Preservice teachers’ attitudes towards teaching History

Abstract

The current study presents the results of a research conducted at the University of Patras to measure 120 university students’ of Letters and Philosophy attitudes towards teaching History. Additionally, it proposes a valid and reliable instrument for the measurement of preservice teachers’ attitudes towards teaching History in secondary education. The development of the instrument is expected to fulfill the need to measure History teachers’ attitudes about four dimensions: anxiety, perceived benefits, self-efficacy and perceived difficulties, which were found to affect teachers’ attitudes towards History teaching, according to the review of the literature. The exploratory factor analysis indicated satisfactory construct validity and reliability of the instrument. The data analysis showed that preservice teachers demonstrate medium levels of anxiety and self-efficacy. Furthermore, they acknowledge the benefits of History teaching to students’ intellectual development and social prosperity, even though they perceive History as a demanding subject in the school curriculum. The research results suggest further research on the field and advocate preservice History teachers’ support with academic courses focused on teaching methodology and effective strategies in History, internship programs, and counseling during their university education.