Citizenship education, heritage and memory in the teaching of history: case study and action research in the initial training of High School Education teachers

Abstract

Considering the relevance that education for a democratic citizenship should have in the teaching of history, we have developed an educational innovation project aimed at Social Sciences teachers of High School Education in initial training and focused on the critical inclusion of controversial issues in Social Sciences curriculum for that educational level. Within the project, and within the Master's Degree in Teacher Training in High School Education (MAES) at the University of Huelva, we have designed and put into practice a proposal for teacher training on controversial issues in the academic year 2018-2019; focusing on the Valley of the Fallen as an example of anti-heritage. Based on an interpretive paradigm, we develop a case study whose registration is made by audio and video and SWOT and CAME analysis. Among the results of this research, we highlight that heritage, more specifically what we have called anti-heritage is, by definition, a source of debate that allows us to approach heritage education from a critical approach and connected with education for a democratic citizenship. Furthermore, although there is no single position regarding the way to include controversy in the classroom, its potential is recognized in relation to a heritage that acts as a trace or testimony of memory and that contributes to the construction of critical thinking, basis of democratic debate.