How Dutch students make meaning with the past: Narrative meaning-making and ultimate concerns in history education

This interview study investigates how present-day Dutch upper secondary students construct meaningful understandings of the past by connecting historical examples to their ultimate concerns – core values and fundamental worldviews. Building on research on sensitive history, historical narrativity, and historical consciousness, the study shifts attention from teachers’ perspectives to students’ own meaning-making. Using a qualitative research design inspired by narrative methods in spiritual care, this article analyses semi structured interviews of fourteen students and their museum-style ‘living timelines’. The findings show that these Dutch students predominantly mobilise values such as equality and freedom to attribute significance to historical events and actors. Personal experiences and social identities strongly shape narrative meaning. Most students employ intentional and existential explanations and view history largely as a story of progress, while a few construct more tragic plots. The study provides a deeper understanding of why certain historical topics are experienced as sensitive and how personal meaning-making informs students’ engagement with the past.