History Education in Africa Research, Perspectives and Practices

This collection brings together African scholars in Africa and the diaspora to contribute to scholarly debates about critical issues in history teaching and learning in African schools. The book contributes to filling the gap in knowledge on African history, associated pedagogies and practices and its consequent effects on research and the declining popularity of history in African Schools. Specifically, the volume (a) examines current trends and practices in history education in African schools, (b) unveils the challenges and subtleties of teaching the next generation of teachers and students, and (c) examines classroom practices and opportunities for engagement with historical concepts in African schools. The book adds a much-needed African voice to the international history education literature and contribute to strengthening the place of history teaching and learning in Africa.

Chapter 1. History Education in Africa: Research, Perspectives and Practices – An Introduction.- Chapter 2. History Education Research in Africa: A Systematic Scoping Review (2013-2023).- Chapter 3. Can History Teaching Contribute Towards Saving the Planet? Reflections on the Value of Including Environmental History in the Zimbabwean Advanced Level History Curriculum.- Chapter 4. Re-thinking the South African School History Curriculum: Theorising Indigenous Archives of History.- Chapter 5. Do Minoritized Cultures Matter? Ethnicity, Identity, and the Politics of Inclusion in Ghana’s History and Social Studies Curricula.- Chapter 6. The Use of Film as a Pedagogical Tool to Enhance Historical Consciousness in South African Postgraduate Students.- Chapter 7. Learning Difficult Histories: The Role of Monuments and Museums.- Chapter 8. Bringing History to Life: The Pedagogical Power of Heritage Sites.- Chapter 9. Teaching History in Zambia: The Use of Project Method in Reviving the Value of History Education.- Chapter 10. Teachers are Key: How Risk-Taking Teachers in Elite South African Schools ‘Use’ Apartheid History.- Chapter 11. Towards a Decolonized Assessment for History Teaching and Learning in Post-Apartheid South Africa.- Chapter 12. Assessing Silences in History Assessment: The Case of Representation of Women in Zambian Secondary School History Examination Papers, 2015-2022.- Chapter 13. Sport at Wesley College, Cape Town, South Africa as a Descriptive 20th Century African History Education Project.- Chapter 14. From Department of History to Department of History and Heritage Studies: Discourse of Heritage at Mzuzu University in Malawi.

Gideon Boadu is a Lecturer in Curriculum and Pedagogy at RMIT University, Australia. Gideon has teaching and research interests in curriculum and pedagogy, history education, and teacher education. His research focuses on teacher disciplinary reasoning, pedagogical reasoning, and classroom practice, including how teachers enact and transact the official curriculum. Gideon’s teaching and research span ten years across the Australian and Ghanaian contexts. He has published widely in the field of history education in various journals. He is the co-editor of Perspectives and practices of teaching and teacher education in Africa.

Charles Adabo Oppong is an Associate Professor in History Education at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. His primary research areas of interest include history education, curriculum implementation and evaluation. Charles is the author of several research papers in reputable journals. He is also a senior research fellow and doubles as the education expert at Research Trust in Ghana. Charles has presented papers at international conferences on History Education and other education related fields. He has also undertaken several consultancy assignments for local and international organisations including T-TEL, National Teaching Council, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), among others. Charles received his Bachelor of Education in Arts and M.Phil from University of Cape Coast, and his Doctorate from UNISA, South Africa.