Methodological Foundations Of Narrative Pedagogy In History Education

Abstract

This article develops a methodological foundation for narrative pedagogy in history education. While narrative has long been integral to historical scholarship, its systematic deployment as a pedagogical method remains uneven and is often reduced either to entertaining storytelling or to the mere sequencing of events. The paper clarifies the epistemological status of narrative in history, formulates core didactic principles that align narrative practice with disciplinary standards, and proposes a design logic for instruction and assessment oriented toward cultivating imagination, empathy-with-distance, and historical thinking. Methodologically, the study synthesizes traditions in narrative theory, philosophy of history, and history-education research through hermeneutic and analytic–synthetic procedures, drawing on Bruner’s cognitive psychology, Ricoeur’s narrative temporality, White’s metahistorical analysis, Rüsen’s typology of historical consciousness, and empirical work on historical thinking by Wineburg, Seixas, and others. The resulting framework positions narrative as both a cognitive tool and a communicative form that mediates between evidence and meaning, enabling learners to construct plausible accounts under conditions of uncertainty. It articulates design moves for pre-service and in-service teacher education, including the curation of polyvocal primary sources, the scaffolding of perspective-taking and counterfactual reasoning, and the iterative crafting and critique of evidence-based narratives supported by rubrics that jointly evaluate coherence, sourcing, and ethical use of the past. The paper argues that narrative pedagogy, properly grounded, catalyzes students’ imaginative capacities without sacrificing evidential rigor, strengthens transfer from episodic stories to conceptual understandings such as causation and continuity, and enhances motivational engagement through purpose-driven inquiry. The conclusion outlines implications for curriculum design, teacher professional learning, and research, including the need for longitudinal studies that trace how narrative competence develops across schooling and how digital affordances reshape narrative forms and assessments in history education.