ARTICLES

 

Teacher Perceptions on the Possibility of Integrating History and Citizenship in the Lesotho Curriculum: A Case of Three Secondary Schools

 

 

Walter Sengai^I; NL Ntlama^II

^INational University of Lesotho, Roma, Lesotho and Research Fellow: University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4817-5649; waltersengai@gmail.com
^IINational University of Lesotho, Roma, Lesotho. nthatintlama@gmail.com

 

 

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ABSTRACT

One of the key contemporary needs in education is to promote nationalism and national cohesion. Challenges confronting most developing countries include political instability, violence, voter apathy, and youth disintegration. Many regard the teaching of citizenship as a possible panacea to remedy these problems. Scholars have applauded the role of citizenship education in inculcating crucial values such as active citizenship, tolerance, and social cohesion. The Lesotho curriculum uses social science subjects, especially history, to address these challenges. Pursuant to repeated calls for the integration of history with citizenship in Lesotho schools in order to enhance history's thrust in achieving the task, this qualitative study adopted the case study design to purposively sample six history teachers, two from each of three secondary schools in the Maseru district. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis of the Education Sector Plan 2005-2015 and Education Sector Strategic Plan 2016-2026, Curriculum and Assessment Policy (CAP) 2009, Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education (LGCSE), and the Grade 8 Social Science Syllabus were relied upon for the collection of data. Our findings from this study show that teachers believe that the integration of history and citizenship can instil values of active citizenship, patriotism, political stability, and economic development to mention but a few. We therefore concluded that there are possibilities of integrating history with citizenship instead of leaving them as subjects independent from each other. We recommend that the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) should consider the integration ofhistory and citizenship into the curriculum.

Keywords: integration; history; citizenship; curriculum; syllabus.

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Introduction and background

Citizenship education is under scrutiny in most countries in the world due to the perceived value given to the subject in inculcating the values of active citizenship, patriotism, democracy, political stability, human rights, Ubuntu, and others. Many developed countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom introduced citizenship as a stand-alone subject in their school curricula, whilst in other countries like Botswana and Lesotho, citizenship is taught through a cross-curricula approach where it is infused in other subjects such as history. In Zimbabwe, it is taught as heritage studies which is a subject on its own at secondary school while in some tertiary institutions, it is offered as national and strategic studies (NSS) (Marovah 2019). All these efforts are meant to bring citizenship education to learners. Themes that are part of citizenship include, for instance, patriotism, democracy, nationalism, constitutionalism, globalisation, and gender equality. In some countries, citizenship education has now been turned into a statutory component of the secondary school curriculum while history is one of the key subjects through which citizenship is taught (Arthur et al. 2003). In Lesotho, citizenship is taught through social science subjects, especially history (Liphoto, 2018). Even though numerous national policy documents make specific references to citizenship and public participation to be taught as the cornerstone of promoting Lesotho's democracy, a coherent national programme on civic education does not exist in the country (Reitmaier, 2011). Therefore, this reveals the apparent need to teach citizenship in Lesotho schools. Citizenship education has gained momentum in several countries around the world as it appears to be the panacea for the challenges of the twenty-first century.

There has been a recent trend marking an apparent lack of interest by citizens in participation in political and other civic issues across a range of established democracies which has been a cause for concern for scholars and politicians alike (Kisby and Sloam 2014). In Britain, the levels of electoral engagement by the youths tend to be lower than those of the general population, and indeed of previous young generations (Henn and Foard 2012). However, young people appear to be still attracted to, and often actively participate in informal and alternative modes of political life. For instance, youths may participate in informal activities such as activism and political consumerism, and this depicts an apparent need for political socialisation. Political socialisation encompasses five key agents namely mass media, the family, peers, voluntary associations, and schools (Anna 2012; Quintelier 2013). Of these, school experience has been found to exercise a particular influence on the development of young people's knowledge for their participation in democratic life (Andersson 2019). Further still, research reveals that the best available predictor of adult voting and democratic engagement is participation in formal courses in civics or citizenship (Anna 2012). Studies further portray that the effects of citizenship are long-term, and also that the civic skill and political values acquired in schools are retained into adulthood. This therefore shows that every nation must educate its young people to become active and participating citizens in the future. As a societal institution, the school is the most appropriately positioned vehicle for the provision of credible information about civic processes and training in citizenship issues. The school is an effective conduit for imparting society's knowledge, skills, values, and beliefs as it reaches most children and many adults at a given time, it possesses a well-established infrastructure, and it allows students to test values, and beliefs from within the barriers of a physically and emotionally safe environment (Thompson and Wheeler 2010). These foregoing claims show that the school proves to be a reliable and secure place in a society where individuals can attain knowledge on how to become effective members of the community. This contrasts with what is taking place in Lesotho where Independent Electoral Commission (lEC) employees who are trained for only three days are left to offer the critical aspects of citizenship education to voters before every general election (Ngozwana 2014). Efforts by such bodies should reinforce and complement what would have been learned at school, thereby facilitating collaboration between actors rather than being the only source of citizen awareness of such issues.

