An Examination of Epistemic Beliefs about History in Initial Teacher Training: A Comparative Analysis between Primary and Secondary Education Prospective Teachers

Abstract

Epistemic beliefs about history can influence the way educators address this discipline with their students. This mixed-methods study establishes a comparison between three groups: secondary education, and both second-year and third-year primary education social studies pre-service teachers. Using a sample of 430 participants, the Beliefs About History Questionnaire (BHQ) was applied to quantitatively assess the level of agreement with three stances (copier, borrower, and criterialist) and the consistency of the answers. Responses were also codified and qualitatively examined. While all groups favored a criterialist stance, secondary education pre-service teachers showed more nuanced and consistent visions than their primary education counterparts. A discussion is presented on the role of initial teacher training and on the characterization of epistemic cognition in history.