Engaging in disciplinary thinking: historical literacy practices in Finnish general upper secondary schools

Literacy is a basic prerequisite for full participation in society. Future citizens are expected to work with wealth of information and various multimodal texts, posing new challenges for literacy in school context. These challenges are particularly visible in study of history, where texts and language play a significant role. Historical knowledge is based on documents, but knowledge production and communication, too, take place through texts. This project focuses on disciplinary literacy practices at Finnish general upper secondary schools and will pay special attention on students with Finnish as second language. The project aims both at examining and developing the mastery of historical literacy through multidisciplinary approach involving linguists, historians, and experts on education. By advancing learning, teaching and assessing historical literacy we aim at answering challenges rising both from the national policy level and from classroom practices.