Epistemic Beliefs and Pre-service Teachers’ Conceptions of History Instruction

This study investigates the difficulties pre-service history teachers face in understanding and implementing a curriculum focused on historical reasoning. Based general hypothesis of beliefs exerting direct influence teachers’ actions, this phenomenographic provides qualitative analysis epistemic learning/teaching conceptions which base their reflections decisions when they have to produce teaching plan for specific situation, taking n = 72 from Master’s Degree Teaching Secondary Education at University Zaragoza (specialty Geography History) as statistical sample. The outcome first phases was new theoretical reference framework that innovated by simultaneously analyzing educational conceptions. On one hand, results include considerable number who use identifying past addressing curriculum. other, none them, not even those with advanced beliefs, think about terms an inquiry-based approach problems, and, therefore, display transmissive–reproductive conception instruction. Consequently, main contribution is observation twofold threshold must cross understand accept interpretive curriculum: overcome identification between instead immerse themselves necessarily nature any history; stop viewing learning knowledge internalization reproduction instead, embrace inquiry