Women in the teaching of history: evaluation of an action research programme with students training to be primary education teachers

This paper has two objectives: first, to examine the social representations offered by a group of teacher trainees on the social procedures involved in the teaching of History and the social ends it serves, with a particular focus on the role of women in History teaching; and second, to intervene in these representations and evaluate our own teaching practice. Using the methodological principles of action research, evaluative research and critical theory, the study analyzes the potential impact on student representations of a teacher education programme geared towards education in and for gender equality. The results reveal a generalized acceptance of critical curricular approaches in the History classroom that are directed to forming competences in historical and social thought and making all of the social actors in the construction of historical knowledge more visible.