17. Histories of Education
Paper
Prehistory in School textbooks in the 20th Century: from Homogeneity to Inclusivity and Diversity
Lena Almqvist Nielsen
University West, Sweden
Presenting Author: Almqvist Nielsen, Lena
With this presentation I would like to contribute to the understanding of the way prehistory has been taught in textbooks over a period of just over a hundred years, and how both society and archaeological research have contributed to changing the way prehistoric people are represented in the textbooks.
Scandinavian prehistory has so far received little attention in history didactics. In Swedish schools, prehistory is taught in the lower grades according to the traditional periodisation: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Viking Age. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of Scandinavian prehistory as it is presented in history textbooks of the 20th and early 21st centuries, and to trace its development and revision. The study highlights archaeology and gender studies in relation to the subject of history and connects textbooks with historical culture, prehistory and gender.
Textbooks are closely linked to historical culture because they are an imprint of their contemporaries (Rüsen 2004). Our knowledge of the prehistoric period is therefore partly time-bound because it is shaped by the theories currently in force, and in this way our image of prehistory becomes a reflection of our own time (Baudou, 2004). As presented in these books, prehistory is seen as an expression of a historical culture valid in a particular era. The study shows how historical cultural change becomes visible through two categories that run through the entire period under study: Cultural memory and gender.
Cultural memory: The German Egyptologist Jan Assmann has addressed the question of how memory can be linked to a period as far back in time as prehistory, and how the past is recalled in social memory. Since it is a historical period very distant from our own, we cannot share these memories through interaction, but need specialists, such as teachers, to help us (Assmann, J, 2010). Aleida Assman sees our memory as highly selective and when it comes to cultural memory, forgetting thus becomes part of social normality. In a society, new information needs to be processed and new ideas emerge to help us deal with the present and the future, while at the same time, society faces new challenges (Assmann, A, 2010). Memory can thus be seen as a reconstruction of the past created in the present (Selling, 2004). In this study, the concept of cultural memory serves as a tool to explain how some stories have remained in the textbooks during the long period under study, and which ones have changed or are no longer included for various reasons.
Gender: According to Yvonne Hirdman, the concept of gender has been used in anthropology as a descriptive concept to explain the different relationships between the sexes. The system consists of two principles. One is the taboo of separation, which states that the feminine and the masculine must not be mixed. This expression is found, among other things, in the division of labour between men and women, in the idea of what is feminine or masculine, but also in places and characteristics. The second principle is hierarchy: the man is the norm. Men are put on an equal footing with human beings and stand for what is normal and universal. Through this ordering structure, we are helped to orient ourselves in the world according to places, tasks and types (Hirdman, 2004). Gender systems change over time. In every era, there are invisible contracts between men and women that are expressed in ideas about what constitutes the relationship between them (Hirdman, 2004). This study thus describes the process by which the gender system changes and develops.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe changes in the historical culture are explained by cultural memory and Aleida Assmann's model of remembering and forgetting. Cultural memory thus provides both a theoretical and a methodological framework for this study. The long-term perspective makes it possible to see which stories about prehistory are actively preserved as canon in our memory and which stories have been discarded by new research findings and have thus fallen into active oblivion.
The textbook texts were seen in the context of archaeological research reflecting the values of society (Olsen 2003). Nordic archaeology was established as a science around the turn of the 1900s, and as this period marks the beginning of the archaeological academy, this is a natural boundary for a period division (Baudou 2004). The results are also related to curricula, as they also reflect changes in society.
The texts were compared with popular archaeological works written by established archaeologists who pointed to research that could be considered representative at the time the books were published, and the periodisation of the study was based on these works:
Period 1 1903- 1943 The Nation and the Invisible Woman
Period 2 1944- 1968 The post-war period - women are added
Period 3 1969- 1987 New social ideas and a settlement with traditional gender roles
Period 4 1988- 2010 Towards individuality and equality
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe result shows a historical cultural change in which the representation of people in the books evolves from homogeneity to inclusivity and diversity.
It becomes clear how the contemporary social climate and government policies complement the archaeological research and provide a more egalitarian picture of the prehistoric period, that the textbook authors have taken note of. This is in line with the view of how historical culture changes and is influenced by society and how textbooks are part of this history-didactic chain. Aleida Assmann's description of how the canon of cultural memory is not replaced but can change as society changes is exemplified in this study, as several stories about Nordic prehistory recur in the 20th and early 21st centuries, but at the same time the way the stories are presented changes significantly as guidelines and the social climate change.
