprachigen Band wird diese im deutschsprachigen Diskurs entstandene Mythendefinition erstens einer internationaler Leserschaft zugeführt, was potenziell eine Grundlage für internationale und interdisziplinäre Forschungsprojekte zu Mythen darstellt. Zweitens wird ausgelotet, wie die Beschäftigung mit Mythen Möglichkeiten für die Entwicklung eines reflektierten Geschichtsbewusstseins im Unterricht bieten, wodurch das Thema Mythen im Geschichtsunterricht erstmals umfassend und aus mehreren Perspektiven für die internationale wissenschaftliche Community aufgearbeitet wird.
History education research deals with many fine and complex concepts such as “historical consciousness”, “historical thinking”, “historical culture”, and “historical learning”, among others. The discipline therefore includes many different aspects of research in complex contexts. Mixed methods research and/or triangulation are conceived as ways to incorporate such complexity and to compensate for the methodological weaknesses of partial research approaches. Such designs seem to be used especially productively in the discipline of history education research.
In diesem Beitrag ist nur die Einleitung dieses Sonderheftes I, in der die veröffentlichten Beiträge zu den Geisteswissenschaften besprochen werden, zum download bereitgestellt.
This volume, based on an international, interdisciplinary conference held in February 2016 at the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Braunschweig, Germany, and attended by history education researchers, cultural studies specialists and church historians, discusses narratives, interpretations and assessments relating to the place of Luther, the Reformation and related topics in the historical cultures of societies. Its principal focus is history textbooks, which, as manifestation of societies’ historical consciousness, have been dubbed ‘autobiographies of nations’. Further objects of interest to the volume are curricula, museums and historical novels relating to the Reformation.
In drawing together perspectives on Luther and topics surrounding the Reformation from eleven countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia (Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, South Korea and Japan), the volume offers a panoramic view, unique in research to date, of patterns of interpretation of this historical subject across diverse and on occasion highly divergent historical cultures and traditions. History education studies and textbook research have thus far been slow to engage with the increased interest in Luther and the Reformation that has emerged with the 500th anniversary commemorations of the latter. This volume seeks to harness for history textbooks and teaching the intensification in historical study of the Reformation seen in recent years and thus to promote knowledge transfer between these disciplines and activities. In this context, the editors aim to support the paradigm shift taking place in the history classroom from content orientation to the nurturing of a reflective historical consciousness by providing new perspectives and approaches, along with promoting multiperspectivity and alignment with up-to-date research findings in textbook authorship and design.
The volume’s opening article explores current international academic debates on Luther and the Reformation and sets the framework for its succeeding chapters, which examine historic and contemporary depictions of the events in textbooks and other manifestations of historical culture in the light of these discourses. In this way, the collected contributions will illuminate and reflect upon instances of heroisation, lionisation and legend formation, attempts to endow the events with meaning from Protestant, Catholic and atheist perspectives, legitimising and delegitimising discourses, ‘blind spots’ and factual errors. We thus observe that the Reformation does not provide us with one unambiguous narrative; we are called to meet such culturally charged historical issues with close regard to key historiographical principles such as multiperspectivity, controversy and plurality. Accordingly, the volume’s concluding chapter considers explicitly how we should approach religious conflicts such as the Reformation in history textbooks and the history classroom if we are to empower pupils to engage competently with divergent interpretations of the past.
Europe was saved at Marathon, Tours and Poitiers; Hermann the Cheruscan was proto-Germanic; the Middle Ages believed the earth was flat; Switzerland never collaborated with the National Socialists in any way; Hitler as the Führer and the Élysée Treaty as the foundation of Franco-German friendship – these are just a few of the myths that continue to shape our historical consciousness and our history textbooks. As narratives, they offer orientation and help us interpret the world today, serving as sources of identification and meaning.
But which narratives are condensed to myth, and how do they change throughout their reception history? These questions are relevant not only to research in cultural studies on myths but also to historical learning in the history classroom. This volume brings together both arenas by turning its attention to history textbooks and their myths.
