Scielo RSS http://www.scielo.org.za/rss.php?pid=2223-038620120002&lang=en vol. num. 8 lang. en http://www.scielo.org.za/img/en/fbpelogp.gif http://www.scielo.org.za http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862012000200002&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en The recently implemented curriculum for secondary History in South African schools - as set out in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS, 2011) - presents no explicit statement of the view of history informing its construction. While it is clear that the development of historical skills is intrinsic to the stated intention of CAPS, this gap is problematic. This is because it leaves assumptions about the nature of history unaddressed. At the same time, historiography is difficult. This article asks whether, in tackling three CAPS sections of Ghanaian history - through the history of cocoa -learners could be introduced to historiography in a productive manner. It provides a sample narrative of Ghana's cocoa industry from the late 19th century onwards. It shows how the topic lends itself to an historiographical exploration which may be used to initiate learners into constructing their own narratives and in so doing, into engagement with historiographical issues. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862012000200003&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en In this article the broad emphasis is on the significance of revisiting past thinking, especially from academia and in research reports of 20th century History teaching at the Further Education and Training level (FET), so as to invest in present-day youth who take History as a subject. The study is mainly qualitative, but also relies heavily on quantitative reports and the interpretation of their value regarding selective issues such as curriculum content, textbooks and teaching methodologies. In no other study so far in South Africa, has the status of the youth and History up to the present, been pinned down historically or been reviewed critically in such a way. Therefore the objective of this article is to i) record and ii) review some past thinking on teaching History to the youth with the intention of iii) learning from yesterday's thinking and accounts. Although an effort has been made to add to the existing historiographical repertoire on the youth and History, particularly in a teaching environment, a complete historiographical review of past research contributions is beyond the scope of this article. As far as it is achievable, key moments and contributors are recalled with the intention of bringing to the reader's attention this past historiographical repertoire as anchor for current thinking on ways of teaching History to the youth. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862012000200004&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en This article reports on case-study research into the emotional intelligence of secondary school History teachers of the Lejweleputswa District of the Free State Province of South Africa. It reflects on how the emotional intelligence of these teachers can be understood through investigating their experiences and attitudes towards History teaching in the modern South African classroom and reveals why they regard History as particularly challenging to teach. The article also explores how emotional intelligence components such as interaction style, flexibility, assertiveness and listening skills influence both the classroom interaction of these teachers with their learners and their professional relations with colleagues. Moreover, it argues that improved emotional maturity can empower these teachers to manage their emotions effectively, cope with the demands of a stressful profession, handle conflict in the classroom, and teach History with greater creativity, effectiveness and confidence. It further shares the views of the participants in this first-phase emotional intelligence intervention on the value of the training for their professional and personal development, and conveys the passion with which these educators teach their subject in challenging circumstances. Finally, the article highlights the need for a more comprehensive programme which should ideally be extended to History teachers in the rural areas and educators teaching subjects other than History. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862012000200005&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en Sport history has been neglected, even ignored, in South African classroom and pedagogy debates. Despite, a large reservoir of South African sport history literature of a formal and informal nature being available for teachers, other historical areas of concern are usually focussed on. This study attempts to break this mould and offer history teachers an opportunity for creating pedagogical opportunities outside the formal history curriculum. In order to achieve this, a history of athletics at the Zonnebloem College during the 19th and early 20th centuries was researched. A brief literature overview of previous research on Zonnebloem history is presented as background material. The study is then introduced with a historical oversight of school athletics in 19th century England. Next, the historical development of sport during the 19th century at Zonnebloem is explored. The crux of the historical account hones in on the history of athletics at Zonnebloem during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Finally, the article is concluded by presenting teachers with pedagogical opportunities outside the classroom through the interrogation of historical sources, all of which are taken from the Zonnebloem historical narrative. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862012000200006&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en Throughout the centuries, irrespective of the nature of the society or culture, social history seems to have been narrated or written by the victor glorifying his/her own cause.¹ The voice of the ordinary person is rarely captured in standard historical works and consequently research in this area is certainly warranted and has currently become a vibrant field of research. With this article the author intends to fill one of these gaps in the narrative of social history and focuses specifically on the experiences of teachers who taught under a previous education system in South Africa, namely Bantu Education. As part of their studies in a History of Education honours course, students were required to conduct interviews with retired teachers (or teachers who had a significant number of years' experience in Bantu Education) as part of their practical research. The interviews aimed to determine these teachers' experiences and perceptions of teaching in the Bantu Education system. The collected data was analysed following Tesch's method of qualitative data analysis. Although there was consensus among all the interviewees that Bantu Education was morally wrong and unjustifiable, the majority of the interviewees also identified positive experiences which call for consideration and reflection. The role of and need for conducting oral history interviews to provide a personalised perspective of past events is clear. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862012000200007&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en Throughout the centuries, irrespective of the nature of the society or culture, social history seems to have been narrated or written by the victor glorifying his/her own cause.