The experiences of history educators in facilitating oral history projects in the Further Education and Training Phase.

Abstract

This study focuses on the experiences of educators in facilitating the oral history projects with their learners in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase in selected schools in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Whereby the voices of senior history educators as well as by the viewing of the learners completed projects provide further insight into the experiences of facilitating the oral history projects with their learners. To understand the educators’ experiences in facilitating the oral history project I used qualitative research methodology. This included the use of convenience sampling, semi-structured interviews and project analysis of the learners’ work. The project analysis followed using the method of coding. My research has revealed that educators themselves had prior knowledge and experiences of oral history that impacted on their facilitation of the oral history projects with their learners. The experiences of educators in the facilitation of the oral history projects with their learners has been positive and challenging, yet despite the challenges educators were successful in the facilitation of the oral history projects with their learners. The findings reveal that there is a need for educators to be provided with a clear conceptual understanding of what oral history is, secondly to get educators to understand as to why this aspect was included in the curriculum, thirdly there has to be a link between the training of educators and professional support by the Department of Basic Education and Training (DoE/DoBET)in the facilitating of the oral history projects with the learners, fourthly educators need to understand that there is no fixed way to get learners involved in oral history as this would also depend on their enthusiasm, training, experiences and interest, fifthly the choice of topics and finding suitable participants who learners could interview were also a challenge, lastly there are technological challenges that both educators and learners had to contend with.