The contributions by German, Austrian and Swiss authors delve into the forms of European and national myths in German-language textbooks, as well as their functions for historical consciousness in society. The aesthetic dimension of myths is just as central here as the question of their political utility: their mobilising, motivating and orientating force, a myth-driven construction of meaning and identity.
Until now, myths have been a blind spot in history didactics discourse, evident in the fact that no thorough definition of the term ‘historical myth’ exists. This volume will reflect in depth upon the concept of ‘myth’. Its introduction will propose a definition that is based in history didactics but does not obscure the concept’s roots in cultural studies, moving far beyond an understanding of myths as simply ‘untrue stories’. Building on this approach, the contributing scholars will explore how studying and deconstructing myths can provide opportunities to develop a reflected historical consciousness in the history classroom.
What are the reasons for the emergence of the various myths about Hispanic America, and why do they continue to be included as unquestioned fact in German and Austrian textbooks to this day, despite their refutation by historians? This book seeks to provide answers to these and other questions.
Die Habilitationsschrift basiert auf Forschungen, die im Rahmen zweier geförderter Projekte durchgeführt wurden. Das vom österreichischen Wissenschaftsfond FWF geförderte CAOHT Projekt Competence and Academic Orientation in History Textbooks) wurde an der Universität Salzburg in den Jahren 2015 bis 2018 durchgeführt. Dieses Projekt wurde an der Universität Oxford als EBAHT Projekt (The Epistemic Beliefs and Practice of Austrian History Teachers after the Paradigm Shift towards Historical Thinking ), gefördert vom Habilitationsforum Fachdidaktik und Unterrichtsforschung der Universität Graz weitergeführt.
Ziele und zentrale Forschungsfrage
Die zentralen Ziele der Habilitationsschrift bestehen darin, einen Beitrag zu einem wissenschaftsorientierten, relevanten und wirksamen Geschichtsunterricht in Österreich zu leisten und in diesem Zusammenhang die oft zu wenig wahr und ernstgenommenen Perspektiven von Lehrpersonen hörbar zu machen. Davon ausgehend sollte sowohl die Bildungspolitik als auch die Aus und Fortbildung von Geschichtslehrer/innen informiert werden. Die übergeordnete Forschungsfrage der Studie bestand darin zu eruieren, welche Rolle dem historischen Denken acht Jahre nach der Einführung des fachspezifisch kompetenzorientierten Lehrplans im Unterrichtsfach Geschichte und Sozialkunde/Politische Bildung in den berufsbezogenen Überzeugungen von Geschichtslehrpersonen zukommt.
Contributors will be
Prof. Dr. Christian Duverger (École des hautes études en sciences sociales), Prof. Dr. Bernard Grunberg (Université de Reims), Dra. Carmen Martínez (Universidad de Valladolid), Dr. Roland Bernhard (Oxford/Salzburg), Dra. Claudine Hartau (Univ. Hamburg), Profa. Dr. Kirsten Mahlke (Univ. Konstanz), Prof. Dr. Michael Zeuske (Univ. de Colonia), Dr. Xavier López-Medellín (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Mexiko)
Schulqualität aus der Sicht eines Landesschulinspektors
Dipl. Päd. Mag. Dr. BIRGIT HEINRICH (Landesschulinspektorin, Land Salzburg) „Gute“ Lehrpersonen: Fachlichkeit und Persönlichkeit
In this context, the international symposium Triangulation in History Education Research focusses on two research questions:
(1) Firstly, we will review how various types of triangulation are or have been applied in current international history education research.
(2) Secondly, theoretical and methodological considerations of triangulation as applied in history education research will be made in general. The symposium will examine how such approaches can be applied for data acquisition and evaluation in research projects.
With this symposium, we want to contribute to the further development of methodological approaches to and critical reflections on triangulation in history education research, based on various experiences and research contexts.