Stories about prehistoric people evolve from stories characterised by homogeneity to stories that clearly advocate inclusion. The first accounts at the beginning of the 20th century seem to consist only of middle-aged men, but gradually women, children and eventually older people are included. The stories about prehistory have a clear anchorage in the contemporary social climate and show a move towards more diversity in their representation. However, it is not always archaeological research that forms the basis for this picture; the interpretations of textbook authors also have a major influence on these representations.
ReferencesAssmann, A. (2010). Canon and Archive. A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies. Astrid Erll, Ansgar Nunning
Assmann, J. (2010) Communicative and Cultural Memory. A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies. Astrid Erll, Ansgar Nunning
Baudou, E. (2004). Den nordiska arkeologin - historia och tolkningar. Stockholm: Kungl. Vitterhets historie och antikvitets akademien
Hirdman, Y. (2004). Genussystemet-reflexioner kring kvinnors sociala underordning. I genushistoria-en historiografisk exposé. Studentlitteratur, Lund.
Olsen, Bjørnar (2003). Från ting till text: teoretiska perspektiv i arkeologisk forskning. Lund: Studentlitteratur
Rüsen, J. (2004). Berättande och förnuft: historieteoretiska texter. Göteborg: Daidalos
Selling, J. (2004). Ur det förflutnas skuggor: Historiediskurs och nationalism i Tyskland 1990-2000.
17. Histories of Education
Paper
Buoyant Plans and Heavy Silence – the Swedish Case of Upper Secondary Psychology in the 1970s and the 1990s
Ebba Christina Blåvarg
Stockholm University, Sweden
Presenting Author: Blåvarg, Ebba Christina
This study aims to analyse the discourse on the school subject psychology, in upper secondary school subject in the national curricula, during 1970s and 1990s. Two periods during which the psychology as a school subject went through tangible shifts (Blåvarg 2018; Blåvarg, manuscript). The empirical material is drawn from three main discursive spaces that are analysed in parallel: the bureaucratic, which includes governing documents relating to the subject, the practical, which includes the subject's teaching materials, and the professional, which includes texts of the subject teacher associations. In the 1970s there was an intense activity within all three discursive practices concerning the subject and its content and purpose. Perhaps most prominent during this time was what took place within the professional space and the teachers’ debates. During these years, the 1970s, a sharp break with prevailing formation of the subject at the time occurred and a, in many aspects, completely new discourse on the psychology subject took its place. It was a strongly social and humanistic psychology that expanded within all three practices. The subject became mainly about applied psychology and students’ experiences. Psychotherapy and quasi-therapeutic exercises dominated the subject, which was completely in line with the social development at the time, progressive education and developments in health care, especially mental health care. Following this major transformation of the subject came a palpable absence of activity in all three discursive spaces. And in the 1990s an almost complete silence prevailed around the subject. This absence of mentioning is particularly visible in the bureaucratic space where psychological aspects and the subject psychology both almost ceases to exist. But the silence is also reflected to a certain extent in the professional space. In the practical space and its textbooks, certain aspects of the subject are quickly silenced, namely the scientific connection and the subject of psychology as a subject of knowledge recede into the background as applied personal development expanded.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe empirical material consists of texts and is drawn from three main discursive spaces. The bureaucratic, which includes various governing documents such as curricula, policy documents relating to the subject inquiries (e.g, Skolöverstyrelsen, 1970; 1979; Skolverket, 1994) The practical space, which includes teaching materials such as the Swedish textbooks in psychology published in 1970-1990. And, the professional space, which includes the texts from the subject teacher associations (e.g., PS-aktuellt 1976-1982; SOPHIA, 1989-1999). The archives of these three spaces have been analysed discursively. The archives of these three spaces have been analysed discursively (e.g., Danziger, 1996; Fairclough, 2003; Foucault, 1972).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsExpected findings are expressions of how the intense activity that spurred within the discursive spaces, in parallel to societal changes, in the 1970s altered the subject and possibly the general perception of the subject psychology. These transformations and the associations with private personal growth and therapeutic instances, together with the distancing from psychological empirical science might also have a role in the marked silence and marginalisation that became prominent in the 1990s around the subject.
ReferencesBlåvarg, Ebba Christina (2018). Psychology in the Swedish curriculum - Theory, introspection or preparation for the adult, occupational life. In: G. J Rich, A. Padilla-López, L. K. de Souza, L. Zinkiewicz, J. Taylor & J. L. S. Binti Jaafar. Teaching Psychology Around the World, Vol 4. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Blåvarg, Ebba Christina (manuscript). Psykologi på schemat – formeringen av ett skolämnet, 1960–2015. [Psychology on the agenda – the formation of a school subject, 1960–2015.] Stockholm University.
