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This article looks at the impact of historical consciousness on the structuring of group boundaries among national history teachers within Quebec's context of group duality between Francophones and Anglophones. By using an "open-ended interpretation key" for taking into account how teachers interact with temporal change for negotiating their ethno-cultural agency toward the Other, this article specifically focuses on the different understandings that two teachers of the Franco-Québécois majority develop from the past for knowing and engaging with the Anglo-Québécois. By grasping whether they recognize the latter's moral and historical agency in time, the degree of both educators' sensitivity to Anglophone social realities and historical experiences become clear, as do their willingness to transmit such information to their students. On the whole, despite demonstrating a more or less equal capacity to develop plausible-like understandings of the past, both teachers offer two diverging attitudes for dealing with the Other, which ultimately reflect two main opposing social discourses over how to properly confront memories of the "French-English Conflict." Given the potential burden of these debates on how teachers (and students) historicize inter-group realities, the article ends with proposing a means of teaching history that fosters the development of autonomous and conscientious engagements with the past. Not only does this approach entail respecting differences in opinions and choices, but also highlights the potentials of embracing change for improving the quality of common future life.

This article presents the Quebec ministry of education's (MELS) strategy for diversifying the national historical narrative that is transmitted in the province's History and Citizenship Education program as well as the manner in which Francophone national history teachers put this strategy into practice. In bringing research on their social representations and historical consciousness together, this paper looks at some of the main challenges that these teachers face when specifically harmonizing two of history teaching's central social functions for catering to narrative diversity. When seeking to adequately balance the transmission of a national identity reference framework with the development of autonomous critical thinking skills, it becomes clear that these teachers' general quest for positivist-type, true and objective visions of the past as well as their overall attachment to the main markers of their group's collective memory for knowing and acting Québécois impede them from fully embracing the diversification of the province's historical narrative. The article ends by raising some important questions regarding the relevance of assisting teachers to authentically develop their own voice and vision for harmonizing the two aforementioned functions of history teaching and for being answerable to the decisions they make when articulating and acting upon such beliefs in class. OPEN ACCESSEduc. Sci. 2012, 2 256

Cet article s’intéresse à la conscience historique des futurs professeurs d’histoire au Canada. Réalisée auprès de participants bénévoles (N=233) à l’aide d’un outil de sondage en ligne s’inspirant de la recherche pancanadienne Les Canadiens et leurs passés, cette enquête étudie les connaissances de base, la perception de la fiabilité des sources, l’expérience en classe d’histoire et la vision de l’histoire en milieu scolaire de futurs enseignants. Les résultats mettent en lumière le fait que peu d’entre eux possèdent une connaissance approfondie de l’histoire canadienne. De plus, ceux-ci ont peu d’expérience des méthodes d’enseignement basées sur l’enquête historienne. Cependant, une majorité des futurs professeurs a une représentation très prégnante de ce qu’est l’histoire en milieu scolaire et de ses fins. Cet article aborde les retombées de cette recherche, notamment le besoin de communautés professionnelles d’enseignants de l’histoire.This paper looks at the historical consciousness of prospective history teachers in Canada. Using a bilingual online survey instrument inspired by the pan-Canadian research Canadians and their Pasts with volunteer participants (N=233), the study investigates their background knowledge, their perceptions of the trustworthiness of sources, their experiences in the history classroom, and their visions of school history. Results reveal that few prospective teachers have extensive knowledge of Canadian history and limited experience with active, inquiry-based teaching approaches to the past. However, a majority of them have very strong conceptions and sense of purposes regarding school history. The paper discusses the implications of this study, notably the need for professional communities of history practitioners

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RésuméCet article traite de l’expression des tensions entre la politique du passé et la politique de la reconnaissance dans l’enseignement des questions controversées en histoire au Québec et en France. L’histoire à enseigner y a connu d’importantes évolutions. Ces évolutions concernent la conception même de l’histoire et son rôle dans la société. Elles sont porteuses de tensions quant à ce qui est légitime pour « dire/faire l’histoire », donc à la part de récit commun et de critique ou à la part de cohésion des groupes nationaux pluriculturels et de transmission de mémoires, ainsi que d’expériences historiques spécifiques.

Teacher historical consciousness influences pedagogical practices in the national history classroom. Its study within the context of societies with ambiguous ethnic dominance like Quebec fosters a better understanding of how teachers signify past inter-group relations for knowing and orienting themselves toward the "Other." Quebec's blurred majority/minority demarcations between Francophones and Anglophones, as well as its common but non-consensual history program for its parallel school system, provides innovative and productive ground for such research. This article discusses a study conducted on inter-group attitudes and mutual in-class treatment between Francophone and Anglophone history teachers when teaching the Secondary Four, History of Quebec and Canada course in Montreal. Whereas most Francophone respondents displayed an indifference to the social realities and historical experiences of Quebec Anglophones, all Anglophone respondents demonstrated a sense of empathy toward the former. As this discrepancy reflects each group's sociological status, it also implies a dissimilarity in how research participants historicize the "French-English conflict" in Quebec's past. In this context, the non-recognition of Anglo-Quebecois moral and historical agency possibly explains the prevalent indifference among Francophone respondents. La conscience historique des enseignants influence leurs pratiques pédagogiques lorsqu'ils enseignent l'histoire nationale. Dans une société à dominance ethnique ambiguë comme le Québec, l'étude de cette conscience permet de comprendre le sens que donnent les enseignants aux relations intergroupes du passé pour mieux se reconnaître et se positionner par rapport à l'Autre. La démarcation majoritaire/minoritaire floue entre francophones et anglophones ainsi que le curriculum d'histoire commun, mais non-consensuel, offre un terrain fertile pour la recherche. Cet article présente les résultats d'une étude sur les attitudes intergroupes et le traitement du programme d'histoire du Québec et du Canada par les enseignants francophones et anglophones respectivement en quatrième secondaire à Montréal. Si la plupart des répondants francophones manifestent de l'indifférence face aux réalités sociales et aux expériences historiques des Anglo-québécois, tous les répondants anglophones manifestent de l'empathie envers les premiers. Reflet du statut sociologique distinct de chaque groupe, cette divergence implique une dissemblance dans la manière dont les répondants historicisent le conflit français-anglais. Dans cette optique, le fait de ne pas reconnaître l'historicité des Anglo-québécois pourrait expliquer l'indifférence des répondants francophones.