1st conference Rome 2012

The objective of this conference is to bring together researchers committed to History and Social Sciences Education at all educational levels: primary, secondary and tertiary in order to discuss its research achievements and outline its perspectives.

The opportunity is thus to debate the accomplishments in the field of History and Social Sciences Education and to identify the outlines of its research developments. The conference is also a forum of dialogue between different research traditions as well as sharing experiences, so as to problematize the relationships and lines of demarcation among the various social sciences disciplines and their teaching. The conference also aims to be a focal point of reflection on the actual aims of the IRAHSSE, new international association.

In the present context, History and Social Sciences Education represent a triple challenge: political/ social/cultural, epistemological and empirical.

Political, Social and Cultural, because History and Social Sciences Education are affected not only by internal – disciplinary and school – but mainly by external – social, political, cultural- determinants. They are subjects whose structure and content depend on political and ideological choices. These choices are contingent upon dominant discourses and are subject to social pressures which are often intense. History and Social Sciences taught mostly at primary and secondary but also at university level are part of the collective historical culture. Mapping the research achievements on such issues, identifying their relevance in relation to each discipline, thinking about their influence on schools and universities, on teaching and learning history and social sciences processes is the first objective of this conference.

Epistemological, because History and Social Sciences Education respond to a disciplinary requirement of the establishment  of differences and similarities between schemes, concepts, frames of reference, principles, research traditions, etc. In many countries, educational systems represent a variety of original structures. Each system is based on different conceptual and methodological options vis- a- vis History and Social Sciences Education. Questioning these conceptions, problematizing the place of each discipline taught in schools and considering their frame of reference constitutes the second objective of this conference.

Empirical, because History and Social Sciences Education are ultimately determined by the practices whose modalities reveal more and more interest for the purpose of empirical research. The research concerning the conceptions and the social representations of the actors – students and teachers mainly – which affect significantly the practices in classrooms as well as the research into the practices in classrooms themselves, the studies and the discourses on disciplinary subject knowledge, competences and conceptualizations, on the teaching and learning procedures, on the issues toward historical thinking and/or historical consciousness can instigate extremely promising exchanges. Opening such a debate on the basis of data resulting from recent empirical research constitutes therefore the third objective of this conference.

Thus, there are three axes proposed for the communications

. The first, political, focuses on the relationship between the disciplines taught and their social, cultural and mnemonic context. It aims to review issues which thus result.

. The second, epistemological, questions the relations between history and the other social disciplines taught in schools and universities. It aims to take stock of the state of structures which interpret these relations at the teaching and learning level.

. The third, empirical, considers the relationship between educational praxis and disciplinary knowledge. It aims to examine the distribution of the respective positions of each discipline in the school and/or the university.

For the Scientific Committee of the Conference,

Luigi Cajani, Sapienza Università di Roma