History and civics for the middle years : a comparative analysis of the syllabuses for two school subjects in Sweden and Finland

• The purpose of this paper is to contribute with a comparison of two curricula, Lgr 11 in Sweden and the curriculum from 2014 in Finland, and the syllabuses for 9/10 to 12-year olds in history and civics. Both these subjects are expected to contribute to forming school students for a future society, where contemporary local societal experiences are expected to be used for interpretations of socially, culturally and historically developed experiences, values and norms (Skolverket 2011; Utbildningsstyrelsen 2014). Both subjects, in principle, have the potential of emphasizing complex societal issues that in different ways have been recurring through history. People escape and have also in precious centuries been escaping from societal or natural catastrophes to other countries; misuse of power and societal inequalities, minorities and prejudices – these are examples of issues and experiences that every new generation has to deal with. Do the syllabuses for history and civics relate to these kinds of issues for 9-12-year olds in Sweden and Finland – if they do, how are they expressed? What similarities and differences are there in what is emphasized? This comparative study is the first step towards a broader comparative study of the two subjects and the results will be used for further developing the design of the following steps of the project, where we specifically will focus on Finland Swedish contexts. Previous didactical studies of either of these two subjects predominantly relate to school students in secondary or upper secondary school. Studies that combine a comparison of two subjects in two Nordic countries for this age group are very few.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Subject didactics

comparative study

curriculum

middle years

Sweden

Finland

Subject Learning and Teaching

ämnesdidaktik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)