Going Beyond the Scoring Grid: How the Topic of Assessment Can Promote Reflection on Epistemic Beliefs and Agency in History Education

An overarching aim of professional development for teachers in history education is to foster a more complex understanding of the discipline. Yet, substantial research underlines the stability of history teachers’ epistemological beliefs, demonstrating the difficulties they experience in shifting from their existing positivist approach to a more critical mindset. Could some contexts be more favorable to enhancing epistemic agency through in-depth reflection? This chapter discusses the potential of examining assessment as a method of encouraging teachers to question their epistemological understanding of history. Based on the results of a study conducted with six Quebec teachers, it illustrates how questioning assessment practices in a collaborative approach creates a space favorable to epistemological wobbling.