From the mid 1980s, a change in ideological attitudes became apparent among black educators in general. Pressure from learners and the community at large, combined with the gradual weakening of the apartheid system, encouraged history educators to reassess and alter their perceptions of the subject and their role in the teaching of it.
The years after 1976 were, according to Zwane, a difficult period for educators in black secondary schools, especially for history educators. Zwane notes that these educators were subjected to tremendous stress. While they had the task of taking their learners through the history syllabus so as to enable them to pass their examinations, they were continually reminded by their learners that what they were teaching did not enjoy overall community support.100
97 Nuxumalo, ‘Sociological Significance of the Teaching of History’, p. 176. 98
T.W. Stevens, ‘The Teaching of History as I See It’, Historia, 1, 3 (1957), pp. 213, as quoted by Malie, ‘Bantu Secondary High Schools’, p. 27. Again, it must be noted that present-day history educators,
especially Grade 12 educators, are also under great pressure to produce good examination results as the fact is that educators are not judged by the quality of the history lessons they present but rather by the matriculation results which they produce.
99
Nuxumalo, ‘Sociological Significance of the Teaching of History’, p. 176.
What factors caused the vast majority of black history educators to change from holding a predominantly conservative disposition to adopt more progressive and critical political attitudes during the last decade of National Party rule in South Africa? Lekgoathi points out that it was in fact the increasing level of militancy among the youth which began to force many educators to rethink their political and moral positions in relation to the status quo. Learners challenged the conservatism of the educators. Newly politicised secondary school learners refused to accept the syllabi as laid down by the educational authorities, as well as the authoritarianism of their elders. Lekgoathi comments that educators identified as ‘sell outs’ were often dealt with violently, a situation which compelled educators to reassess their political dispensations. Lekgoathi notes the increasing influence of young, male, politically active educators from the mid 1980s. From about 1985, educators ‘were at the forefront of the struggle for relevant education’.101
Considering what he terms an ‘unusual and abrupt switch to radicalism’ among rural educators, Lekgoathi holds that two different processes were at work. He terms the first ‘proletarianisation’, which involves the progressive loss of control over immediate conditions of work by intellectual wage labourers. This leads to the creation of class unity between intellectuals such as educators and the working class. Radicalisation often occurs among educators when their profession faces strong pressures of proletarianisation. The second process at work is what Lekgoathi terms ‘intensification’, which can accelerate proletarianisation. This could be caused by the pressures of increased workloads and job pressures while at the same time standards of work are deteriorating. Other factors which also led to the mid 1980s surge in educator militancy, certainly among rural educators, were an infusion of younger, politicised educators who identified more with the struggles of workers. An attitude of defiance was in any event sweeping the entire country.102
Nkangala history educators who taught at black secondary schools during the learner and community unrest of the mid 1980s all testify to a change of approach toward history teaching which occurred among educators at this time. One respondent noted that as more information began to surface his approach toward history teaching changed as he was exposed to more
101
Lekgoathi, ‘Teacher Militancy’, pp. 226, 228.
historical materials such as biographies and autobiographies.103 Another noted that as learners became politically conscious they forced conservative educators to become politically active, ‘sometimes under duress’.104 As ‘every stakeholder’ began to cry for change, learners and educators began to become critical about the South African history which had been taught.105 Educators began to lose their fear of the ‘secret police’ toward the end of the 1980s which strongly contributes to a changed approach toward history teaching.106
One respondent reported a different, yet understandable approach to the turbulent politics of the 1980s:
I had to explain to them that what was more important to them was (to answer questions correctly and pass), for there was no use for them to engage in politics, risking being arrested and tortured!107
The 1991 HSRC research into history teaching in South African secondary schools indicates that although many black history educators had by this time adopted a less conservative approach to their subject, many had not. Of the black history educators polled, 50 per cent felt that it was ‘absolutely relevant’ that history as a subject should develop a ‘better understanding of political matters.’108 For 50 per cent of the black history teachers surveyed, this aspect of history education was not seen as critically important. Moreover, 62,5 per cent of surveyed black history teachers felt that a Christian National approach to history teaching represented a one-sided interpretation of events.109 This surprising statistic means that even by 1991, nearly 40 per cent of surveyed black educators in the HSRC research programme saw little wrong with Christian National Education. It is clear that despite a general shift in ideological attitudes among black history educators during the latter years of the apartheid era, a substantial corps of politically conservative educators still existed by 1991.
103
Educator’s questionnaire, Response 1.
104 Educator’s questionnaire, Response 3. 105 Educator’s questionnaire, Response 6. 106 Educator’s questionnaire, Response 7. 107
Educator’s questionnaire, Response 5.
108
Van der Merwe, et al., An Empirical Investigation into the Teaching of History, p. 45.
3.7 Conclusion
Perceptions which history educators at black secondary schools had held toward their subject underwent significant change during the 1980s. This countrywide phenomenon was also evident in Mpumalanga. Mostly it appears that this change was indeed foisted upon educators by critical and at times unruly learners, but as the decade progressed and apartheid gradually lost its all- encompassing grip over people, many educators were able to free themselves from fear of reprisals over what they taught and so adopt a new and more open approach to the teaching of history.