The promotion of history thinking skills in selected secondary schools in Gauteng

Abstract

The South African Department of Basic Education has emphasised the promotion of history thinking skills through different policy reforms. The history curriculum has been revised to ensure that it promotes history thinking skills and to inspire teachers to implement these skills. This research paper is a qualitative case study undertaken in public and independent secondary schools in the Northern and Eastern areas of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province. The paper investigates teachers conceptual understanding and implementation of history thinking skills in their teaching pedagogy. The study also aims to understand the challenges that teachers experience when they have to teach history thinking skills. The purpose of the research study was to understand how teachers make sense of their realities and how this informs their perceptions. This was important because human beings have multiple social realities which may be interpreted differently- thus the study followed an interpretative paradigm. The study found that teachers have different views of history thinking skills based on various reasons. Recommendations were made for student teachers to be trained to develop a better understanding of history thinking skills. Key words: Critical thinking, History thinking skills, historical empathy, multiple perspectives, primary and secondary sources, inquiry-based learning, constructivism, situational learning.