 

Statement of the problem

History as a subject in Lesotho is entrusted with the cultivation of citizenship values in secondary school learners but the nature of the syllabus and the traditional methods of teaching used in the country hamper its effectiveness (CAP 2009). Even though numerous national policy documents make specific references to citizenship and public participation to be taught as the cornerstone for promoting Lesotho's democracy, a coherent national programme on civic education does not exist in the country (Reitmaier 2011). Therefore, this glaring oversight shows the apparent need for teaching citizenship in Lesotho schools.

Some key official documents such as the Education Sector Plan 2005-2015, Education Sector Strategic Plan 2016-2026, Curriculum and Assessment Policy Framework 2009, Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education syllabus and the Integrated Social Science Grade 8 syllabus have emphasised the imperative need of introducing citizenship as a crucial approach in the consolidation of democracy in Lesotho. Tsikoane (2007) supports this notion by arguing that without the effective participation of all citizens in politically related issues and activities, a meaningfully stable democracy could be difficult to attain in the country. According to Kisby and Sloam (2014), it requires politically informed citizens to actively take part in political decisions and processes beyond the ballot box. Citizenship is therefore a vital tool in making all citizens feel empowered to call for accountability from the government on democratic values. There is sufficient consensus among scholars that since its first democratic elections in 1965, Lesotho has never experienced a stable democracy (Akokpari 1998; Makoa 2004; Mokotso 2019; Monyane 2009; Motsamai 2015; Vhumbunu 2015). The extremely feeble democracy has been characterised by continuous post-election conflicts with a series of army coups (Mokotso, 2019). A study by Ngozwana (2014) concluded that Basotho lacks democratic knowledge and identified the reason behind this as limited voter education that is given to Basotho before elections. Vhumbunu (2015: 4) concurs that Lesotho endures a continuous history of political instability characterised by factionalism, tensions, and violent conflicts. There was a short-lived intermediary stability from 1966 to 1970 as well as from 1993 to 2003 (Makoa 2004). Of late, Lesotho has also witnessed a flare-up of gangsterism, alcoholism, corruption, and violent crimes (Lekhooa 2021). This shows that citizenship may be the panacea for political and social stability in Lesotho. A number of studies on citizenship have been carried out in the country including one by Mokotso (2019) which proposed the integration of citizenship with Religious Studies. The current study is very close to that of Liphoto (2018) which analysed the extent to which the Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education (LGSCE) history syllabus fostered citizenship values and the study on the history and citizenship conundrum by Fru and Liphoto (2020). Still, none of the prior studies proposed the integration of history with citizenship in the country, a gap which the present study seeks to address.

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore teachers' perceptions on the possibility of integrating history and citizenship education in the Lesotho curriculum using a case study of three secondary schools in Maseru. The research questions sought to establish history teachers' views towards the integration of history and citizenship education and the possibility of such an integration.

 

Review of related literature

This section is divided into two parts which discuss scholarly views on the possibilities of integration as well as the perceptions of teachers towards the integration of history and citizenship education.

