Inspiring learners beyond the classroom walls: The what, why, who, where and wow for organising curriculum-based "History tours".

Abstract

Any educator, passionate about his / her discipline, works on techniques and methods to inspire learners. If such an educator ‘gets the recipe’ right, it will translate into learners applying themselves to the subject and both their understanding of content and acquisition of required skills will increase exponentially. This will impact positively on assessment results. Buy-in for the subject will increase as the inspired learners become the most influential marketing agent for the subject. This holds true especially with the teaching of History. One technique and method which can serve to inspire learners beyond the walls of the classroom and confines of the covers of a text book, is their experience of grade- and curriculum-relevant excursions. Due to perceived organisational hurdles, departmental obstacles, and the consequences of an educator’s in loco parentis responsibility, many educators would not consider excursions as an option, let alone overseas excursions. In this article, an educator shares his experience in the organising of Grade 12 curriculumbased “History Tours” for his learners, and provides the what, why, who, where, when and how for organising such tours.