Abstract:
The South African Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and
Training, known as Umalusi, embarked on a project to quality assure the South African
Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) curriculum for schools (2011) in
2012. This article analysis the process in terms of the history curriculum and provides a
commentary on universal principles for the quality assurance of national curricula in
general. Six quality assurance measures are identified and discussed: comparison between
the outgoing and the incoming curricula; entry- and exit-level requirements; internal
comparison between Phases [Key Stages] of the curriculum; comparison of the history
curriculum statement with statements for other curriculum subjects; current trends in
history education; and comparison with history curricula in other countries. Conclusions
are drawn for Umalusi and its practice, the CAPS curriculum itself, and the history
curriculum.