 

Possibilities of integration

In England, the teaching ofhistory availed the possibility ofbuilding bridges with citizenship education (Harris, 2017). Citizenship was therefore brought aboard as an important element of the History Association's 2002-2012 vision tabled during the 2002 Past Forward Conference. Long before the Crick Report (1998), remarkable history educators acknowledged the values that history could bring to the teaching of citizenship, which therefore proves that the integration of history teaching with citizenship education was deemed possible. This would have no negative implications on the teaching of history since the skills and content to be acquired by the learners would be positively affected because the subject would be enriched and made more contemporary (Harris 2017). A series of studies have highlighted the aptitude of history in enlightening key citizenship values such as identity, patriotism, diversity of human experiences, social and cultural diversity, global citizenship, moral thinking, conflict resolution, and development of democracy (Harris 2017; Kankam 2016; Keirn 2016; Liphoto 2018; Stearns 2012). The relationship between history and citizenship is natural since citizenship is understood as the main purpose of history (Keirn, 2016). This implies that history and citizenship are intertwined, as they are both concerned with equipping learners with the necessary knowledge, understanding, skills, attitudes, values, and experiences for life in modern society (Arthur et al. 2001). The knowledge that could be promoted through History is essential for citizenship. This suggests that history is explicitly intended to promote citizenship through providing opportunities for learners to discuss the nature and the diversity of societies around them. Universal history has more to offer to the education of citizenry so history must let citizens access the historical context of the globalised society in which they live today (Stearns 2012). Citizenship deals with a range of controversial issues that affect many people around the world and most of these issues are related to the demand for democracy, inequality, injustice, conflicts, social, and economic segregation (Harris 2017). All these issues necessitate historical perspectives of relating the past to the present and analysing future prospects. This implies that without the historical component today's world cannot be fully understood since, for instance, it may be difficult to understand how interrelations between and among regions have been shaped. The foregoing views from different scholars therefore depict that there exists a mutual relationship between history and citizenship education.

Although historical significance has not been adequately acknowledged in the teaching of history, it provides opportunities to raise citizenship awareness of issues such as globalisation, commemoration, and racism. Hunt (2000:52) supports this view by stating:

History teaching is enlivened when pupils feel that they can engage with issues that they see still relevant to their lives today. It is also enlivened when pupils either individually or in groups, are asked to make decisions. The consideration of significance promotes not only the ability to explain and support the case but also encourages pupils to consider where they stand on some of the significant and enduring issues that arise from the study of people in the past.

The debate about the integration of history and citizenship has taken historical interpretations as a starting point since the potential payoffs in demonstrating the contemporary relevance of both are substantial. It also helps students to discern facts from fallacy. It is clear that historical concepts such as historical significance and interpretation can be useful conduits to impart citizenship values, which therefore implies that there is a harmonious relationship between history and citizenship which makes their integration conceivable.

History presents a relevant context for the teaching of citizenship due to the familiarity of history teachers with its learning objectives such as participation, inquiry, action, and communication. Historical interpretation, analysis, explanations, and appreciation of different perspectives have long been established as compulsory elements in most history curricula (Vella 2017). In her case study of learners whose ages ranged from twelve up to fourteen, Vella (2005) used historical thinking skills such as empathy, interpretation, change and continuity, time, and writing skills to facilitate citizenship thinking. After using history as a platform, Vella (2005) then moved to consider other citizenship concepts such as human rights and democratic processes. Her study revealed that to specifically link some history and citizenship skills, teachers' support is crucial, since the connection between historical and modern situations is not so apparent in learners' minds (Vella 2017). This, therefore, illuminates the coincidence of content between history and citizenship, thereby making this integration plausible. Furthermore, the current transition of moving from a subject-oriented curriculum to an integrated curriculum in Lesotho acts as a good breeding ground for this proposed integration. In Canada, this type of integration has already been implemented and the results are positive (Avramidis and Norwich 2002).

 

Perceptions of teachers towards integration

Various studies have been carried out worldwide concerning the perceptions of teachers towards integrating history with citizenship education (Kankam 2012; Loredano 2014; Pedzisai and Simbarashe 2013). For instance, Loredano (2014) studied the perceptions of teachers on curriculum integration in both the urban and rural primary schools in Arges. Data was gathered using self-assessment sheets from the Ministry of Education and items found on the sheets were centred on the teacher. A Likert scale was used to measure opinions of the teachers towards integration where 1 represented most important and 10 less important. The findings reflect that teachers believe that integrated activities in their teaching increase learners' interest by 12 per cent; socialise students and favour getting peers to know each other in the classroom by 12 per cent; develop students' responsibility by 9 per cent; eliminate teaching routine by 8 per cent; favour creativity by 8 per cent; and, develop the spirit of competence and positive learning environment 9 per cent on the scale (Loredano 2014). Another item of the questionnaire required teachers to state obstacles in using integrated activities. The assessment scale from 1 to 10 indicated that integrated activities are hard to adjust to concrete class activities as demonstrated by the following factors: inadequate to teaching some matters from different curriculum: 18 per cent; alteration of teaching course comparison to the designed one: 15 per cent; frustrates more timid students:14 per cent; difficulties in achieving the objectives of the syllabus: 9 per cent; difficulties in evaluation: 8 per cent; difficulty in achieving teaching means: 8 per cent; and difficulty in the restructuring and accessibility in the teaching content: 6 per cent (Loredano 2014). The results of this study depict that there were positive attitudes of teachers towards curriculum integration though they experienced difficulties in carrying out integrated activities which might also apply in Lesotho concerning the current study.

