South Africa's revised History curriculum on globalism and national narratives in grade 12 textbooks

Abstract

The early twenty-first century evidenced a worldwide change in teaching History through the means of several revised History curricula in the Further Education and Training (FET) Phase, and the development of textbooks as a result of this revision. In South Africa these trends have coincided with a period of educational transformation since the African National Congress (ANC) took over as the leading political party in 1994. After 16 years of democracy the transformational outcome also saw a change in the approach to History in the school curriculum and textbooks. This article is structured to debate globalism and national narratives as themes in South Africa's revised History curriculum. The aim is to precipitate a critical discussion on the general interpretation of these themes in the grade 12 History textbooks. This is also a way of ensuring that educators and learners are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the textbooks on these themes for the day when they will be activated as part of the teaching and assessment programme for grade 12 History.