Changing the history curriculum is not enough if English always dominates the classroom – South African study

Miners in the De Beers diamond mines in Kimberley, Southern Africa, photograph by J.E.M., 1896. Wellcome Collection., CC BY

In many South African classrooms, learners continue to experience the subject of history through the language, concepts and perspectives inherited from colonial traditions. Changes have been made to what children are taught. But the curriculum changes might not be enough to change what children learn in history classrooms.

The reason for this is that English continues to dominate as the language of learning and teaching in most secondary schools. This is despite the fact that South Africa officially recognises 12 languages.