The Symposium is part of the project CAOHT,
Österreichs (www.geschichtsdidaktik.at),
welche im September 2016 in Kooperation mit der
Pädagogischen Hochschule Salzburg Stefan Zweig/
Bundeszentrum für Gesellschaftliches Lernen in
Salzburg durchgeführt wird, beschäftigt sich mit
verschiedenen Dimensionen des Geschichtsschulbuches.
Der Bogen wird dabei von traditionellen
Zugängen der Schulbuchforschung der Geschichtsdidaktik
bis hin zur Rezeption und Anwendung
gespannt.
Die Tagung versucht aktuelle Tendenzen der
empirischen geschichtsdidaktischen Schulbuchforschung
in Österreich zu präsentieren sowie gleichzeitig
auch das Entstehungsumfeld der Lernmedien zu
reflektieren, um damit etwa die Zusammenhänge
zwischen Verlagsarbeit, dem Schreiben und
Konzipieren von Geschichtsschulbüchern, ihre
Begutachtung und Rezeption zu beleuchten.
The Reformation in European Historical Cultures: Perspectives for the History Classroom
Convenors: Dr Roland Bernhard (University of Education Salzburg), Dr Felix Hinz (University of Paderborn), Dr Robert Maier (Georg Eckert Institute)
The purpose of this international, interdisciplinary conference, which is aimed primarily at history educationalists, culture specialists and church historians, is to analyse and interpret assessments of the Reformation in history teaching as it currently takes place in schools. The primary sources of the research we hope to present will be curricula, and the textbooks based upon them, from a range of Western European traditions; in our view, these documents represent manifestations of historical cultures and are readable as ‘national autobiographies’.
One of the key questions of our conference will revolve around the issue of whether Western European textbook traditions still contain traces of specifically Protestant or Catholic interpretations of Reformation history. A number of Protestant-influenced historical cultures regard Luther as the ‘first modern man’ in the Hegelian sense and the Reformation as a narrative of victory, or alternatively as the birth of the modern age, an event which overcame the supposed darkness and backwardness of the medieval period. Associations frequently made with the Reformation in this context include achievements of modernity such as freedom of religion and expression, pluralism, religious tolerance, democratic practices, liberalism, individualism and reason. German nationalist discourses of heroism have depicted Luther as a virtually superhuman champion of liberty who appeared to embody the ‘superiority of the German mind and spirit’. We will hope to consider at our conference whether textbooks read the Reformation, which has since Ranke been conceived of as a distinct historical epoch, as a caesura, a turning of the historical tide, and if so, which specific character they ascribe to it.
In many Catholic historical cultures, by contrast, Luther has been cast as an apostate, guilty, alongside Calvin, Zwingli, Münzer, Melanchthon and other rhetorically powerful figures of the Reformation, of having torn asunder the previous unity of the West and of having, in ‘hatred for Rome’, undermined the established order and its structures and in so doing unleashed a process by which the Church and society successively fell apart, giving rise to bloody religious wars and inflicting upon Christendom a schism which endures to this day. We will be investigating whether such interpretations continue to appear in European history textbooks or, alternatively, whether the depiction of the Reformation has now been essentially taken over by other discourses, such as those relating to specific nations or Europe in general, or the discourse of the Enlightenment.
The fast-approaching 500th anniversary of Luther’s ’95 Theses’, which will be commemorated in 2017, has inspired us to participate in the anticipated revival of critical academic discussion around the Reformation and extend it to issues relating to history textbooks. We hope that the conference’s findings will influence changes to educational media for history education, particularly in light of the paradigm shift in history teaching which has taken place over the last 15 years, making way for a new emphasis on the promotion of historical ways of thinking, and which has called for innovative approaches to familiar topics in history. We will also welcome new ideas at the conference to add to the currently developing discussion of the relationship in textbooks between the history of Christianity and that of Islam, particularly in view of the increasing significance of the latter in today’s Europe.