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ABSTRACT
In this case study, we explore pedagogical practices that could promote powerful knowledge in school history. We analyse teaching sessions conducted by two teachers. The cases were selected from an observation study that focused on historical literacy in Finnish schools. While Michael Young’s ideas of powerful knowledge have gained considerable attention in recent years, the pedagogical aspects of powerful knowledge have been less explored than its knowledge theorization. Our results indicate that promoting powerful knowledge is possible in school history. We suggest that powerful knowledge could be supported by teacher-led pedagogy that involves the systematic use of historical texts, and that uses disciplinary concepts to re-conceptualize everyday knowledge. Hence, teaching strives to unpack the (political) use of historical knowledge and narratives that represent the knowledge of the powerful.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Mikko Puustinen
Mikko Puustinen is a postdoctoral researcher and university lecturer at the University of Helsinki. His research interests include history education and the history of Finnish teacher education. Recently, he has studied historical literacy practices and history teachers' pedagogical and historical thinking in classroom context.
Amna Khawaja
Amna Khawaja is a PhD student at the University of Helsinki. Her research interests include historical thinking and historical literacy at the elementary school level. In her research she has focused both on student assessment as well as on classroom practices in relation to historical literacy.