The History Education Network/Histoire et éducation en réseau (THEN/HiER)

The History Education Network/Histoire et éducation en réseau (THEN/HiER) is the first pan-Canadian organization devoted to promoting—and improving—history teaching and learning by bringing together the multiple and varied constituencies involved in history education: academic historians; public historians in museums, archives and historic sites; practicing teachers; researchers based in faculties of education; and curriculum policy makers. Our goal is to create more research-informed practice (from kindergarten to graduate school) and more practice-informed research through dialogue among these various communities. THEN/HiER is funded through a SSHRC Strategic Knowledge Clusters Grant (2008-2015). Visit our bilingual award-winning website.

Goals

To nurture a community of inquiry among academic historians; public historians in museums, archives and historic sites; practicing teachers; researchers based in faculties of education; graduate students; policy makers and other stakeholders.
To provide opportunities for engagement with, and critique of, existing research in the field of history education, with the aim of bridging research and practice.
To disseminate current Canadian and international research on history education out of the universities to broader communities of stakeholders.
To establish and nurture fertile research connections with international stakeholders.
To encourage research in classrooms involving collaboration between academics and teachers.
To nurture an active dialogue among historians and history teachers and other history educators with the aim of bringing the work of historians into elementary and secondary classrooms, and more pedagogical research into university classrooms.
To transform classroom practice through pro-active connections with ministries of education, textbook publishers, other curriculum developers, public historians and practicing teachers.
To engage in the development of authentic approaches to assessment of students’ historical literacy through collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness, University of British Columbia. Well conceived assessments, in conjunction with curriculum materials and professional development, are a powerful driver of the reform of history education.

Executive Board Members

THEN/HiER is guided by an Executive Board that includes faculty members and other professionals working in the diverse fields of history education, historical research, public history and museology.

Anglophone Graduate Student Committee

Francophone Graduate Student Committee

THEN/HiER has a diverse membership made up of over 1,200 people from all our constituencies and partner groups. In addition to an Executive Board, we also have Anglophone and Francophone Graduate Student Committees whose members work hard to network within their communities to promote THEN/HiER, provide information about opportunities of interest to graduate students and organize various events.

Museum of Vancouver

THEN/HiER draws from the support of many partner organizations in fulfilling its mandate to promote collaboration and knowledge-building in the field of history education in Canada. You can read our Partner Profiles here.

Approaching the Past – Stanley Park, Vancouver 2013

THEN/HiER holds regular public events in Toronto and Vancouver in a series titled Approaching the Past where local history is explored through workshops, talks, presentations and tours. We also have an Annual Regional Conference which takes place in a different Canadian city each year. Other events are sponsored by THEN/HiER from time to time, such as edited book symposia for our book series (described under the Publications tab) where authors workshop their chapters. Read about all our events here.

In addition to THEN/HiER events, we list events organized by others with themes related to history education on our website.

THEN/HiER has several videos and podcasts on its website. We also post images of Featured Projects and Featured Members.

The Critical Thinking Consortium (TC²)

Book Publications

THEN/HiER is publishing a series of books edited or co-edited by Executive Board members. More information about the series is available here.

As of April 2014:

Book One – New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, University of British Columbia (UBC Press, 2011)

Book Two – Pastplay: Teaching and Learning History with Technology, edited by Kevin Kee, Brock University (University of Michigan Press, 2014)

Book Three – Becoming a History Teacher: Sustaining Practices in Historical Thinking and Knowing, edited by Ruth Sandwell, OISE/UT and Amy von Heyking, University of Lethbridge (University of Toronto Press, in press)

Book Four – Museums as Sites of Historical Consciousness: Perspectives on Museum Theory and Practice in Canada, edited by Viviane Gosselin, Museum of Vancouver and Phaedra Livingstone, University of Oregon (UBC Press, under review)

Book Five – Assessing Historical Thinking, edited by Kadriye Ercikan and Peter Seixas, UBC (Routledge, forthcoming)

Book Six – Historical Representations in the Arts: A Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry, edited by Penney Clark and Alan Sears, University of New Brunswick (in planning stage)