How can textbooks support the development of historically informed civic leaders within a democratic society? As we suggest in our article, Never the two shall meet? Connecting historical and democratic consciousness in Canadian K-12 history textbooks: by paying greater attention to the connections between historical and democratic consciousness. And by this we mean developing both temporal and civic understandings alongside one another—or how understanding the past can inform our values, decisions, and actions in the present and future. If, as we argue, a key purpose of history education is to support students in becoming historically informed citizens who participate within a democratic society, then a focus on the development of both historical and democratic consciousness is essential.

Yet, our study of K-12 history textbooks in Canada, as part of the Thinking Historically for Canada’s Future project, found that textbooks pay attention to either historical or democratic consciousness (in ways that are often underdeveloped) and rarely make explicit connections between these concepts. To conduct this study, we examined 18 history textbooks authorized for use at the elementary/middle and secondary levels in Canada’s 10 provinces, published between 1994 and 2021. Our findings have important implications for informing the future development/revision of textbooks, so that they support teaching and learning history in ways that foster democratically conscious young people.

We are pleased to have our work contribute to conversations on history education and democracy, as part of the History Education Research Journal’s special issue, Democratic Resilience and Regression in History Education since 1945.

Never the two shall meet? Connecting historical and democratic consciousness in Canadian K-12 history textbooks by Sara Karn (McMaster University, Canada), Kristina R Llewellyn (McMaster University, Canada) and Penney Clark (The University of British Columbia, Canada) is part of the HERJ Series Democratic resilience and regression in history education since 1945 and published in History Education Research Journal, volume 22

Sara Karn is a Postdoctoral Fellow for Thinking Historically for Canada’s Future and is based in the Department of History at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She is the Project Director for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Connection project History Education in Troubled Times: Perspectives from Canada. Her research explores empathy and emotion within history education. Sara’s research, publishing, and teaching spans the fields of history and social studies education, experiential learning, and environmental and climate justice education. Learn more about Sara’s research and teaching on her website.

Kristina R. Llewellyn is Full Professor with the Wilson College of Leadership and Civic Engagement and the Department of History at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She teaches and researches in the fields of history, education, and civic engagement. Dr. Llewellyn is an award-winning author and is a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists. She is the Principal Investigator for the SSHRC-funded project entitled Digital Oral Histories for Reconciliation: The Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children History Education Initiative and a co-investigator and Executive Committee member for the SSHRC-funded project Thinking Historically for Canada’s Future.

Penney Clark is a history educator, historian of education, and Full Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy at The University of British Columbia. She was Director of The History Education Network/Histoire et éducation en réseau (THEN/HiER), a ten-year SSHRC-funded project. She is currently a co-investigator and Executive Committee member for the SSHRC-funded project Thinking Historically for Canada’s Future. Recent book publications are The Arts and the Teaching of History: Historical F(r)ictions (Palgrave MacMillan, 2020) and Learning to Inquire in History, Geography, and Social Studies: An Anthology for Secondary Teachers (The Critical Thinking Consortium, 2025).

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