American International Journal of Social Science

History Teachers’ Conceptions of Professional Identity in Developing Historical Consciousness to Students
Dr. Maria Mamoura

Abstract
This article discusses the results of a qualitative study aimed to explore how two experienced history teachers’ conceptions of their professional identity may have an impact on the type of historical consciousness they seek to develop to their students. We used the concept of professional identity as an organized representation of theories, attitudes and beliefs about ourselves as teachers (Beijard, 2004).Also, we used the term historical consciousness as defined by Rüsen (1993). We draw the main categories used to explore the types of historical consciousness on Rusen’s typology including four categories of historical consciousness.We gathered data through observing and interviewing two high school history teachers, highly qualified and sufficiently experienced in teaching history (cases). The results show that participants’ conceptions of their role as history teachers seem to have a more significant impact on the type of historical consciousness they seek to develop to their students than some other aspects of their professional knowledge.

Full Text: PDF