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The major crises of the contemporary world make it all the more important for the teaching of history to all students, but at the same time require a renewal of its aims and rationale. After outlining the societal challenges we face at the start of the 21st century, and those that lie ahead for the generations to come, this contribution considers and supports five functions of school history that could serve to address them: the discovery of the strangeness and difference of the past; the explanation of what is observed on the basis of plural documentation; the protection of traces and memories, particularly the most fragile and hidden; the inclusion of all human groups in the narratives and reflections, by crossing their points of view; and the idea of defatalizing history by examining the experiences and room for action of men and women of the past in their present, its uncertainties and possibilities.

The teaching of history in the French-speaking European area has grown and diversified, but still remains fragile and incomplete in its structure. Among those who brought it to the fore, Suzanne Citron stressed its national confinement before Henri Moniot gave it its legitimacy by highlighting the differences and interactions between history and its school version. Completing a 2008 summary note by Nicole Allieu-Mary and Nicole Lautier, the lively debates in public space on the past, its transmission and its memory have marked the evolution of this didactics, as well as the concept of knowledge flavour (Jean-Pierre Astolfi) derived from its elementary nature and mobilizing true historical thinking. The productions of the didactics of history are rich and diverse, but the doctoral theses that succeed hardly lead to stable positions in the academic world. There is therefore a gap between this reality and the magnitude of the challenges that this didactics has to face in today's world.

Parmi les multiples dispositifs de formation à l’enseignement secondaire qui cohabitent au sein de la Confédération suisse, cet article présente et interroge celui nouvellement mis en place dans le canton de Genève qui donne aux didactiques disciplinaires une place centrale. Les raisons et les hypothèses qui sous-tendent ce « pari » des didactiques sont questionnées à partir de trois approches complémentaires: la première s’intéresse au contexte genevois, tentant de cerner l’effet du contexte local sur l’adaptation de mouvements de réformes d’envergure nationale et internationale. La deuxième analyse la nature des savoirs dispensés durant la formation en se focalisant sur l’articulation des didactiques disciplinaires avec les savoirs scientifiques, avec les savoirs issus des sciences de l’éducation et avec les savoirs issus de la pratique professionnelle. Enfin, la troisième porte sur l’inscription des didactiques dans un dispositif de formation universitaire interfacultaire qui articule recherche scientifique et formation à l’enseignement.

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