A study carried out in Ghana on teachers' perceptions of the importance of teaching citizenship in Ghana revealed that 93.3 per cent mentioned that citizenship implied the provision of knowledge of the country's constitution, its principles, values, history, and contemporary application while 6.7 per cent think otherwise (Kankam 2012). The other findings showed a mean deviation standard of 1.57 which indicated that respondents had a positive perception of attributes such as the rule of law, showing loyalty towards the president, voting in national elections, making wise decisions, and fulfilling family responsibility among others.

In Zimbabwe, Pedzisai and Simbarashe (2013) carried out a related case study on how in-service teachers perceive the teaching and learning of citizenship in tertiary institutions. The sample was made up of 60 participants using purposive sampling. The study used both questionnaires and guided interviews to collect data. From the findings, 60 per cent of the participants were shown to attach value to the studying of citizenship while 15 per cent had a negative perception of the subject, and when probed they asserted that they had been influenced by previous experience during their National and Strategic Studies (NSS) course that was presented in a partisan manner and the political harassment that they had endured (Pedzisai and Simbarashe 2013). Close to 50 of the participants (46.7 per cent) looked forward to obtaining knowledge to use productively in contributing to the Zimbabwean society in terms of national development, while 8.3 per cent did not attach any value to the citizenship course (Pedzisai and Simbarashe 2013). Regarding teaching methods, 40 per cent of the participants complained about a lack of guest lecturers. They strongly considered their engagement with senior citizens in their area of expertise as adding value to their understanding of concepts. Among the participants, 8.3 per cent called for the citizenship course to be mandatory for entry students at university. The findings revealed in this study therefore imply that the majority of in-service teachers were aware of the importance of citizenship education whilst the minority did not see its value. Therefore, there were positive attitudes by teachers towards citizenship in Zimbabwe.

Liphoto (2018) also carried out a study in Lesotho and revealed that not all history teachers in the country are familiar with the concept of citizenship. The study also established that not all history teachers can teach citizenship values infused in the Lesotho history syllabus. It was also revealed that the large amount of content and limited time allocated to the timetable prohibit teachers from putting more focus on the citizenship values. This therefore shows that history alone cannot effectively explore citizenship values hence the proposed integration.

Revelations from the literature reviewed above show that there is consensus among scholars over the feasibility and necessity of integrating history with citizenship since this is likely to contribute positively to the promotion of key values in different societies. The literature also showed that the continued teaching of citizenship values within history falls short of their effective coverage due to different reasons as alluded to by different scholars. The teaching of history influences how pupils understand citizenship by encouraging them to fully engage with citizenship education in a way that reinvigorates history, thereby contributing to the strengthening of its place in the curriculum (Arthur et al. 2003).

 

Conceptual Framework

This study is informed by Lee and Shemilt's (2007) three potential relational models which appear to make a compelling case for a more systematic relationship between history and citizenship. They, however, note that this relationship is problematic when extrinsic objects override disciplinary principles. The first model is the cornucopia model where history's intrinsic contribution to citizenship needs no further elaboration. This model calls for minimum engagement of history teachers with citizenship because of the involvement of history with a plethora of human experiences including citizenship issues (Lee and Shemilt 2007). Currently, in most curricula, citizenship puts more emphasis on knowledge of political and legal systems which makes its relationship with history easy to understand due to the overlapping of concepts.

The second model is the carrier model where history content is chosen for its potential to meet the needs of citizenship (Lee and Shemilt 2007). The model explicitly embraces citizenship and uses history to address specific aspects of citizenship. In this model, history serves the needs of citizenship potentially leading to a 'presentist' approach to the past, only considering relevant topics to be those dealing directly with the present issues, thereby leading to a distortion of the historical 'message' in order to align it with the prevailing views in modern society.

