Finländska gymnasieelevers reflektioner över historiska gottgörelser - Vilka implikationer ger det för historieundervisningen i Finland?

Abstract

The article discusses a study of what Finnish high school students think of the idea of reparing historical injustices. The philosophical and political aspects of historical reparations have been analyzed widely but there is a lack of research on how people actually ponder on such reparations. The topic is relevant for history teaching because people's reflections on historical reparations also tell about their historical consciousness more generally, e.g. regarding what they see as plausible explanations in history. The study is based on fourteen focus group interviews, made in 2008- 2009; the number of interviewed students was fifty-three. The article analyses the students’s reflections from the perspective of what the students think of the possibility of historical continuity in the context of transgenerational moral obligations and responsibilities. The article relates the findings to earlier studies of Finnish adolescents' historical consciousness and societal thinking, and it also ponders on the consequences of the analysis to the development of history teaching and history curricula in Finland.