Catherine McGlynn

Students' attitudes towards history: does self-identity matter?

Background: In England, the promotion of ‘national values’ within the history curriculum has become an increasingly topical issue in the wake of recent debates about ‘Britishness’ and community cohesion. However, despite the swathe of policy statements and pronouncements, there is little empirical evidence linking young peoples identities and their attitudes towards history. Purpose: Drawing on a survey of undergraduates, we explore young peoples attitudes towards the history curriculum and how these relate to their ethnic, national and political identity. We anticipated that students ascribing to a strong sense of national identity may be particularly receptive to a traditional approach to teaching national values within history classes, while those with a strong sense of political identity would be receptive to a multicultural approach; and vice versa. Sample: The sample consisted of 353 undergraduates attending five universities in the North of England. The sample was composed of British citizens, the majority of whom would have recently experienced secondary education including discrete or cross-curricular teaching designed to promote ‘British’ national values. Design and methods: Students attitudes towards history and their self-identity were estimated using a questionnaire survey asking respondents a series of questions about history teaching and identity. Exploratory factor analysis was used to reveal underlying patterns in students responses to items assessing their attitudes towards history. Items gauging relevant dimensions of self-identification, such as the relative importance of their national identity, along with other individual background characteristics, were then regressed on to attitudes towards history. Results: We found that students attitudes towards history were connected with two distinct factors: traditional/conservative and multicultural/liberal. The regression results revealed a positive relationship between a strong sense of national identity and a traditional attitude towards history, and, a negative relationship between a strong sense of national identity and a multicultural attitude towards history, even when controlling for students background characteristics. Conclusions: Our exploratory research suggests that students self-identity is likely to influence their attitudes towards approaches to history teaching. Educational policy-makers and practitioners must therefore pay careful attention to students self-identity and the context in which this is formed when seeking to inculcate an inclusive national identity in history classes.

National pride and students' attitudes towards history: an exploratory study

Recent debates about “Britishness” have drawn increasing attention to the inculcation of national values within the school history curriculum. To date, however, few studies have explored young people’s attitudes towards history or how these are related to their sources of national pride and shame. This paper draws on a survey of over 400 undergraduates’ experiences of secondary education, investigating their attitudes towards the history curriculum and how these relate to their feelings of national pride. Using principal components analysis we found that students’ attitudes towards history loaded on to two distinct factors: traditional/conservative and multicultural/liberal. Bivariate correlations then revealed that pride in national sporting and economic achievements and a sense of shame about immigration were positively associated with a traditional attitude towards history. Pride in British civil liberties and social diversity and a sense of shame about racism and UK foreign policy were associated with a multicultural attitude. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Auxiliaries in the Cause? Loyalist Women in Conflict and Post Conflict

One of the more memorable of the many loyalist murals that appeared during the Troubles was painted at Spier’s Place on the Shankill Road. Its imagery addressed the roles of women within loyalism and sought to display continuity over some 90 years of unionism. One side of the mural was a reproduction of a postcard originally issued during the Home Rule crisis, showing a raven haired woman holding aloft a rifle and a Union flag in defence of Ulster, declaring: ‘Deserted! Well I can Stand Alone’. The other part of the mural showed what was seen as a modern equivalent, a masked woman holding a shotgun, while standing on guard, as a man behind her works a field by tractor, underpinned by the text: ‘A Protestant farmer’s wife guards her husband against sectarian attack [from] across the border’.