History curriculum and national identity: a search on teaching practices in Southern Italian School

The research ‘History and the School’ was started in 2013 within an Apulian network of six schools (Italy). The aim of research was to analyze the teacher mediation process and the curriculum design in the teaching of History. The ‘collaborative’ research-training mode built on the epistemological exchange between scholars and practitioners: Didactics, History researcers and History teachers. According to the framework of Analysis of Practices and in referement of the professional education, the methodological protocol was articulated in: analysis of the History textbooks; video analysis of a History case-lesson; triangulation of video analysis and explicitation interview; training workshops. The outcomes of the ‘collaborative’ research-training were the articulation of geo-historical expertise at the curriculum levels focusing on core content knowledge in History by format units. This confirmed the requirements about an autonomy articulation of the curriculum and a deconstruction of the textbooks content, by the teacher.