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This article presents the results of a Canadian study of prospective history teachers conducted in 2012-2013. Using an online questionnaire to assess a broad range of questions pertaining to their knowledge of history, their trust in historical sources, their experiences in high school and university classes, and their views about school history, it offers new empirical evidence on how the growing generation of Canadian teachers are prepared for the teaching profession. Implications of this study for teacher education and practice teaching are also presented.

RésuméLes écoles de langue française de l'Ontario inscrivent au cœur de leur projet éducatif la mission de transmettre aux élèves francophones une culture commune et un patrimoine historique et de favoriser leur appartenance à l'identité franco-ontarienne. Cet article vise à vérifier si l'Ontario français constitue un point d'ancrage dans la conscience historique des jeunes francophones et s'ils ont recours au passé pour se forger une identité de citoyen. Nous avons mené une enquête dans deux écoles secondaires d'Ottawa et dans une classe de didactique de l'histoire à l'Université d'Ottawa, où les élèves et les futurs enseignants devaient indiquer leur degré d'attachement identitaire et rédiger un récit sur l'histoire l'Ontario. Il en résulte qu'une appartenance forte à l'identité franco-ontarienne amène les jeunes à puiser dans le passé de l'Ontario français pour consolider et renforcer cette identité dans leur conscience de citoyen. À l'opposé, une identité canadienne et ontarienne forte se traduit pour les élèves par un récit moins engagé politiquement et plus descriptif centré sur l'histoire de son pays ou de sa province.AbstractA central pillar of French-language schooling in Ontario is the mission to transmit a shared culture and history to Francophone students, and encourage their attachment to Franco-Ontarian identity. This article aims to verify whether French Ontario is an important component of the historical consciousness of young Francophones, and if they turn to the past to forge their identities as citizens. Students in two Ottawa secondary schools and future teachers in a history education class at the University of Ottawa were asked to indicate their degree of attachment to Franco-Ontarian identity and to create an account of Ontario history. We found that a strong sense of belonging as Franco-Ontarians leads young people to look to the past to help them construct and reinforce their identity as citizens. On the other hand, strong Canadian and Ontarian identities are expressed by students in more descriptive—and less politically engaged—accounts of the history of their homeland or province.

In September, 2014, the University of Ottawa Education Research Unit, Making History / Faire l'histoire, hosted Canadian History at the Crossroads, a SSHRC-funded symposium in collaboration with the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Québec. The symposium brought together multiple stakeholders, historians, history and museum educators, classroom teachers—including Governor General's award winners as well as teacher education and graduate students—to stimulate further public dialogue on pedagogies of history and the politics of remembrance. Building on some of the symposium's original contributions as well as other submissions, this Canadian Journal of Education Special Capsule advances current debates in history education, historical thinking, and historical consciousness, and forges new directions for collective understandings of the past, by connecting with everyday lived experiences in the present. The contributions range from discussions of how young people themselves understand their past to the link- ages between forms of remembering and conceptions of the nation itself.