Meeting History Education’s Most Pressing Challenge: Preparing Teachers of World History

This paper argues that preparing skilled and knowledgeable world history teachers has become a major challenge in the United States – a challenge even greater than preparing skilled teachers of American history. As world history continues its remarkable growth in popularity among high school students – over 77% of American students graduate with world history on their transcripts – preparing good world history teachers is paramount. However, American schools face four challenges in meeting the demand for “highly qualified” teachers of world history. First, most students in the United States study world history with teachers who have neither a major or minor in history or world history. Second, there is great variation in what constitutes the scope and sequence of world history, exacerbating the knowledge needed to teach the content. Third, most people charged with offering content-specific training for prospective teachers either lack training in world history or in world history- specific pedagogy. Finally, there is little research or scholarship to help guide us in taking up the challenges of preparing teachers of world history. Using research on teaching and learning history, this paper argues that world history teaching is a distinctive form of teaching requiring specialized content knowledge and pedagogical understanding, and would benefit from the type of sustained attention and funding offered in the Teaching American History Grant program. This paper identifies issues endemic to the preparation of world history teachers, while suggesting value to the profession and nation by expanding the TAH focus.

Co-author: Lauren McArthur Harris