Commonalities and controversy in context: A study of academic historians' educational beliefs

The educational beliefs of eight academic historians are examined in the context of their department, the university and the history of the discipline. Similarities among the academics about goals for history education; perceptions of students; roles as teachers; and classroom patterns are discussed. Despite commonalities at one level, key differences were found among the academics' educational beliefs about the nature of the discipline; learning goals for students; teaching approaches; and their analysis of student difficulties. It is concluded that educational beliefs are linked to scholarly conceptions of the field and recapitulate major developments and scholarly differences in the discipline.