The role of old and recent history textbooks in the initial training of primary school teachers

This article sets out to introduce the role and contribution of textbooks in the initial training of primary school teachers in France. The question shall relate both to recent books, that is to say those which have been prepared according to existing curriculum (2008 for Primary school) and old textbooks, published before the curriculum change. The study revolves around three main lines of action: the textbook used as a tool for acquiring knowledge; the textbook, used as a learning tool to didactical approaches and the textbook as a research topic in History of Education and in teaching of History. We will examine for each of the above issues the interest of this resource and how to use textbooks in teacher training, to point out the interest of this tool in the approach to the teaching of the discipline in its epistemological and didactic dimension.