Recognising the academic and political purposes embedded in history textbook assessment tasks
Abstract
This paper explores the nature of history as a school-based discipline and how
history is recontextualised in the South African History Curriculum and Assessment
Policy Statement (CAPS) and Grade 10 history textbooks, with a particular focus
on what the assessment activities and questions require of learners. The conceptual
tools used in this document analysis were inspired by Morgan and Henning (2013)
and came from Wertsch (2002), Anderson (2005) and Krathwohl (2002). The
findings indicate that within the ‘doing school history’ construct, there is both an
academic and a political dimension. These two projects may appear to be at odds
with one another, but we argue that the study of history is strengthened when both
are given their due respect.