{"title":"The dilemmas of textbook selection - the Department of Education's 2007 screening of Grade 12 History textbooks - A case study","authors":"R. Siebörger","doi":"10.17159/2223-0386/2015/NL4A2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2223-0386/2015/NL4A2","url":null,"abstract":"Textbook selection presents a conundrum for history as a school subject. On one hand it is desirable that the best textbooks are available to be used in classrooms, on the other selection appears to imply control over what can be studied, or even bias and state interference. This is a case study of the textbook screening of Grade 12 history textbooks conducted by the Department of Education in January 2007, in which the author was a participant. It is based upon the criteria and evaluation report forms for the 10 books that were submitted for approval. The article is in three parts: a description of the selection criteria employed by the department and a discussion of the issues that they raise in terms of selected literature on textbook assessment in history; an analysis of the way in which the selection criteria were used in the textbook screening process followed by a discussion of what it concerns; and, in conclusion, a consideration of the place and importance of textbook selection to history education.","PeriodicalId":190311,"journal":{"name":"Yesterday and Today","volume":"695 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116092611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A self-study of pedagogical experiences in History Education at a university during the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"Leevina Iyer","doi":"10.17159/2223-0386/2020/N24A6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2223-0386/2020/N24A6","url":null,"abstract":".","PeriodicalId":190311,"journal":{"name":"Yesterday and Today","volume":"111 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123173768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Teaching and learning of History at a high school level-the reality of AI/ChatGPT and the process of assessing understanding","authors":"G. Brookbanks","doi":"10.17159/2223-0386/2023/n29a9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2223-0386/2023/n29a9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":190311,"journal":{"name":"Yesterday and Today","volume":"43 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125162803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"). Full Yesterday&Today No. 26, December 2021. Yesterday & Today: Journal for History Education in South Africa and Abroad, 26(1)","authors":"J. Wassermann","doi":"10.17159/2223-0386/2021/n26a8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2223-0386/2021/n26a8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":190311,"journal":{"name":"Yesterday and Today","volume":"61 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133634182","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Our schools our identity: efforts and challenges in the transformation of the history curriculum in the Anglophone subsystem of education in Cameroon since 1961","authors":"R. Ndille","doi":"10.17159/2223-0386/2018/N19A5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2223-0386/2018/N19A5","url":null,"abstract":"The teaching of history in countries that have experienced colonisation has come under serious scrutiny at different times in their history. Worries about the contents of history programmes have been raised by politicians as well as educational technocrats who question the relevance of what is being taught as history to those on the classroom pews. In Cameroon, and particularly for the Anglophone subsystem of education, this debate is far from over despite the fact that the destiny of the country has rested in the hands of those who fought against colonialism for over fifty years now. This paper emanates from the premise that the colonial curriculum did not meet the realities of the new country since 1961. Consequently, there was a consensus of opinion that curriculum reform should focus on the teaching of local and national contents. By adopting the critical Decolonial perspective and living theory methodology the study focuses on history as one of those subjects which was used by the colonial authorities to entrench coloniality (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013; Marsden, 2013; Rodney, 1982; Fanon, 1963) and was therefore in dire need of postcolonial reform. The study examines the extent to which this has been achieved in the Anglophone subsystem of Education by presenting what was learnt in the colonial history classroom in the British Southern Cameroons between 1916 and 1961. It then goes on to discuss the process of reform in the History curriculum of the Anglophone subsystem of education in Cameroon since independence.","PeriodicalId":190311,"journal":{"name":"Yesterday and Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130437523","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Implementation of the competency-based curriculum by teachers of History in selected Secondary Schools in Lusaka district, Zambia","authors":"Y. Kabombwe, I. Mulenga","doi":"10.17159/2223-0386/2019/n22a2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2223-0386/2019/n22a2","url":null,"abstract":"The study investigated teachers of History’s implementation of the competency-based teaching approaches in the teaching and learning of History in Lusaka district, Zambia. A mixed-methods approach particularly the explanatory sequential design was used in this study. The study focused on schools in Lusaka from the ten zones. The total sample size of this study was 99. A total of 80 teachers participated in this study and 10 of them were interviewed. The participants were randomly and purposively selected. A questionnaire was used to gather information from the teachers. Interview guides were also used to collect data from one Chief Curriculum Specialist, one Subject Curriculum Specialist, 2 Standard Officers, 5 Head-Teachers, 10 Heads of Sections and 20 Teachers. Classroom lesson observations and document analysis were also done. Quantitative data was analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) and qualitative data was analysed thematically. The findings of the study revealed that 67% of the teachers of History did not understand the concept of the competencybased curriculum or outcome-based curriculum. It was also revealed that teachers of History were not using the competency-based or outcomesbased approaches to a large extent in the teaching and learning of History in the selected secondary schools because they did not have the knowledge and skills of the competency-based approaches. Thus, it was recommended that the Ministry of General Education (MoGE) should strengthen the in-service training and continuous professional development meetings in schools and zones for the competency-based curriculum to be successfully understood and implemented effectively in schools.","PeriodicalId":190311,"journal":{"name":"Yesterday and Today","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132013331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Difficult relationships: how will compulsory School History and an Ubuntu-based curriculum help nation-building in South Africa?","authors":"R. Nussey","doi":"10.17159/2223-0386/2018/N19A1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2223-0386/2018/N19A1","url":null,"abstract":"Despite South Africa’s shift to democracy, there are ongoing difficulties in relationships both in the broader society and schools. An official response to this situation was the establishment of the History Ministerial Task Team (MTT), which recommended: that history should be made a compulsory subject for learners in all phases at school; and, that the history curriculum