HISTORY TEACHERS’ VIEWS ON USING LOCAL HISTORY

Local history should be taught in history courses. It enables students to investigate and learn geography, form connections between past and present, and gain important life skills. This study analyzes the views and practices of Turkish history teachers vis-a-vis local histories in a qualitative study. The focus group consisted of 12 history teachers working in the central provinces of Kayseri city. Researchers used semi-structured interviews to collect data, and used qualitative analysis, explanatory and deductive codes to explore emerging patterns in the data. Our data show that local history lessons facilitate greater knowledge of local geography and culture. Conversely, teachers reported financial issues, lower teaching hours, and disinterested students when implementing local history curricula. According to these results, our researchers provide recommendations to better implement local history activities in the classroom