Orders of history: An ethnographic study on history education and the enacted curriculum

Abstract

This dissertation explores the enacted history curriculum in a Finnish lower secondary school classroom. Using an ethnographic approach the study explores the core practices and ideas grounding the enacted curriculum, the relationship between the enacted and the prescribed curriculum, and the influence of contextual and situational conditions on the enacted curriculum. Data collection took place in 2017-2018 during the implementation phase of the latest national core curriculum, where the disciplinary approach stressing the knowledge formation processes of history was further promoted. The study comprises 62 history lessons of one group of eighth graders (14–15-year-olds). The data includes fieldnotes, interviews, and other materials such as exams and school textbooks. A cultural models theory was used to elicit the different culturally shared ideas grounding the enacted curriculum. Based on the analysis, the conception of school history reflected the collective memory approach to history education. However, there were also attempts to participate students in the formation of the single narrative of history. In terms of the disciplinary approach, the teacher perceived the new curriculum alongside other concurrent reforms to promote a technical–rational view of education. Thus, the curriculum represented a threat to student access to broad education and critical citizenship, especially as the role of content knowledge in the reform was unclear. The teacher also considered the specified assessment criteria to limit teacher autonomy to make teachers adopt the reform. The study implies the execution of the curriculum reform has failed to acknowledge certain cultural conditions. The more detailed design of the latest curriculum is a problematic way to make teachers whose professional identity rests on autonomy to get on board with the reform. Moreover, the emphasis placed on assessment has overshadowed questions about the purpose of the reform in history education. In addition, the conceptualisation of the disciplinary approach as ‘skills’ instead of the study of the different dimensions of historical knowledge has likely promoted the perceived disconnect between skills and knowledge, causing teachers who value broad education to suspect the reform.

Keywords: history education, ethnography, curriculum, enacted curriculum, collective memory, disciplinary thinking, education policy, educational reform