Forgotten history or history not taught? The students of Spanish High School and their lack of knowledge about the Civil War

Abstract

This paper is part of a research project that aims to assess historical thinking skills in Secondary Education through the implementation of different assessment units. One of these experimental assessment units consisted of a questionnaire that require students to have a basic knowledge about the historical context of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). On the basis of the answers given by 199 participants (15-16 year-old students) to those specific questions, and through a qualitative analysis, it is possible to get a picture of students’ historical and political understanding. Results show that students seem to have little understanding and worrying errors about that war episode, rather recent, and whose consequences are still present in the current political scene. Students’ lack of knowledge and understanding is closely related to their deficient level of political literacy, the usual decontextualization of the contents taught, linked to lineal and unconnected historical narratives, together with the absence of a reflection on key questions such as the historical significance or repercussion of particular events.