Scholarly and values-driven objectives in two South African school history textbooks : an analysis of topics of race and racism

Wissenschaftliche und wertbestimmte Lernziele in zwei Südafrikanischen Schulbüchern: eine Analyse der Themen Rasse und Rassismus

[journal article]

Morgan, Katalin

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Abstract	"This article reports on findings that are part of a larger study of the 10 official (meaning approved by the government education department) grade 11 history textbooks and their respective teacher guides. Using two case studies, selected by maximum variation sampling, and applying exploratory content analysis, it will map out some aims of the history curriculum and assess whether the way each book presents the topics for study is actually achieving those aims. By doing so, the article, will also draw on some international literature on history benchmarks as applied to the South African textbooks. One of the central findings of this study is that the textbooks vary vastly, not only in the way they interpret and apply the curriculum, but also in the way they present the topics and assessments activities, the kind of sources they draw on, the forms of narratives they employ and ultimately in the kind of discourses they provide for the enabling of historical thinking and understanding. By highlighting these stark differences, the article also shows how some textbooks emphasize the value-driven development goals of the curriculum, whereas others tend to concentrate more on its scholarly outcomes." (author's abstract)
Keywords	developing country; Africa; Africa South of the Sahara; Southern Africa; analysis; historical analysis; text analysis; content analysis; education system; educational research; pupil; woman; historical consciousness; Republic of South Africa; curriculum; discourse; history instruction; historiography; critical faculties; race; school book; narrative
Classification	Sociology of Developing Countries, Developmental Sociology; Macroanalysis of the Education System, Economics of Education, Educational Policy; Curriculum, Teaching, Didactics; General History
Method	empirical; qualitative empirical; historical
Document language	English
Publication Year	2010
Page/Pages	p. 299-322
Journal	Historical Social Research, 35 (2010) 3
Status	Published Version; reviewed
Licence	Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications
Document Type	journal article

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