August 13, 2024Open Access

Practical epistemology of history teachers and its relationship to normative injunctions

Key Points

Nuanced epistemic beliefs do not consistently translate into teaching practices, challenging assumptions.
Explicit and implicit demands shape practical epistemology, enabling teachers to navigate diverse educational directives.
Exploration includes a critical review of criterialist epistemology and historical thinking approaches in practice, fostering reflection for teachers and students alike. Highlights the challenges teachers face due to normative injunctions and the hidden curriculum.

Abstract

Over the past few decades, significant work has been done regarding the epistemic beliefs of history teachers. However, nuanced epistemic beliefs do not appear to manifest as regularly as may be expected in teaching practices (Wilke et al., 2022). While exploring the normative injunctions imposed in part by the hidden curriculum (Giroux & Penna, 1979), the “school form” (Barthes & Alpe, 2018), and the challenges that history teachers face, this article argues that explicit and implicit demands made on history teachers generate a form of practical epistemology, which goes beyond epistemological beliefs. While at times this appears at odds with their understanding of history as a discipline, it enables them to meet the diverse mandates and directives they encounter. We believe that the concept of practical epistemology (Gholami, 2017) provides avenues for reflection that deserve to be pursued. Lastly, regarding criterialist epistemology (Maggioni, VanSledright, & Alexander, 2009) and historical thinking (Seixas & Morton, 2013), we emphasize that they themselves could be subjected to a critical review by both students and teachers in their practice.

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