DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 5.1 Introduction
5.5 The pedagogical design of presentation of heritage in the selected textbooks
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In conclusion, it can be said that language is universalistic. Its role is vital for this study because it is essentially a prism through which heritage is depicted in the selected
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In search of history. Grade 10. Learner’s book presents the heritage topic in three broad components namely: a conceptualisation phase and two case studies. The chapter opens with a conceptualisation in which the textbooks’ understanding of heritage as a concept is provided. This understanding is then presented practically in the form of two case studies – on Great Zimbabwe as an icon of Zimbabwean nationalism and on Saartjie Baartman as an example of the practice of display of humans. The content information is supported by visual images of the different heritage icons presented. This adds colour to the textual information and lends authenticity to the presentation. The text also provides sources to serve as evidence for the information provided. Finally, assessment activities are provided under the different sub topics in order to test the achievement of the stipulated learning outcomes. It should be noted that this textbook still succeeds in presenting information in a narration despite it being highly source- based.
Shuters history. Grade 10. Learner’s book also begins with a brief conceptualisation section. From there, the book progresses to the case studies that are presented in the form of sub-topics. Each sub-topic covers a particular aspect of heritage. The choices selected for the different case studies include: photographs; paintings; museums; oral history; names; public holidays; monuments; rock art; sacred heritage sites; and national consciousness. Evidently, this textbook barely provides a clear narration. The content presented is largely juxtaposed with a variety of sources in the form of visuals as well as a series of activities and continuous assessment tasks for teachers, peers, groups, and for self.
The difference in presentation design is very evident with Making history. Grade 10.
Learners’ book. The most noticeable difference is that there is no section for the conceptualisation of heritage in this latter book. Here heritage is presented as a body of knowledge under different case studies. The case studies take a largely narrative format with few sources and visual images and activities that accompany this narration.
The different pedagogic choices used in presenting the heritage phenomena as seen in the three textbooks are evidence of the textbooks as commercial products that expose different pedagogic possibilities, but also show a lack of the harmonisation reality within the history textbook industry. As a result it could be argued that a major reason for
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these differences has to do with the very nature of the textbook enterprise in general.
From an ideological and political view point, Apple and Christian-Smith (199, p. 31) pointed out the naivety in considering the content of history textbooks as a neutral collection of knowledge. They argue that these textbooks “are a result of political, economic and cultural activities, battles and compromises that are conceived, designed and authored by people with a vested interest. They are [as a result] published within the political and economic constraints of the market, resources and power”. The implication is that even though history textbooks have been seen in chapter two as vital pedagogic tools through which ‘official history’ is transmitted to the public through the learners (Sewall, 2004), what is actually considered to be ‘legitimate’ or ‘official’
knowledge is the result of complex power relations which signal more profound political, economic and cultural relations as well as histories.
Consequently, the different designs of presentation and pedagogic choices could be interpreted as the stake holders’ involvement in the power relations with the quest of achieving the ideological objectives as cited above. This is explained further by Romanowski (1996) who submitted that in making decisions on what to include and exclude in history textbooks, authors assign positive or negative interpretations to particular events thereby asserting a set of values. Notwithstanding, a certain degree of lack of agency could be attributed to these authors when one considers a variety of other dynamics that come to play such as the power of the government authority, the desire to meet demands of publishing houses and the need to meet the taste of the learners and the general public who are the consumers of these products. It is therefore for these reasons that the selected history textbooks present heritage in different ways with specific regards to design and pedagogic choices.
Pedagogic choices have been a frequent concern in history textbooks. For this reason, authors such as Lin et al. (2009), Polakow-Suranski (2002), and Engelbrecht (2006) acknowledged that the content and perspectives presented in textbooks are not neutral but rather these textbooks incorporate certain attitudes and ways of looking at the world.
A typical example lies in the inconsistencies and conflicting views on aspect of the Korean War such as the causes, the American and Chinese involvement, and the result of the war as revealed in a comparative content analysis of history textbooks from the
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USA, Japan, China and South Korea (Lin et al., 2009). Therefore pedagogic choices are an indication of the role of language as well as the power relations that exist in history textbooks and in heritage enterprise. These power relations involve authors, publishers, and government authorities with these different officials having different levels of agency with regards to deciding the pedagogic choices made in history textbooks. For instance, while Romanowski (1996) concedes that authors have a great deal of agency in making judgements about what should or not be included and how these choices should be summarised and presented, other scholars such as Odendaal and Galloway (2008) suggest that authors are powerless agents as the real power to make pedagogic choices in history textbooks lies with other stake holder such as government and publishers. Consequently the above cited scholars argue that some authors have resorted to the phenomenon of self-publishing. The literature therefore provides ample evidence that the nature of history textbooks is very complex and this complexity is seen in the design features of the textbooks whereby the different textbooks made different pedagogic choices with regards to their design of presentation of heritage especially in terms of conceptualisation and the content.
Another reason for the different pedagogic choices made in the textbooks could be the fact that the curriculum itself is open to interpretation by allowing for different voices.
The NCS-History, as the policy document that describes what and how history must be taught, allows textbook producers ample leeway to interpret the guidelines. This leaves the textbook producers with ample room to explore the curriculum in terms of content and pedagogy and an opportunity to interpret it in different ways and also to present their different interpretations in different forms as seen in the textbooks selected for this study. Therefore the different designs result from the diverse interpretations of the curriculum by the different textbook producers.