Yesterday and Today

Unravelling Second-Order Concepts in South African History Textbooks

Pranitha Bharath — 2024-08-21

This paper explores the progression of second-order concepts in seven purposively sampled South African CAPS-compliant history textbooks. History knowledge encompasses both the substantive and procedural knowledge types, with second-order concepts forming an integral component of the latter. Textbook writers and educators use this knowledge in their domains without a predetermined trajectory. These concepts are not mere skills but fundamental notions guiding historical practice. Their meaningful integration into learning materials forms a necessary toolkit for historical inquiry. Drawing from a broader PhD study,1 a Bernsteinian (1990) framework and the ‘big six’ concepts articulated by Seixas and Peck (2004) are used to analyse the content of seven chapters, one per book, telling the story of the history of South Africa across grades three to nine in the foundation, intermediate, and senior phases of the South African school curriculum. A continuum was populated, articulating the strengths of the second-order concepts ranging from a powerful presence to those weakly incorporated. The findings indicate a sporadic presence of the six concepts—historical significance, continuity and change, cause and consequence, historical perspectives, and the moral dimension across the textbooks. There is a more inclusive focus in the senior grades and less so in lower grades. The concepts also lack continuous and cumulative development. If these ‘structural’ historical concepts provide the basis for historical thinking, it is unclear how they advance through the grades with increasing levels of complexity. The methodology of history is thus not a universal or one size-fits-all endeavour but an iterative process inculcating concepts that are nuanced and inherently abstract.

The Continued Absence of the LGBTIQA+ Community in School History Textbooks in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Paul Maluleka — 2024-08-21

School history textbooks in South Africa are essential teaching and learning materials for most history teachers and learners, because they are often the only materials used to engage with the past. These textbooks are also considered to contribute to the construction of an ideal citizenry, as well as fostering national identity, unity, and reconciliation (Bertram and Wassermann 2015; Bam, Ntsebeza and Zinn 2018). However, our concern is that while textbooks appear to be used to construct an ideal citizenry who is supposed to have reconciled and united into one national identity, there also appears to be a concerted effort to exclude, within both the written and visual texts of the textbooks, those South Africans who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer/Questioning, Asexual, and many other identities (LGBTIQA+). Through abyssal and post-abyssal epistemology as our theoretical frameworks, and critical discourse analysis as our tool of analysis we were able to investigate how four history textbooks across four grades within the Senior and Further Education and Training phase that we purposively and conveniently sampled continue to exclude LGBTIQA+ contributions and experiences within the knowledge base of the school history curriculum, despite the pivotal role some played during the struggle against apartheid. We have since concluded that the erasure of the LGBTIQA+ community amounts to another dehumanising act against this group of people that is epistemic, existential, and ontological in nature. We also argue that this act denies all history teachers and learners, irrespective of their sexual orientations, the opportunity to engage with diverse historical contributions and experiences of all South Africans.

Reflecting on a Decolonial educational praxis in South African public schools

Paul Hendricks — 2024-08-21

The continuing educational crises and the recurrent discourse on educational reform in South Africa foreground critical questions on what constitutes a viable philosophical and pedagogical strategy for the country. This article examines the transformative praxis of a dissident teachers’ organisation, the Teachers’ League of South Africa (TLSA or the League), and how the development of its distinctive non-racist and non-collaborationist worldview provide meaningful possibilities for present-day educationists seeking a progressive educational alternative. The article draws on decolonial and critical education theories to engage the views of TLSA teachers and non- League education activists. Documentary material on the TLSA and its umbrella body, the Unity Movement, provide key primary sources for the article. In addition, secondary information linked to the broader liberation movement offers valuable insights and perspectives on what could be defined as an alternative educational praxis. Overall, the article examines whether the coexistence of the TLSA’s holistic educational outlook and ‘egalitarian oriented’ counter-consciousness, offers tangible possibilities for exploring an emancipatory decolonial education.