should be revised using an African nationalist paradigm, informed by the framework of Ubuntu. This article uses the findings of a research project conducted in history classrooms at three primary schools in Johannesburg to illustrate some of the difficulties in relationships in the history classroom. It argues that compulsory history at school level will not necessarily be a panacea for South Africa’s social ills, especially as this proposal has reawakened fears of how history education was abused during apartheid. A strength of the History MTT’s report is that it emphasises the importance of multi-perspectives in history, while favouring an approach that uses an African nationalist paradigm, informed by Ubuntu, to assist with nation-building. However, the notion of Ubuntu needs to be reconstituted, and when applied in conjunction with reconciliation pedagogy, it provides an alternative way, during teacher development workshops, for in-service history teachers to reflect on their own residual prejudices about “the other”, so that, in turn, they are able to facilitate meaningful changes in relationships in the history classroom. This approach might be applicable not only in South Africa, but also to history teachers in post-conflict countries which experience similar problems.","PeriodicalId":190311,"journal":{"name":"Yesterday and Today","volume":"476 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125169358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fallism as Decoloniality: Towards a Decolonised School History Curriculum in Post-colonial-apartheid South Africa","authors":"P. Maluleka","doi":"10.17159/2223-0386/2021/n26a4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2223-0386/2021/n26a4","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The 2015/16 student protests in South Africa, dubbed #MustFall protests, signalled a historic moment in the country's post-colonial-apartheid history in which student-worker collaborations called for the decolonising of the university and its Eurocentric curriculum and, by extension, basic education and its Eurocentric curriculum too. Since then, there have emerged two dominant narratives of decolonisation in South Africa. The first is what I call a nativist delinking approach that recentres decolonial and Africa-centeredness discourses, ontologies, and epistemologies relatively separate from Euro-north and American-centric ones. The second is a broader, inclusive approach to decolonisation, which this study adopts. However, both these dominant narratives fail to counter much of the knowledge blindness informed by a false dichotomy advanced by positivist absolutism and constructive relativism that defines the sociology of education, including many of the calls for decolonisation. Thus, through a decolonial conceptual framework and Karl Maton's Epistemic-Pedagogic Device as a theoretical framework, fallism as decoloniality is adopted in this study to propose ways to transcend the Eurocentrism that characterises the current school history curriculum in South Africa, as well as the nativist and narrow provincialism of knowledge. Equally, an argument is made for the advancement of an inclusive decolonial project that is concerned with relations within knowledge and curriculum and their intrinsic structures. Keywords: Fallism; Decoloniality; Decolonisation; School History; CAPS; Epistemic-Pedagogic Device; Curriculum knowledge; Fees Must Fall.","PeriodicalId":190311,"journal":{"name":"Yesterday and Today","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123485318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Taking the sting out of assessment: The experiences of trainee teachers experimenting with innovative alternative performance assessment in the History classroom","authors":"Pieter Warnich, H. Lubbe","doi":"10.17159/2223-0386/2019/n22a5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2223-0386/2019/n22a5","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the experiences of History and Social Sciences (History) trainee teachers (n=33) and their learners during the implementation of five versatile and innovative alternative performance assessment strategies in their diverse classroom settings during their practicum at schools. Originally designed for the corporate staff training environment, and subsequently utilised as community building and data collection techniques in a participative community-engaged research project, these five interactive activities were adapted to act as innovative teaching and alternative formative performance assessment strategies in the History classroom, the latter of which is the main focus of this article. The article is anchored in a social constructivist and dialogic theoretical framework and argues that alternative performance assessment techniques that are non-graded, interactive, formative and dialogic in nature, take place within an atmosphere of emotional safety, and integrate a strong element of enjoyment, are able to remove the anxiety that often characterises both summative and graded formative assessment. This, in turn, makes learners more receptive to learning and brings History to life in the classroom. In an attempt to answer two interrelated research questions: “how did trainee History teachers experience the implementation of innovative alternative performance assessment strategies”, and “how did they perceive the response of the learners to a fresh approach to formative assessment”, the article employs a qualitative research methodology which rests on research findings generated through the use of data gathered from written, visual and oral feedback from the participants during and after a practical workshop which prepared them for the implementation phase of the study. The research findings suggest, inter alia, that both the trainee teachers and their learners enjoyed a fresh, non-threatening approach to formative assessment and that the learners participated freely and enthusiastically in groups when implementing these formative assessment strategies. ... trainee teachers experimenting with innovative alternative performance assessment ... History classroom, pp. 88-118","PeriodicalId":190311,"journal":{"name":"Yesterday and Today","volume":"206 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123094822","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Teachers Voice Experiencing teaching history during Work Integrated Learning (WIL) / Teaching Practice during the COVID-19 Pandemic","authors":"Mckinley Storm Reekie, Nondumiso L. Ngcobo, Zintle Dlungwana, Palesa Nqana, Dylan Muller, Mlindi Manqina, Thulo Atang, Rasoeu Rakoae","doi":"10.17159/2223-0386/2021/n25a7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2223-0386/2021/n25a7","url":null,"abstract":"One aspect of history education that was radically impacted on by COVID-19 was the annual WIL/Teaching Practice undertakings by pre-service history teachers. In this, the July 2021 edition, we have tried to capture some of the experiences of pre-service history teachers related to this key aspect of their professional development. This was done by means of a series of short autoethnographic-like pieces in which prospective history teachers of six southern African universities have shared their experiences. The History classroom has greatly suffered under the COVID-19 pandemic as many teaching strategies have had to be altered or completely disregarded to accommodate for social distancing rules. This pandemic has shown me how heavily I relied on group work for activities, and it has made me aware of how important group work is in history for learners to not only grasp concepts but enjoy the subject.","PeriodicalId":190311,"journal":{"name":"Yesterday and Today","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130838032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}