Danziger, Kurt (1996). The practice of psychological discourse. In: Carl F. Graumann & Kenneth J. Gregen (Eds.), Historical Dimensions of Psychological discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse: textual analysis for social research. New York: Routledge.
Foucault. M. (1972). The Archeology of Knowledge and the discourse of language. New York: Phanteon books.
PS-aktuellt (1976–1982). Information till lärare i psykologi. [Information to teachers in psychology.]
Skolöverstyrelsen (1970). Lgy 70. Läroplan för gymnasieskolan. Allmän del. [Curriculum for Upper Secondary School. 1, General part.] Stockholm: utbildningsförlaget. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/30914
Skolöverstyrelsen (1979). Läroplan för gymnasieskolan. 2, Supplement, 48, Psykologi [Curriculum for Upper Secondary School. 2, Supplement. Psychology.] URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/31351
Skolverket (1994a). The 1994 curriculum for the non-compulsory school system (Lpf 94). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/30806
Skolverket (1994b). Läroplaner för det obligatoriska skolväsendet och de frivilliga skolformerna: Lpo 94: Lpf 94 [Curricula for Compulsory and Non-compulsory Schools: Lpo 94: Lpf 94.] URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/31298
SOPHIA (1989–1999). Filosofi- och psykologilärarnas förenings tidskrift. [Journal of the Association of Philosophy and Psychology Teachers.]
17. Histories of Education
Paper
Diversity in Religious Education: a Historical Comparative Perspective on Programmes, Teaching Materials and Teachers’ Practices in England and Italy (1970-2020)
Maria Lucenti
University of Hamburg, Germany
Presenting Author: Lucenti, Maria
This paper aims to investigate how religious diversity has been integrated at school within religious education in England and Italy. To do so, the paper deals with three aspects, underlining the reciprocal connections between them and the wider social and political context, namely: religious education programmes, teaching aids and teaching practices. As far as the English context is concerned, we will focus more on paradigm shifts in syllabuses and the impact of such changes on textbooks from the 1970s – when multireligious teaching became structural (Copley, 2008; Jackson, 2019; Cole, 1972; Grimmitt, 1973; Parker & Freathy, 2012) - to today. Regarding Italy, we will focus on the implications of school autonomy since the 2000s (and the consequent redefinition of national curricula, which disappear to become locally defined, except for the teaching of the Catholic religion) for the IRC – Insegnamento della religione Cattolica/Teaching of the Catholic religion – discipline. This difference in focus depends on a diametrically opposite situation in the two countries regarding the status of religious education. In England there is not a national RE programme (so it becomes necessary to analyse the differences between syllabuses and their evolution over time, as well as their impact on teaching materials), whereas in Italy, since 2000, national programmes have been abolished, giving way to non-binding ministerial indications, except for IRC, the only discipline for which there is a national programme. Here, the legal basis of the teaching of the Catholic religion (IRC) dates back to the Lateran pacts of 1929, revised in 1984. However, IRC teachers are equally called to "adapt" to the new competence-based approach, like other colleagues. In this context, it becomes crucial to understand (as the programmes have not changed since 1984) how IRC teachers have responded to the new challenge of teaching by skills. The analysis of teachers' practices represents in the Italian context an indispensable element without which the state of the art of the discipline cannot be understood. In the English context, on the contrary, the analysis of the syllabuses and teaching materials, precisely because they are updated every five years, allows us to reconstruct the history of the discipline and the changes in approach and method. For those reasons, in the impossibility of tackling the question in its entirety, we will focus on some key aspects that have been little covered in the two countries, namely the influence of different approaches in RE teaching (exemplified by syllabuses) on textbooks in the UK and teachers’ practices in Italy in relation to school programmes. Some of the research questions are:
- About RE in England: Is there consistency between RE programmes exemplified by the syllabuses and teachers' guides or textbooks for RE teaching? What was the direct impact of syllabuses on textbooks? How did school textbooks introduce the multifaith approach? How did they represent various religions and non-religious worldviews? If so, how has the representation of religious and non-religious worldviews changed in recent decades?
- About IRC in Italy: Has teachers’ ‘freedom’ in structuring their own course favoured a greater inclusion of different religions, in addition to Catholicism? On what factors does the inclusion of religious diversity in the curriculum depend? What happens in class?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedAt the methodological level, the following sources have been analysed:
- Scientific bibliography on locally agreed RE syllabuses during historical changes (1970-2020);
- RE school textbooks: 25 textbooks on Islam or multiple faiths and 5 on Christianity;
- 25 IRC school textbooks;
- IRC programmes.
As regards the practices of teachers in Italy, 320 questionnaires and 18 semi-structured interviews were carried out.