Teacher Perceptions on the Possibility of Integrating History and Citizenship in the Lesotho Curriculum: A Case of Three Secondary Schools

Walter Sengai — 2024-08-21

One of the key contemporary needs in education is to promote nationalism and national cohesion. Challenges confronting most developing countries include political instability, violence, voter apathy, and youth disintegration. Many regard the teaching of citizenship as a possible panacea to remedy these problems. Scholars have applauded the role of citizenship education in inculcating crucial values such as active citizenship, tolerance, and social cohesion. The Lesotho curriculum uses social science subjects, especially history, to address these challenges. Pursuant to repeated calls for the integration of history with citizenship in Lesotho schools in order to enhance history’s thrust in achieving the task, this qualitative study adopted the case study design to purposively sample six history teachers, two from each of three secondary schools in the Maseru district. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis of the Education Sector Plan 2005-2015 and Education Sector Strategic Plan 2016-2026, Curriculum and Assessment Policy (CAP) 2009, Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education (LGCSE), and the Grade 8 Social Science Syllabus were relied upon for the collection of data. Our findings from this study show that teachers believe that the integration of history and citizenship can instil values of active citizenship, patriotism, political stability, and economic development to mention but a few. We therefore concluded that there are possibilities of integrating history with citizenship instead of leaving them as subjects independent from each other. We recommend that the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) should consider the integration of history and citizenship into the curriculum.

Bernard Lazarus Emanuel Sigamoney: A Multi-Faceted School Teacher’s Biography

Francois Cleophas — 2024-08-21

Bernard Lazarus Emanuel Sigamoney was born in 1888 as part of the indentured labour community. His parents ensured that he received an education and this helped him climb the social ladder in local communities in Durban and Transvaal. Consequently, his name became linked to the scout, sport, social, religious, and political movements of the day. He died in 1963 leaving behind a footprint that calls for recognition. This article placed Sigamoney, a South African politically active schoolteacher, under scholarly analysis. His circumstances of being subjected to institutional racism and forced removals make a coherent narrative an impossible task for a historian. Therefore, a disjointed but important narrative from the scraps left behind in newspaper accounts, internet searchers, and general history sources was constructed. These accounts revealed how he contributed to South African political liberation on a national and local community level. The political networks he created also present readers with a window into twentieth century resistance movements in local communities. His voice was also present in the early socialist and later anti-apartheid sports movements. He used his position as a schoolteacher to launch actions that challenged the segregation and apartheid regime of the day.

De Aar: Lines of Architecture in the Making of a South African Town (1902–1977)

Robyn Schnell — 2024-08-21

No Abstract

Why History Education?

Zama Nkabinde — 2024-08-21

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Universities, Apartheid, and Decolonisation Uprooting university apartheid in South Africa: From Liberalism to Decolonisation

Bronwyn Strydom — 2024-08-21

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Controversial Issues in History Education: Takeaways from an International Collaboration between the University of Pretoria (South Africa) and Leipzig University (Germany)

Pranitha Bharath — 2024-08-21

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Reflection: My personal experience with international collaboration between German and South African preservice history teachers

Chandani Maharaj — 2024-08-21

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Reflection: Exploring Teaching Controversial Topics in History between pre-service teachers from the University of Pretoria and the University of Leipzig

Kgothatso Ngobeni — 2024-08-21

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Reflection on teaching controversial issues in Germany and South Africa

Sello Cassius Mojela — 2024-08-21

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Preservice teachers’ voices from the University of Leipzig in Germany

Charlotte Paula Rex — 2024-08-21

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Teachers Voice / Hands-on Articles

Sonja Surup — 2024-08-21

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History Didactics and Historical Culture

Friederike Urban — 2024-08-21

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10 years into the #MustFall Moment: Where are we in terms of responding to the Fallists’ demands within History (of) Education? What are the challenges and successes? Where are we headed and who is taking us there? (Working title)

Paul Maluleka — 2024-08-21

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Editorial policy

Johan Wasserman — 2024-08-21

No Abstract

Editorial

Johan Wassermann — 2024-08-21

No Abstract