Competence and Academic Orientation in History Textbooks

A paradigm shift within history didactics from a focus on content to a domain-specific competence orientation was implemented in the first decade of the 21st century. In this context, the challenge for history textbooks is that they are potentially to prepare the ground for the development of historical competencies and, in this process, contribute to the development of a reflected historical consciousness. This project pursues three main objectives. Firstly (1), it will be determined using qualitative/quantitative triangulation methodology how teachers and pupils of secondary schools (grades 5-8) in Austria use the textbook and what role the competence orientation demanded by curricula and by history didactics plays in this context. An observation of textbook use in classrooms will be conducted, which will be followed by both in-depth-interviews with teachers about the motives of their approaches and a subsequent quantitative survey about textbook use directed to both teachers and pupils. It has been pointed out for decades that there is a research gap about the use of textbooks in classroom instruction, and this study aims to fill part of this gap with respect to the use of history textbooks in Austria. Secondly (2), extensive textbook analyses of selected historical chapters in all approved Austrian secondary school (grades 5-8) history textbooks will determine how advanced the shift toward a domain-specific competence orientation in Austrian textbooks is and whether textbooks provide materials and approaches that potentially help students to learn to think historically. In this context different elements by which a textbooks is constructed (authors text, images, sources, work orders, etc.) will be taken into consideration. It will be asked how ongoing discussions in the didactics of history with respect to the requirements of a domain- specific competence orientation are reflected in textbooks. The final objective (3) is to determine whether there is a positive correlation between a competence orientation and an academic orientation, in the sense of Jörn Rüsens theory of the three plausibilities, in textbooks. By comparing the manifestation of the academic orientation and the competence orientation, it is possible to check the hypothesis that a higher degree of competence orientation in a textbook correlates with a higher degree of empirical, narrative and normative plausibility. The hypothesis assumes that the academic quality rises as a result of the disclosure of the structure of the historical narratives in textbooks that is required in competence-oriented approaches.

Competence and Academic Orientation in History Textbooks (CAOHT) The CAOHT project aimed to take a closer look at Austrian history textbooks and their use in history classes. On the one hand, the textbooks were analysed to answer the question to what extent they implement the normative requirements of the official history curriculum. On the other hand, it was investigated how textbooks are actually used by teachers and pupils. The project thus provided important insights for further development of history textbooks in particular and for improving teaching and learning practices in general. A mixed-method design was chosen as methodological approach. With this approach both qualitative and quantitative research methods are used to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the field to be researched. In addition to participatory observations of 50 lessons, the procedure also included expert interviews with teachers about their ideas on teaching. Based on these qualitative insights, a questionnaire for teachers and students was developed (quantitative survey). The questionnaire, which was completed by 277 teachers and 1,086 pupils from the Federal states of Vienna, Salzburg and Styria, was thus oriented towards concrete practice of Austrian teachers and pupils. In addition, selected chapters from all Austrian history textbooks were analysed by qualitative content analyses with regard to the required implementation of the domain-specific competence orientation. In this context a new approach were developed which focused primarily on the tasks in the textbooks as important instruments for initiating professional learning processes. The results of the project show a heterogeneous picture. It can be assumed that about 50% of the teachers are in favour of teaching critical historical thinking in history lessons. However, it also became apparent that some teachers ignore the aims of the curriculum. In this cases the focus often lies on declarative knowledge, but without using this kind of knowledge for further individual historical thinking processes. It is noticeable that the investigated group of pupils arrive at similar assessments of history teaching as the participated teachers. The textbook analyses show that Austrian textbooks also offer little support for implementing the desired and required competence and academic orientation in history classes. In many cases, tasks are set that are geared more to retelling or memorizing textbook contents than to demanding and activating historical thinking processes. In addition to these results on the quality and use of textbooks in Austrian history lessons, the project was also able to advance scientific discussions on the empirical research of history lessons. With the research method of "triangulation" or mixed-methods, a new research design could be developed and tested, which also received broad attention in the international research discourse on history teaching. Team: Christoph Kühberger, Roland Bernhard, Christoph Bramann Contact: christoph.kuehberger@sbg.ac.at