The skills-based approach to History teaching: perceptions of teachers in selected secondary schools.
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Date
1995
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Abstract
In the light of the decision by the ad hoc Provincial History Subject Committee of the
KwaZulu-Natal Education Department to implement the skills-based approach to history
teaching in 1995 (which by November 1995 had not materialised) and to plan that the 1996
common national matriculation examination be skills-oriented, this study examines the
preparedness and level of awareness of hi.story teachers, in selected secondary schools, about
the implications of introducing such an approach. Dominant trends in history teaching in
South Africa are described and the consequences of a ragical shift in teaching methodology
are examined. Teachers from selected schools in Umlazi answered structured open ended
questionnaires. The purpose of the empirical research was to establish if the key role players
in the implementation of the skills-based approach, the teachers, are ready for the challenge.
They were asked questions based on their own history teaching practices, their concerns, how
they envisaged the new history curriculum, and how they teach historical skills, if at all. The
results were analyzed to establish whether teachers are ready to deal with the past imbalances
of the education provisions in their schools along with attempts to learn and practise the new
history teaching approach and unlearn the old teacher anci subject centred approaches.
The study discovered that teachers still largely prefer content-based teaching methods and that
the external assessment of the standard 10 candidates dominates their teaching methodology.
Their attitude towards the teaching of historical skills is favourable but they do not practice
this in their own teaching. Attention is drawn to the contradiction that exists between the
stated aims of the history syllabus which mentions the teaching of skills, attitudes and
content, and the external examination of factual content:
The study results suggest that immediate implementation of the skills-based approach will be
problematic and makes a number of recommendations.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.