Heather Hatton, Ailsa Fidler
Student teacher perspectives on history education: a comparison of primary and secondary student teacher thinking about the purpose of history at the start of their teacher education course in England
Welcome to the History Education Research Journal
The official journal of the History Educators International Research Network (HEIRNET), the History Education Research Journal is an international, open-access, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on the global significance and impact of history education. It covers all aspects of history education theory, practice, scholarship, and pure and applied research.
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The History Education Research Journal (HERJ) is for anyone involved in history education research and history educators. As the official journal of HEIRNET, an organisation that brings together colleagues from around the world interested in History’s civilising, cultural, educational, moral, social, political and citizenship role, and supported by the Historical Association, HERJ aims to be the leading forum for dissemination of research related to all aspects of history education.
The journal covers all aspects of history education theory, practice, scholarship, and pure and applied research. Articles address contemporary issues, concerns, policies, and practice; drawing upon the full range of research methodologies relating to history education research. We welcome submissions and provide an inclusive, fully non-commercial, open access publishing process. There is no cost to authors at point of submission or publication, and no cost to readers. Articles are published on this site and also accessed via a number of subject specific indexers, repositories, and search databases to maximise readership. Learn more about our publishing process, how to submit and sign up to our Publishing Alerts to keep abreast of our calls for papers and new article releases.
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Latest News Posts
Insights into the 'engine' of historical thinking
Posted by Jonas Schobinger and Martin Nitsche on 2026-05-20
Although we often say in history education that historical questioning is the 'engine' of historical thinking (van Drie and van Boxtel, 2008, 2018), surprisingly little research has explored how people actually develop historical questions. While teachers encourage students to ask questions about the past, relatively little is known about the cognitive operations involved and how the questioning [...]
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