A structural and functional differentiation of knowledge for the history curriculum

Which historical knowledge is worthwhile teaching? Over the last decades, this question has been answered differently by history scholars. In many Western countries, arguments to avoid Eurocentric and nationalistic curricula challenge the current selections of historical knowledge in the curriculum. Epistemology in history education also changed following the appreciation of historical thinking and reasoning. Yet most scholars agree that a certain basis of orientation knowledge is needed to achieve the key targets of the history curriculum. Consequently, it is difficult for curriculum developers to select knowledge for history teaching. The aim of this article is to scaffold curriculum developers’ content selection by proposing guiding questions. It aggregates and elaborates theories of knowledge in the field of history education. Young and Muller’s concept of powerful knowledge is applied to the subject of history teaching. Arguments for a structural differentiation of vertical and horizontal discourses are presented. Also, the functional aspect of history teaching is elaborated by relating three purposes of education to knowledge selection.