Student teacher perspectives on history education: a comparison of primary and secondary student teacher thinking about the purpose of history at the start of their teacher education course in England

This study provides the first comparison of primary and secondary student teachers’ perspectives on history education and its purpose at the beginning of an Initial Teacher Education postgraduate diploma/certificate in education in England. It aims to identify similarities and differences in the student teachers’ thinking about history and its purpose as a school subject to foster discourse within the Initial Teacher Education community about how best to support their development. The findings are drawn from a small-scale inductive theory development study, conducted at a university in North West England. Qualitative data were collected from 35 participants, 19 primary Initial Teacher Education students and 16 secondary, using a questionnaire containing Likert scale questions and a ranking activity relating to statements about the purpose of history education. Overall, the data revealed significant commonalities and some divergence between primary and secondary student teacher views of the purpose of history, particularly regarding knowledge, perspectives and empathy. Divergence seemed to occur due to history education level rather than due to choice of phase-specific teacher education route, thus highlighting a need for Initial Teacher Education programmes to provide specific input on the purpose of history at the outset of all teacher education courses.