The Role and Interpretation of History Teaching in the Postmodern Educational Context

Abstract

The study examines the question of the relevance of history teaching within the educational and scholarly context of the 21st century. Its starting point is the recognition that changes in historiographical perspectives—particularly the rise of postmodern thought and microhistorical approaches—have significantly transformed the way the past is understood, while the practice of history teaching often continues to rely on the traditional transmission of factual knowledge. The first part of the study reviews the major paradigm shifts in historiography, from the positivist perspective of the nineteenth century to pluralized and interpretative approaches, with particular attention to microhistorical trends. It then analyzes the historical and pedagogical questions of history
education and presents contemporary professional debates concerning the aims of the subject. The theoretical framework is complemented by an empirical study conducted among teacher-training students, which examines how they interpret the usefulness and significance of learning history. The results indicate that traditional school experiences primarily emphasize the transmission of general cultural knowledge, whereas interactive and experience-based learning methods lead students to highlight the in terpretative, identity-forming, and critical-thinking-developing role of history. The study argues that microhistorical perspectives and experiential pedagogical approaches can contribute to strengthening the relevance of history teaching in the contemporary educational environment.