Students’ ideas about school history: a view from Greece

This paper reports the findings of a study of students’ views on history as a school subject. The study aimed to investigate pupils’ perceptions of the usefulness of studying school history and history in general. Particular attention was paid to pupils’ feedback on educational material used in history teaching and teacher's contribution.The research was conducted across 8 schools in North Greece and over 200 young people (age 12-15) took part in it. In terms of the sample, data was obtained from a range of different schools taking into consideration geographical, social-economic and ethnic background parameters. The survey consisted of focus group interviews.The outcomes indicate a contradiction between the aspects of history promoted by the particular history curriculum and pupils’ perceptions of the subject. According to pupils’ reflections on the subject, school history does not seem to affect their way of thinking and their understanding of the past; points that are mentioned in the history curriculum. The paper suggests that pupils’ voices should be heard whenever school history course is discussed in order to bridge this gap because they experience history teaching ‘in real life’ and pupils are the most involved agent in the teaching and knowing process.