An Analysis of the Québec History Examination: Validity and Historical Thinking

Abstract

This document analysis examines how historical thinking is evaluated by the Ministry of Education history examination in Québec in 2015. High school students in Québec are required to pass this examination in order to receive their diploma. The Ministry examination claims to evaluate students’ historical knowledge and skills. Almost twenty years of Ministry of Education documents were analyzed using a historical methodology and two Ministry examinations were analyzed using a rubric derived from historical thinking criteria to answer the following questions: How has historical thinking influenced the history curriculum and the evaluation of history in the province of Québec? How is historical thinking reflected in the Québec Ministry examination?

Analysis of the two examinations show that they are a limited tool for evaluating historical thinking and are instead focused on evaluating historical content knowledge. The current Ministry examination generally has some elements of four domains of historical thinking: evidence, cause and consequence, continuity and change and historical perspective. However, many of the questions only require students to answer at the recall level. Overall, there are few opportunities for students to demonstrate their advanced knowledge of historical thinking on the ministry examination.