Primary and secondary school teachers' perceptions of their social science training needs

Competency-based education poses a key challenge for social science teachers. Existing research highlights social science competencies that foster historical thinking. Ongoing in-service training is critical to shift toward learner-centered approaches that develop historical content knowledge and competencies for critical citizenship. This study aimed to identify: (1) which disciplinary contents teachers deem most relevant for teaching history, and (2) the training needs of primary and secondary social science teachers in Spain. A non-experimental mixed-methods design was used: a Likert-scale questionnaire of 332 teachers for the first objective, and 12 interviews for the second. Results indicate teachers primarily update disciplinary knowledge through scientific journals and seek training in historical thinking skills, active learning methods, and ICT resources. Teachers envision a more competency-based, student-active model for social sciences.

Raquel Sánchez-Ibáñez, Catalina Guerrero-Romera, Pedro Miralles-Martínez