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

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)