What is powerful knowledge in school history? Learning from the South African and Rwandan school curriculum documents

Abstract

This paper explores the question of what is powerful knowledge in school history, drawing on an analysis of secondary school history curriculum documents from South Africa and Rwanda. The paper engages with how these official curricula make selections regarding history topics, and how conceptual relationships are structured, and then interrogates to what extent the curricula might give learners access to powerful historical knowledge. The post-apartheid South African history curriculum chose a disciplinary focus, which aims for learners to develop the skills to analyse historical sources and evidence and to recognise that there are different interpretations of particular events. In contrast, the Rwandan history curriculum takes a collective, memory-history approach which does not focus on historical enquiry and has a strong focus on nation-building and citizenship. I engage with the implications of what this means for the idea of powerful knowledge in school history and argue that the socialisation aspect of school history cannot be ignored.

Keywords:

• Powerful knowledge
• history curriculum
• South Africa
• Rwanda

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carol Bertram

Carol Bertram is an Associate Professor in the school of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg. Her research interests are in knowledge, curriculum and teachers’ professional learning.