For the analysis of the textbooks both a grid and the MAXQDA software were used. The selection and analysis of the textbooks have had the aim of not only understanding how the main religions are represented in these teaching aids, but also of reconstructing on a historical level how a paradigm shift occurred in the textbooks, from one approach to another, and what the consistency was like between the official requirements and the manuals themselves. For this reason, I have not only focused on the more recent textbooks, but also on some older ones, starting in the late 1970s for English textbooks (when multi-religious teaching became structural) and in 1984 for Italian ones (from the revision of “Patti Lateranensi”).
As for RE, the comparison between textbooks dedicated exclusively to Islam, books on several religions, those which use a thematic approach (starting from various themes they see how the different religions deal with these issues) and books on Christianity can bring out data of considerable interest not only regarding the contents, but also about the approach used.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsIf in England the predominance of an approach in each historical juncture did not mark the overcoming of the previous models in the production of teaching aids – rather we notice a coexistence of these approaches – in Italy teachers’ autonomy did not coincide with a more inclusive approach on religious diversity because this has been limited by the lack of training. Although in general Italian teachers are well qualified (56% of them have a master's degree, 7% a Ph.D., among the interview sample), their mono-religious approach has significant repercussions in terms of the inclusion of religious diversity and even the identification and deconstruction of stereotypes, for example in the school textbook. Only 9% of the interviewed Italian teachers claim to have identified stereotypes about different religions in the textbooks they have used. This is not linked to the absence of stereotypes in IRC school textbooks, but instead to the mono-religious approach in initial and subsequent training, which does not give teachers the opportunity for a real and decentralized confrontation beyond the interpretive categories of Christianity on other religious realities and non-religious worldviews. The data highlights a clear gap between those who have taken training courses regularly and those who, on the contrary, have never attended. For example, on the topic of interculturality and the deconstruction of stereotypes in textbooks, we find that only Italian teachers who have received training on this subject succeeded in identifying and deconstructing stereotypes and prejudices. They are more aware of cultural diversity and are therefore more likely to promote it through an offer of plural educational content, culturally decentralized.
ReferencesCESNUR (2019). Dimensioni del pluralismo religioso in Italia. https://cesnur.com/dimensioni-del-pluralismo-religioso-in-italia/
Cole, O. (1975). Religion in the multi-faith school. A tool for Teacher. Bradford Educational Services Committee and The Yorkshire Committee for Community Relations.
Copley, T. (2008). Teaching religion. Sixty years of religious education in England and Wales. University of Exeter Press.
Francis L.J., Parker, S., Lankshear, D.W. (Eds.) (2021). New directions in Religious and Values education. International perspectives. Peter Lang.
Gaudio, A. (2018). La religione a scuola Una questione aperta. Humanitas 73(4/2018) 595-599.
Grimmitt, M. (1973). What can I do in R.E.? Mayhew-McCrimmon LTD.
Jackson, R. (2019). Religious education for plural societies. Routledge.
Jackson, R., Ipgrave, J., Hayward, M., Hopkins, P., Fancourt, N., Robbins, M., Francis, L. & McKenna, U. (2010). Materials used to Teach about World Religions in Schools in England. Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of Warwick.
Lucenti, M. (2018). Storie altre. Il mondo arabo-musulmano e l’occidente nei manuali di Italia e Tunisia. Aracne.
Lucenti, M., Hirsch, S. (2020). I manuali scolastici danno accesso all'altro in classe? Un'analisi comparativa tra l'Italia e il Québec. Educational reflective practices, 2/2020.
Melloni, A. (Ed.) (2014). Rapporto sull’analfabetismo religioso in Italia. Il Mulino.
Nord, W. A. (2015). Religious Literacy, Textbooks, and Religious Neutrality, Religion & Public Education, 16(1), 111-122.
Parker, S., Freathy, R. & Francis, L.J. (2011). Context, complexity and contestation: Birmingham’s Agreed Syllabuses for Religious Education since the 1970s. Journal of Beliefs and Values, 32(2): 247-263.
Parker, S., Freathy, R. & Francis, L.J. (2012). Ethnic diversity, Christian hegemony and the emergence of multi-faith religious education in the 1970s. History of Education, 41:3, 381-404.
Priestley, J. (2009). Agreed Syllabuses: Their History and Development in England and Wales 1944–2004, in M. de Souza, K. Engebretson, G. Durka, R. Jackson, and A. McGrady (Eds.), International Handbook of the Religious, Moral and Spiritual Dimensions in Education, Part 2, Springer, 2006, 1001-1012.
Roverselli, C. (2019). Pluralismo religioso e scuola pubblica in Italia: spazi per l’inclusione e questioni aperte. Journal of Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies (20/2019) 231-242.
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