Lastly, the complementary model assumes that citizenship is underpinned by ideals and ethos that permeate the school, and promote rational inquiry and debate. Such a context presents history as providing pupils with the opportunity to develop a historical consciousness and gain an awareness of how democratic institutions and ideas have developed, including their values and potential weaknesses (Lee and Shemilt 2007). They further showed that in this model, history is considered as providing a seedbed for the flourishing of citizenship and there is likely to be a strong emphasis of values in this model and in the career model too. However, in Lesotho's context, it seems like the Curriculum and Assessment Policy (CAP) 2009 adopted the first model, whereby teachers are expected to do little in teaching citizenship since they usually pay lip service to the citizenship values incorporated in history teaching (Raselimo and Mahao 2015). The model also informed our data generation process since the interview questions were framed with the intention to establish history teachers' views and suggestions on integrating history and citizenship education as well as what they consider to be the benefits of integration.

 

Methodology

The study used a qualitative research approach. Maxwell (2012) explains that qualitative research attempts to describe and interpret human behaviour based primarily on the words of selected individuals or participants. Qualitative research proved suitable in this study as it facilitated the interpretation of participants' behaviour towards the integration of history and citizenship education. This, therefore, depicts that qualitative research centres on understanding processes, experiences, and meanings people assign to things, and so this approach was used in the current study as it helped to best illustrate the relationship between history and citizenship as well as to generate deep and detailed data for a profound analysis, credible findings, and germane recommendations (Creswell and Poch 2018).

This qualitative study adopted the case study design whereby six history teachers from three secondary schools in the Maseru district participated. The six were purposively sampled, two from each school due to their role in teaching the subject. Of the three schools, one was a private school, the other a public school, and the third one was church-run. The choice of schools was made with the intention to facilitate a representation of the different categories of secondary schools in Lesotho. Semi-structured interviews were used to generate data. According to Thomas (2021), a case study is designed as an in-depth analysis of a bounded system of a single or multiple cases, during a period and place. This study employed purposive sampling for the selection of identified information-rich cases for the most effective use. This was the ideal method for this research as it helped the researchers to identify and select individuals who were well-informed about the issue. Purposive sampling was perfect for this research as it also saved time and resources by selecting people who were knowledgeable and informed about the phenomenon of interest.

Purposive sampling also enabled the researchers to get in-depth information. In this study, the researchers used face-to-face interviews which enabled the observation of the emotions, expressions, and attitudes ofteachers when they provided information (Creswell and Poch 2018). Interviews proved to be the appropriate method of generating data in this research as they are suitable to use for the generation of detailed information regarding people's opinions, experiences, thoughts, and feelings. For this research, interviews were preferred as they allowed the researchers to probe for more information as the population sample was small.

The study also employed document review as another method of generating data for triangulation purposes. The purpose of triangulation is to provide a convergence of evidence that breeds credibility (Bowen 2009). The Education Sector Plan 2005-2015 and Education Sector Strategic Plan 2016-2026, CAP, and LGCSE history syllabus were gleaned for data.

Thematic data analysis was employed in the identification of patterns and categories of the main themes that emerged from the semi-structured interviews (Braun and Clarke 2019). Thematic data analysis allowed narrative reporting of the views of the History teachers on the integration of history and citizenship education.

Audio data from the interviews were transcribed and coded into textual data then the transcripts were read several times to identify the units of meaning to establish the deeper meaning of the narratives of the participants.

Open coding was employed to establish categories which were then reviewed and clustered into relevant themes before being thematically analysed (Braun and Clarke 2019). The themes were developed according to the interview questions, which were in turn guided by the research questions and were used to guide the presentation of the findings.

 

Findings and discussion

The findings of the study were classified into two sections-namely, the analysis of the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) policy documents, the Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education (LGCSE) syllabus, and the Integrated Social Science Grade 8 syllabus, followed by data from the semi-structured interviews with the participants. The MoET's official position towards citizenship education in Lesotho will be unpacked through an analysis of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Framework (2009), the Education Sector Plan 2005-2015, the Education Sector Strategic Plan 20162026, the Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education (LGCSE) syllabus, and the integrated social science Grade 8 syllabus.

