Osborne, Ken. “The Teaching of History and Democratic Citizenship.” (2008)

The success of a democratic country depends on the knowledge, skills and values of its citizens, which are not innate. Therefore, these qualities must be taught and the author suggests it is for this reason that citizenship education is important. However, it is not simply analyzing and learning about the issues that are important but also a direct engagement. The focus of this chapter is how history educators can, despite the curricular restraints, contribute to the democratic education of citizens in Canada. The author offers a description of the term democratic citizenship in four parts and how it relates to the study of history and the teaching of the history of citizenship. He discusses history, citizenship and schooling beginning with the study of history and the nation-state. The study of history and mandatory schooling were major vehicles in the dissemination and creation of national identity. The study of history was a grand-narrative of the past, focusing on the famous men who made Canada while ignoring other groups. Therefore, there was no room for interpretation or historiography; nation building was an authoritative narrative that explained not only how things happened but also that they could not have happened in any other way. Nonetheless, there were criticisms of traditional history and how it was taught in schools. It was not until the 1960s that the teaching and narrative of history began to change. The author discusses these changes and how some have argued it has led to a fragmentation of history education. If the old way of teaching history was to build the nation, the new form of teaching history seemed to call into question the very notion of nationhood. History is accused of not being based on the nation as it now places itself firmly within a specific social group or subject such as gender, culture, ethnicity etc. The author discusses how it changed the nation-building tradition in five ways. He also continues with six charges towards the opposition of the new history and then briefly examines each charge and discusses why history is important. The author concludes with a discussion of historical knowledge, thinking and citizenship and how it is embedded in the curriculum.