An Investigation of History Teaching in Ethiopian Senior Secondary Schools

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the
teaching of history with respect to four associated
problems, viz., the basic reasoning for the placement
of history in the senior secondary school curriculum,
the practices and processes of syllabus development,
the teaching strategies, methods and techniques,
and the teaching materials used both in the past
and the present. To thiF e d both historical and
descriptive-survey researc ~ kA. 'lniques were employed.
The historical researc ~ }empted to investigate
what happened and why t+- happened in a qefinite
chronological .. period It indicated tre·nds,
developments, phases, . I 1rY, rspectives of past history
teaching in Ethiopian senLor secondary schools. Main
findings of the historical study were: (i) The
inclusion of history in the senior secondary school
curriculum was a concomitant development with the
beginning of secondary education in the country;
(ii) At the earlier stage the history syllabi were
solely constructed by subject specialists; (iii)
Before 1963 the teaching of history was not aimed