 

Education Sector Plan 2005-2015 and Education Sector Strategic Plan 2016-2026

When looking at the education sector plan through its objectives and goals, the teaching of citizenship is not included-the Ministry seems to be mainly concerned with inclusive education, the improvement of Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD), and the improvement of Technical Vocational Training (TVTs). The current sector plan also focuses on the same areas as its predecessor and has little if any reference to the teaching of citizenship in schools. Reitmaier (2011) observes that numerous national policy documents make specific references for citizenship and public participation to be taught in Lesotho as the cornerstone of promoting democracy in the country. The formal civic education provided to citizens at school appears to be very limited (Ministry of Education and Training 2005), which is also not included in the Lesotho Education Strategic Plan of 2005-2015.

 

Curriculum and Assessment Policy (CAP), 2009

Several statements in the CAP (2009) document implicate citizenship education through its objectives, aims, and pedagogy since the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are referred to could be attained through the integration of history and citizenship (Fru and Liphoto 2020).

Some of the statements in CAP (2009) reflect the aspects of citizenship. Aim 6 appears to be compatible with the integration of history and citizenship as it states that 'at the end of secondary education students should be able to apply knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for effective participation in democratic and socio-economic activities' (CAP 2009: 13). This shows that this integration is possible as it fits within the standards of CAP (2009). Furthermore, still under the Curriculum Aims of Secondary Education, Aim 7 appears to be directly aligned with the integration of history and citizenship. It states:

Secondary education aims at providing opportunities for learners to participate in activities promoting democratic principles, human rights and emerging issues in the society (CAP 2009: 13).

This aim could be achieved through integration because the history content in most cases focuses on the past and compels students to analyse it to understand the present. ln many cases this becomes unattainable due to inappropriate teaching methods and hiring of non-specialist history teachers in some cases (Fru 2015; Liphoto 2018). Moreover, the CAP 2009 does not boldly ascertain the specific subject to encompass citizenship since it is just categorized under the learning area 'Personal, Spiritual and Social' which is met by social science subjects, which may imply that citizenship should be taught through social science subjects. The challenge is that these social sciences are still taught separately in schools (Raselimo and Mahao 2015). Therefore, teachers from different social science disciplines in the school may choose to ignore some citizenship values hoping that another teacher from another subject may teach them. Again, it becomes a problem as each school manipulates and squeezes this citizenship content where it feels suitable because it lacks an assessment tool (Fru and Liphoto 2020). Citizenship in Lesotho is taught as a cross-curricula subject though it is mainly infused in history. The only problem with this infusion is that citizenship content is used to enrich history, thereby making it more contemporary and relevant (Atwa and Gouda 2014). This is why this study proposes the integration of history and citizenship since MoET will be compelled to devise an assessment tool for citizenship and the name may also change meaning that it may no longer be called history for a new name may be adopted to signal the integration of the two subjects (Atwa and Gouda 2014). The integration of history and citizenship can work when they are taught together since the past events are blended into the present.

Lastly, when looking under the sub-heading 'pedagogy' in CAP (2009: 22), one of the statements reads:

The currentfeature in Lesotho policies is the emerging issues as reflected in, among others, the Millennium Declaration adopted by Lesotho in 2000 reinforcing development goals in the global agenda. ... . For instance, ... . democracy, human rights, gender and others have called for a more interdisciplinary and integrated approach to curriculum design and teaching. The project work should not be confined to schools but involve the communities as well to enhance action competence among others.

The above quotation from CAP (2009) contains two important points which make the integration of history and citizenship more viable. First, contemporary issues such as peace, environmental development, and HIV and AIDS can be summarised as the twenty-first century challenges. Therefore, the panacea for twenty-first century challenges could be citizenship education among other options that may be considered (Kisby 2007). Similarly, the ills of contemporary societies can be curbed through the teaching of citizenship (Fru and Liphoto 2020). Second, MoET declared that the twenty-first century challenges mentioned earlier call for more interdisciplinary teaching, and this is the stage where similar themes from different subjects are drawn together to create a more substantial mechanism to impart knowledge and skills. Therefore, the integration of history and citizenship can be an effective tool to rescue the government of Lesotho from these twenty-first century challenges. The project work referred to above should not end in school but should extend to the communities. History alone seems ineffective (Liphoto 2018) although CAP (2009) empowers the subject to impart citizenship values and skills to Basotho learners, thereby making the integration potentially plausible. History lacks the practical part as it is taught as an academic subject in Lesotho so it can be effective and have more substance if it is integrated with citizenship which also gives it some contemporary flair.

