History Teaching Approaches Preferred by Turkish and Russian History Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to determine the opinions of Turkish and Russian history teachers regarding teaching of history, and to present, on a comparative basis, the understanding of history in the two countries as well as the methods of history teaching preferred by the teachers there. The research was designed as a case study, which is one of the qualitative research methods. The sample consisted of 13 Turkish and 13 Russian teachers working as history teachers in Turkey and Russia in the 2020- 2021 academic year. The convenience sampling method was used in the study. The data of the study were collected by correspondence via e-mail with a questionnaire form consisting of open-ended questions created by the researchers. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the data. When the results of the study are evaluated in general, it is observed that the Russian history teachers are more flexible in history teaching and attach more importance to innovative history teaching, while the Turkish teachers perform more curriculum-centered history teaching compared to their Russian colleagues. In addition, it can be said that Russian history teachers pay more attention to their professional development than Turkish history teachers, and they incorporate more historical thinking skills in classroom activities. It is possible to say that the results of the study originate from the objectives of history teaching in the two countries.