¹ The voice of the ordinary person is rarely captured in standard historical works and consequently research in this area is certainly warranted and has currently become a vibrant field of research. With this article the author intends to fill one of these gaps in the narrative of social history and focuses specifically on the experiences of teachers who taught under a previous education system in South Africa, namely Bantu Education. As part of their studies in a History of Education honours course, students were required to conduct interviews with retired teachers (or teachers who had a significant number of years' experience in Bantu Education) as part of their practical research. The interviews aimed to determine these teachers' experiences and perceptions of teaching in the Bantu Education system. The collected data was analysed following Tesch's method of qualitative data analysis. Although there was consensus among all the interviewees that Bantu Education was morally wrong and unjustifiable, the majority of the interviewees also identified positive experiences which call for consideration and reflection. The role of and need for conducting oral history interviews to provide a personalised perspective of past events is clear. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862012000200008&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en Throughout the centuries, irrespective of the nature of the society or culture, social history seems to have been narrated or written by the victor glorifying his/her own cause.¹ The voice of the ordinary person is rarely captured in standard historical works and consequently research in this area is certainly warranted and has currently become a vibrant field of research. With this article the author intends to fill one of these gaps in the narrative of social history and focuses specifically on the experiences of teachers who taught under a previous education system in South Africa, namely Bantu Education. As part of their studies in a History of Education honours course, students were required to conduct interviews with retired teachers (or teachers who had a significant number of years' experience in Bantu Education) as part of their practical research. The interviews aimed to determine these teachers' experiences and perceptions of teaching in the Bantu Education system. The collected data was analysed following Tesch's method of qualitative data analysis. Although there was consensus among all the interviewees that Bantu Education was morally wrong and unjustifiable, the majority of the interviewees also identified positive experiences which call for consideration and reflection. The role of and need for conducting oral history interviews to provide a personalised perspective of past events is clear. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862012000200010&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en Throughout the centuries, irrespective of the nature of the society or culture, social history seems to have been narrated or written by the victor glorifying his/her own cause.¹ The voice of the ordinary person is rarely captured in standard historical works and consequently research in this area is certainly warranted and has currently become a vibrant field of research. With this article the author intends to fill one of these gaps in the narrative of social history and focuses specifically on the experiences of teachers who taught under a previous education system in South Africa, namely Bantu Education. As part of their studies in a History of Education honours course, students were required to conduct interviews with retired teachers (or teachers who had a significant number of years' experience in Bantu Education) as part of their practical research. The interviews aimed to determine these teachers' experiences and perceptions of teaching in the Bantu Education system. The collected data was analysed following Tesch's method of qualitative data analysis. Although there was consensus among all the interviewees that Bantu Education was morally wrong and unjustifiable, the majority of the interviewees also identified positive experiences which call for consideration and reflection. The role of and need for conducting oral history interviews to provide a personalised perspective of past events is clear. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862012000200011&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en Throughout the centuries, irrespective of the nature of the society or culture, social history seems to have been narrated or written by the victor glorifying his/her own cause.¹ The voice of the ordinary person is rarely captured in standard historical works and consequently research in this area is certainly warranted and has currently become a vibrant field of research. With this article the author intends to fill one of these gaps in the narrative of social history and focuses specifically on the experiences of teachers who taught under a previous education system in South Africa, namely Bantu Education. As part of their studies in a History of Education honours course, students were required to conduct interviews with retired teachers (or teachers who had a significant number of years' experience in Bantu Education) as part of their practical research. The interviews aimed to determine these teachers' experiences and perceptions of teaching in the Bantu Education system. The collected data was analysed following Tesch's method of qualitative data analysis. Although there was consensus among all the interviewees that Bantu Education was morally wrong and unjustifiable, the majority of the interviewees also identified positive experiences which call for consideration and reflection. The role of and need for conducting oral history interviews to provide a personalised perspective of past events is clear. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862012000200012&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en "The separation of societies from their past: An under-appreciated tragedy" South Africa's population consists of several groups of peoples, roughly (linguistically) defined by the number of languages used in schools. Each of these groups has a past of its own, and many occupy land where generations of ancestors are buried. They have their own origins, kinships and customs. Government acknowledges (admits) the diversity of cultures and provided among others Heritage Day to commemorate and celebrate not only the separate but also the shared histories. Unfortunately its good intentions went up in the smoke of "Braai Dag". Neither do the CAPS History syllabi support the government's aims in this respect. I regard them as generally narrow and politically correct in outlook, because they ignore much of what is important to the remainder. A great need for people educated and trained in local and regional history exists across the country, which not only affects government's Conservation Management and Education System but almost all walks of life, and dangerously so in politics and parliament. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862012000200013&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en "The separation of societies from their past: An under-appreciated tragedy" South Africa's population consists of several groups of peoples, roughly (linguistically) defined by the number of languages used in schools. Each of these groups has a past of its own, and many occupy land where generations of ancestors are buried. They have their own origins, kinships and customs. Government acknowledges (admits) the diversity of cultures and provided among others Heritage Day to commemorate and celebrate not only the separate but also the shared histories. Unfortunately its good intentions went up in the smoke of "Braai Dag". Neither do the CAPS History syllabi support the government's aims in this respect. I regard them as generally narrow and politically correct in outlook, because they ignore much of what is important to the remainder. A great need for people educated and trained in local and regional history exists across the country, which not only affects government's Conservation Management and Education System but almost all walks of life, and dangerously so in politics and parliament.