Basic Education Minister, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, briefed the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on 19 November 2024, on the implementation of History as a compulsory subject for Grades 4 -12. “The History Ministerial Task Team (MTT) will be briefing me on the progress and recommendations made from 2015 to date, and this will be followed by a clear plan for implementation,” the Minister said.
The National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 stipulates that, “History, heritage and culture are important for understanding the past, analysing the present and planning for the future. They foster social understanding and cohesion, which is important for social and economic stability and growth.” The DBE agrees on the role of History as an enabler of social cohesion to create a cohort of new South Africans who understand heritage and know their own history to enhance a sense of patriotism for a South Africa that belongs to all. One of the suggestions from the MTT Report was for History to be made compulsory in the Further Education and Training (FET) Band to replace Life Orientation (LO) as the 4th fundamental subject. During the briefing, Deputy Minister, Dr Reginah Mhaule, indicated that LO is an important subject that cannot be removed from the curriculum.
DBE’s Mr Pule Rakgoathe, from the Curriculum Implementation and Quality Improvement Directorate (FET) explained that, “the History MTT was appointed on 4 June 2015 to advise former Minister, Mrs Angie Motshekga, on the possibility of offering History as a compulsory subject in the FET Band due to the decline in the uptake of the subject amongst learners. The seven-member team, led by Professor Sifiso Ndlovu, South African Democracy Education Trust and UNISA, completed work in December 2017 and the MTT report was presented to the public on 31 May 2018. The MTT was reappointed on 15 October 2018, continuing their work virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. The MTT contract expired on 31 March 2023 and a request for extension until 31 March 2025 was made. The Team managed to complete a draft History curriculum for Grades 4–12 and conducted consultations with various stakeholders within education such as History lead teachers, subject advisors, officials from heritage institutions and representatives from higher education institutions in all nine provinces.”
The draft Curriculum Framework followed a Mixed Studies approach (mixing both chronology and thematic approaches) to include aspects on Historiography, Archaeology, African History, Heritage and Local History, Labour History and Archives. The MTT indicated that the CAPS curriculum has serious limitations and a complete overhaul is required across all grades, along with the professional development of existing history teachers in content knowledge (historiography), pedagogical knowledge, language and archaeology. In addition, Initial Teacher Education will require re-curriculation to incorporate the new knowledges to teach the new History curriculum. The subject will include precolonial history as well as World/Global History moving away from the parochial, Eurocentric and Cape-centric history of South Africa, instilling within the learners a continental African-centred historical consciousness.
He added that the Terms of Reference in the first phase included, amongst others, a comparative international study on best practices regarding the offering of History in FET schools, advising on possible modalities for the compulsory introduction of History, including the consideration of it as part of citizenship located within Life Orientation; review the content of History in the FET and the General Education and Training (GET) band; and propose Teacher Development Programmes.
Ahead of system preparation for implementation, the new History curriculum will be gazetted for public inputs and comments, along with the consolidation of public inputs received. This process will be followed by submission of the consolidated draft to Umalusi for approval. In addition, new History textbooks must be aligned with the new History curriculum and Teacher Development for initial teacher education and in-service training will follow.