A decolonial reading of the history curriculum: towards undoing historicide for curricular justice for the Zimbabwean learner

A Model for Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Teaching History: Lessons from Zimbabwe

“…The teaching of critical thinking skills is not an easy process. For example, in Zimbabwe and South Africa, lack of orientation, poor teacher preparation, learning support materials that are frequently out of print or insufficiently used in the classroom, large class sizes, and the continued use of traditional exams for assessment all hinder the teaching of critical thinking skills (Dube & Moyo, 2022;Dombo & Mujere, 2023;Godsell, 2022;Mapetere et al, 2012). That being so, however, there is no one answer that provides the strategies that can be used to teach critical thinking skills in history teaching.…”

“…Sengai and Mokhele (2021) assert that the Form 1-4 History syllabus, which superseded History 2167, eliminated the elements of content recitation, hence facilitating a critical and comprehensive analysis of historical data. The justification for the replacement of these history syllabi in Zimbabwe probably lies in Dube and Moyo's (2022) claim that rather than following the traditional history approach that emphasised the simple recall of facts, criticality was a goal of history teaching and undeniably that has characterised progressive history curriculum. Thus, the new historical approach demanded a shift towards a more learnercentered approach that placed an emphasis on the skills based approach for the improvement of critical thinking skills.…”

“…Taken together, the history curriculum in Zimbabwe envisages a competency-based approach that is achieved through a practical-oriented learning. In brief, Zimbabwe's national history curriculum is now competency-based (outcomes oriented) rather than content-based (examination bound), with an emphasis on students' ability to apply knowledge, skills, and attitudes in an autonomous, accountable, and feasible manner (Dube & Moyo, 2022). The main goal of competency-driven education is to provide students the skills they need to function in the global information economy of the twenty-first century (Willingham, 2019).…”

“…Despite all the benefits of critical thinking skills alluded to above, the transition to skill based approach has not been an easy process as it has been fraught with insurmountable challenges. The failure to develop critical thinking in history teaching has been reported in several studies (Dube & Moyo, 2022;Goburdhun, 2022;Godsell, 2022). While some of these studies attributed the challenges to educational practices that still favour memorisation and rote-learning (Goburdhun, 2022), others claim that history teaching is still arguably examination-orientated (Mitana et al, 2018).…”

Stakeholders' appraisals of the school history curriculum in Zambia on social media

“…There are several reasons why the school history curriculum has been called for reforms. For instance, the notions of citizenship, social justice and democracy have brought about the need to reform the school history curriculum in South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda and Zimbabwe (Bertram, 2021;Dube and Moyo, 2022;Chisholm, 2004;Nasibi and Kiio, 2005;Dzikanyanga, 2017). In other countries, such as Kenya, Rwanda and Zambia, the history syllabi have been revised to equip learners with skills and enable them to compete favourably in the global market (Kabombwe and Mulenga, 2019).…”