Teaching Sensitive Issues in History Education. Teachers’ Experiences, Epistemological and Moral Beliefs and Perceptions of Students’ Social Identities

Over the last decades much has been written about teachers’ difficulties with the teaching of sensitive historical topics. A particular challenge is teaching multiple perspectives on such topic. A crucial factor in teachers’ approaches to sensitive topics seems to be the way they relate to that topic based on their epistemological beliefs, values and knowledge (Klein, 2017). Previous research showed that the relationship between teachers’ epistemological beliefs and their attitude towards teaching an interpretational approach to history is topic-dependent and influenced by the perceived sensitivity of the topic (Authors, 2016). Besides general epistemological beliefs, a teacher’s moral stance towards a topic may also influence the choice for or against an interpretational teaching approach. This study examined teachers’ perceptions of the sensitivity of topics in relation to teachers' epistemological beliefs in history education. We conducted an online questionnaire with open questions about which topics teachers considered to be sensitive and for what reasons. The questionnaire also examined teachers’ teaching practices, epistemological beliefs and values, and cultural and religious backgrounds. Participants were 80 Dutch teachers of secondary history. Data were collected in January and February 2016. We analysed teachers’ epistemological beliefs and categorised topics and reasons mentioned by respondents in order to identify different categories of sensitivity. Our first findings reveal that teachers have epistemological beliefs that can be described as inter-subjective beliefs based on disciplinary criteria. The responses concerning sensitive topics were categorized in 7 categories. The three most mentioned were: clash between Islamic and non-Islamic cultures, colonialism, and conflict in the Middle East. Based on the different described reasons for sensitivity we define three overarching categories in teachers’ perceptions of the sensitivity of a historical topic: epistemic culture (how knowledge is evaluated within a specific culture), epistemic authority (who is epistemologically trusted), and social identity. An important conclusion is that a topic can be sensitive because people reason from different epistemic frameworks. For example, different perspectives between Islamic and non-Islamic people can be explained by different epistemic cultures (religion versus teachers’ rational epistemologies). This friction can influence the extent to which a teacher is seen as an epistemic authority concerning a specific topic. We propose that teachers should be aware that sensitivities can be grounded in frictions between epistemic cultures. Moreover, most pedagogies on how to deal with sensitive issues are based on rational criteria, reflecting only one epistemic culture. This idea may enable teachers who want to address sensitive topics in the classroom to reflect on their epistemological beliefs, moral stances and identification with regard to a particular topic, to increase insight into possible personal constraints in teaching a sensitive topic.