Scielo RSS http://www.scielo.org.za/rss.php?pid=2223-038620160002&lang=en vol. num. 16 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=S2223-03862016000200001&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862016000200002&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en Given current debates about South Africa's contested past, how could teacher educators address this issue with preservice teachers so that their historical understanding develops and they present a multi-perspective view of history in practice? The underlying problem this question raises is how to shift teachers' approaches to history teaching from one that splits "fact" and interpretation in a one-dimensional account, to a multi-perspective view which acknowledges the interrelationship of interpretations and "facts". This article's purpose is to reflect on what I learnt for my own practice as a teacher educator after I observed eight practising teachers, who were former preservice teachers, teach an oral history task. The results of this research led me to propose changes to a history methodology course. I suggest firstly that preservice teachers scrutinise claims to "the truth" in oral history accounts through the "sins" of memory, which they use to re-examine "the truth" claims in their personal oral history tasks. Secondly, by exploring major developments in South African historiography, this provides a framework that shows how multi-perspectives arise and how the "politics of interpretation" informs the different "schools" of historiography. This process helps the preservice teachers examine the interrelationship between some of the "big" ideas found in historiography with the "small" ideas in their oral history tasks. It also aims to plant the seeds of doubt about history being a fixed body of knowledge, so that the preservice teachers might present a multi-perspective view of history once they become practising teachers. Adapting this process to their own context could provide a way for teacher educators in other countries to address similar issues with preservice history teachers. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862016000200003&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en In this article, I argue that the category of gender should be an essential consideration for a decolonised curriculum, and that gender theory should be included in its analytical toolbox for two reasons: firstly, because transformation of the curriculum has to foreground women's liberation by validating their experiences of, and contributions to, the past, and secondly, because gender has functioned as a key axis of power between men and women in the past. This study undertakes a critical analysis of the knowledge about women and gender forwarded by the current CAPS curriculum statement. Part of my objective is to reflect on what kinds of historical knowledge about women are considered "legitimate" by the curriculum, and to evaluate the ways in which this knowledge sustains or challenges an otherwise androcentric or masculinist history. In the main, however, I aim to show the ways in which the existing framework governing the South African history curriculum is unable to accommodate the kinds of knowledge and conceptual thinking required to give depth and meaning to women's experiences, and to examine how race and gender interact to produce and reproduce hierarchies and highly complex social relations. Feminist historians of empire and post-colonialism have long argued that race and class are gendered categories, and that gendered meanings therefore fundamentally shaped the imperial and colonial project. Gendering history in the South African curriculum would therefore entail revisiting many topics currently included in the curriculum and explicitly foregrounding the ways in which gender has functioned as a significant axis of power. This will not be a comfortable experience, especially given its implication in colonial violence, apartheid and the liberation struggle. Nonetheless, a number of FET topics deeply transformed by inclusion of this scholarship would open up new paradigms for negotiating the relationship between the past and the present. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862016000200004&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en This article analyses the depiction of women in the verbal text of a history textbook used at junior secondary school level in Malawi. The focus falls on how women are depicted in the textbook and why they are depicted the way they are. The article is based on empirical research and utilised a feminist theoretical perspective. The verbal text was analysed quantitatively using open coding. Based on the analysis we argue that women, as historical characters, are generally subordinated and oppressed in a number of ways. This includes under-representation, marginalisation and omission. Since what is written in textbooks is regarded as authoritative depictions like these can send a negative message to learners and teachers as users of the textbooks about women as historical characters. We also argue that our findings from the Malawi context resonate with similar research done globally which for the most part can be attributed to the patriarchal societies women find themselves in. To change this situation we recommended that the junior secondary history syllabus and textbooks be updated and aligned to the Malawian constitution and gender equality policies. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862016000200005&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en In this article the author explored sport history pedagogy by combining the Canadian Benchmarking Project with the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy (RBT) for teaching ancient culture to undergraduate students of sport history. The article was introduced by presenting some common understanding of what constitutes the subject, sport history and explaining what pedagogical tools teachers can employ to counter the antagonism that students generally display towards the subject. It was argued that these tools are best utilised by identifying three domains of learning and teaching (cognitive, affective and physcomotor) in sport history. The researcher chose the Stone Age period as a topic of research and class presentation. Next, a narrative was created about this period, placing it within world context. Then the narrative was converted into pedagogical assessment experiences by using the RBT for use inside and outside the classroom but within the boundaries of the formal university sport history curriculum. Finally, the assessment experiences were summarised after a third year sport history class completed them. