Looking back in time

Half a century of wars around history education

Authors

• Sirkka Ahonen Helsingin yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33350/ka.91260

Abstract

History as a school subject is culturally and politically sensitive. History wars are being fought around both the content and the form of history. The author looks at the changes in Finnish history education between the aftermath of the Second World War and today. She refers to debates, curricula and textbooks, and with a long career as an active history educator, she provides autobiographical comments on the developments. International scholarly discussion has considerably affected Finnish history didactics. The Central European humanistic tradition has inspired research on historical consciousness and identity, while the Anglo-American positivistic theory of knowledge has stimulated empirical studies on the critical thinking skills of adolescents. The assessment policies of the 2000s have given the teaching and learning of critical skills a priority position. Regarding the politics of history education, the cold war and the subsequent conflicts between cultural conservatives and liberals have been present in history didactics.