Chapter 7: Critical Teaching of History: Toward a Human Rights Agenda for Pre- and In-Service Teacher Education

This chapter outlines a model for teaching national history in K–12 classrooms that promotes contemporary student agency through the critical multicultural teaching and learning of history using a human rights lens. Globally, strong conservative forces work against the agency of classroom teachers and students, particularly regarding the teaching and learning of national histories, and more so attempts to critically examine the controversies and violence of the past. This chapter proposes that if a critical mass of teachers learns the tools for and gains practice in using a human rights lens while exploring history, a countervailing human rights agenda moves forward.