History and Heritage: their educational relationship in the Portuguese context

Abstract

This paper discusses the main considerations presented at the conference "Horizons of History Didactics", organized by the International Centre for History and Heritage Didactics, and the Department of Educational Sciences "Giovanni Maria Bertin", at the University of Bologna the 6th and 7th November 2019. The situated nature of the construction of historical knowledge is highlighted, based on systematic research of students’ conceptions, and also of teachers’, focused on disciplinary concepts, and whose implications for History Education have been considerable. Also in Portugal, particularly in the case of History subject, these principles have influenced the organization of the curriculum. It is considered that, both in the curricular field and in the production of educational materials, the main challenge to improve the didactic approach of History, in general, and Heritage, as a historical source, in particular, which involves updating content, reflecting the progresses produced both at epistemological and methodological fields.