Perceptions on the use of heritage to teach history in Secondary Education teachers in training

Abstract

Recently, heritage education has undergone significant development, consolidating itself as a scientific discipline in the last two decades. In this sense, it is a key element for teaching history and training social and civic skills. However, in Spanish school contexts the presence of heritage in connection with historical education is currently scarce and anecdotal. Transforming this situation necessarily involves knowing the opinion of future Secondary Education teachers about the possibilities that they grant to heritage to develop historical thinking. Only in this way it is possible to detect the needs that future teachers show to intervene in them and improve training processes at the university. Therefore, this paper analyses the perceptions of heritage in future secondary education teachers at three Spanish universities (Malaga, Almeria, and Murcia), with a total sample of 112 participants (n = 112). It combines a quantitative study using a Likert scale questionnaire, with a qualitative one, by means of a series of open questions about the participants’ perceptions of teaching methodologies and didactic resources. This allows some striking conclusions to be drawn, as well as certain contradictions that allude to the gap between the hegemonic forms of teaching that they have known as students, and those that they would like to develop when they enter teaching. These trainee teachers attach great importance to the use of tangible and intangible heritage to teach history and make it an attractive subject. They also show great interest in local history, museums, and new technologies. All of this is rarely used in the teaching of history in Spain at the Secondary Education stage, and therefore is a deficiency that future teachers recognize needs addressing. The teaching of heritage should promote a greater role for students, making them builders of their own learning. This means acquiring not only concepts, but above all skills and civic values, based on the study of heritage.