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862016000200006&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en In this article the author explored sport history pedagogy by combining the Canadian Benchmarking Project with the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy (RBT) for teaching ancient culture to undergraduate students of sport history. The article was introduced by presenting some common understanding of what constitutes the subject, sport history and explaining what pedagogical tools teachers can employ to counter the antagonism that students generally display towards the subject. It was argued that these tools are best utilised by identifying three domains of learning and teaching (cognitive, affective and physcomotor) in sport history. The researcher chose the Stone Age period as a topic of research and class presentation. Next, a narrative was created about this period, placing it within world context. Then the narrative was converted into pedagogical assessment experiences by using the RBT for use inside and outside the classroom but within the boundaries of the formal university sport history curriculum. Finally, the assessment experiences were summarised after a third year sport history class completed them. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862016000200007&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en The focus of this article is Holocaust education as well as the teaching and learning of race theories, as set out in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) for Grade 9 Social Sciences (History), and Grade 11 History. The article makes general statements about aspects of this history, and possible methodological approaches, especially in areas which present a challenge: victimhood, resistance, historiography and interpretation, the phrasing of assessment questions, impartiality and neutrality, unpacking concepts and assumptions, conflation and fudging, race, role play, and independent learner research. There is specific focus on four of the textbooks used in the teaching of Grade 11 History; questions from these books are cited and discussed. The questions selected illustrate the difficulties commonly encountered in the teaching and learning of the Grade 11 "Theories of Race" component. The article draws on the contributions of various individuals and bodies to the teaching of difficult histories, and attempts to provide suggestions for an approach guided by rigorous analysis in the context of the human rights History classroom. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862016000200008&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en In a diverse and fractured post-colonial society, schools need to take cognizance of the multi-faceted perspectives of heritage represented within the school community. A healthy debate between the various segments of the society of which a school is but a microcosm, needs to be facilitated and consensus reached on the recognition of a common humanity and the rights of citizens in a complex and vibrant nation. It is in the minutiae of that which is to be found in local history, and the pride that the preservation thereof instils in communities regarding their heritages and their place in the world, that a sense of belonging and, ultimately, good citizenship is fostered. Embracing previously ignored heritage does not necessitate "wiping the slate clean". The citizenry will be left poorer in the intellectual and historical debate if the net is not cast wide enough and the emphasis falls upon exclusion and segmentation rather than the need to embrace. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862016000200009&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en In a diverse and fractured post-colonial society, schools need to take cognizance of the multi-faceted perspectives of heritage represented within the school community. A healthy debate between the various segments of the society of which a school is but a microcosm, needs to be facilitated and consensus reached on the recognition of a common humanity and the rights of citizens in a complex and vibrant nation. It is in the minutiae of that which is to be found in local history, and the pride that the preservation thereof instils in communities regarding their heritages and their place in the world, that a sense of belonging and, ultimately, good citizenship is fostered. Embracing previously ignored heritage does not necessitate "wiping the slate clean". The citizenry will be left poorer in the intellectual and historical debate if the net is not cast wide enough and the emphasis falls upon exclusion and segmentation rather than the need to embrace. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862016000200010&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en In a diverse and fractured post-colonial society, schools need to take cognizance of the multi-faceted perspectives of heritage represented within the school community. A healthy debate between the various segments of the society of which a school is but a microcosm, needs to be facilitated and consensus reached on the recognition of a common humanity and the rights of citizens in a complex and vibrant nation. It is in the minutiae of that which is to be found in local history, and the pride that the preservation thereof instils in communities regarding their heritages and their place in the world, that a sense of belonging and, ultimately, good citizenship is fostered. Embracing previously ignored heritage does not necessitate "wiping the slate clean". The citizenry will be left poorer in the intellectual and historical debate if the net is not cast wide enough and the emphasis falls upon exclusion and segmentation rather than the need to embrace.