Historical consciousness between Bildung and competence – investigating conceptual change in curricular documents for history in Danish primary school

Abstract

The article examines the concept of historical consciousness in the national Danish curriculum (Fælles Mål) and associated curricular documents for History as primary school subject. The article focuses on the function and meanings ascribed to the concept following the introduction of competence-oriented teaching in 2014/15. The article is interested in how the concept historical consciousness has developed in response to the curriculum’s turn towards competence – this to legitimize a continued role and position in the curriculum. Based on qualitative content and document analysis (QCA), the article conducts a close reading of Fælles Mål and associated curricular documents as written texts. Observations from the readings are reflected upon and discussed in the light of cognitive taxonomy theory on skills and knowledge (Krathwohl, 2002) as well as the concepts of broad analytical vs. narrow genetic historical consciousness (Körber, 2016). Overall, the article finds that function and meanings related to historical consciousness as concept have changed in the curricular documents.

      At first glance, the concept serves as a Bildung goal for the subject in a narrow genetic sense, but is gradually expanded into a broader analytical understanding throughout the documents. Further, the concept also functions as subordinate competence area, which, to some extent, reflects a broad analytical understanding of historical consciousness if related to content from several other skills and knowledge areas in the curriculum. The article relates to Nordic subject-oriented research on history didactics where historical consciousness, as a challenged Bildung concept in a competence-oriented national curricula, is currently overlooked.