Teaching School History in Post-colonial Southern Africa: A Decolonial Review of Teacher Education Challenges
Keywords:
Controversial topics; translanguaging; transcultural; post-colonial states; teacher educationAbstract
Teaching school history in post-colonial societies is problematic for conventionally trained teachers. Deploying the decolonial theory, this case study interrogated the teaching challenges that history teachers face in post-colonial contexts to explore the implications for teacher education programmes in three Southern African countries: Lesotho, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The primary aim of the paper was to investigate the teaching challenges history teachers face in three post-colonial countries of Southern Africa and explore how teacher education programmes can be reconfigured. To generate data, a structured narrative literature review with thematic synthesis was employed. The findings revealed that controversial topics, multilingualism, and cultural diversity pose challenges to history teachers, underscoring the need for more comprehensive training programmes that address the region’s specific historical, cultural, and educational contexts. The study recommends that institutions offering teacher preparation in post-colonial contexts adopt humanising, translanguaging, and transcultural pedagogies in their programmes, emphasising context-based training for history teachers. The study finds value in locating the current and future needs of history teachers in a post-colonial context and providing foundational insights into the development of more effective teacher education programmes.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.24.7.34
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