 

Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education (LGCSE) history syllabus

Looking at the LGCSE history syllabus aims, it can be noted that most of them imply the role of citizenship education. These aims were picked based of the compartments of citizenship. Aim 1.1 declares that the aim of the syllabus is to stimulate interest and enthusiasm for the study of the past to instill and develop a sense of patriotism and nationalism. Aim 1.4 maintains that the syllabus aims to inculcate ideas of tolerance as a precondition for attaining peace, stability, national unity, and development. Aim 1.3 states that the syllabus aims to help learners appreciate and understand the uniqueness of Basotho's divergent social and cultural values. Apart from that, the syllabus aims to help develop a clear understanding of various systems of governance and their bearing on nation-building. Furthermore, 1.9 states that the syllabus aims to help learners acquire an understanding of global events and their impact on Lesotho and the international community. Aim 1.11 also claims that the syllabus aims to critically analyse the role played by different classes, age groups, and gender and ethnic groups in the socio-economic and political development of Lesotho. Last, 1.13 states that the syllabus aims to develop an awareness and the management of emerging issues. Furthermore, the LGSCE syllabus shows that citizenship is enshrined in history topics thereby showing that it is implied. The syllabus' aims and content are inclined towards citizenship through the acknowledgement that the primary aim is to stimulate interest and enthusiasm for the study of the past to instil and develop a sense of nationalism and patriotism. Aim 1.8 is also relevant and develops a clear understanding of various forms and systems of governance bearing on nation building, and lastly, to critically analyse the role played by different classes, age groups, gender, and ethnic groups in socio-economic and political developments in Lesotho. This as a result reveals how citizenship values are addressed through history topics.

Most of the content of the syllabus covers citizenship. For instance, when looking at the topics, most of them address the issue of nationalism and patriotism. Specifically looking at it from the local context, the topic 'Aspects of History of Lesotho from 1820 to 2008' is about citizenship values. This topic is the cornerstone of Basotho citizenship and covers the tactics that Moshoeshoe 1 used to instil citizenship values into the Sotho nation. The topic also highlights the issues of democracy, the government, and social institutions that existed since the formation of the Sotho nation. With the evidence from the syllabus, one would agree that citizenship in Lesotho is mostly infused in history. As Liphoto (2018) maintained, citizen values in Lesotho are taught through history. Another topic that is aligned with citizenship in this syllabus is the achievement of majority rule in South Africa. The topic illustrates how Africans were united to fight apartheid in South Africa and shows the formation of trade unions and political parties such as African National Congress (ANC) and Pan African Congress (PAC), the importance of the Sharpeville massacre, Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement, and the Soweto uprising. Another topic is World War 1 since through its causes, one learns that nationalism was one of the causes of World War1 thereby showing how some people could go to war to defend their national interests. As mentioned earlier, it may be anticipated that citizenship is foregrounded in history in the Lesotho context although the syllabus is silent on those aspects.

The infusion of citizenship values becomes very problematic to history teachers, as there is no clear indication when to cultivate a certain value or how to do it (Atwa and Gouda 2014). This makes it hard for some history teachers to determine which citizenship values to harness or link to present phenomena. In the LGSCE syllabus, the chances of teachers overlooking these values are very high as the syllabus is examination oriented (Liphoto 2018). Meanwhile, Elton (1991) argues that the primary concern of historians is the experiences, thoughts, and actions of the people of the past and not with the people of the present, so history teachers should concentrate on substantive knowledge and not touch other values. Fru (2015) claims that traditional methods of teaching used in history, especially in the context of Lesotho, allow teachers to pay lip service to the values infused in History especially because these values are not assessed in the examination. Furthermore, teachers' ignorance of how to effectively cultivate citizenship values proves to be a huge challenge since some are not even aware of these values (OFSTED 2005). Mutebi (2019) carried out a study on the preparedness of the school management teams (SMTs) in Lesotho to implement the CAP (2009). The study took place in one district and the findings revealed that the SMTs were not ready to implement CAP (2009) due to a lack of resources and training. This may therefore imply that all the stakeholders, including teachers, might have minimal training on to implement CAP (2009) which may allow individuals to interpret it differently. This is not good for the teaching of citizenship values which are enshrined in the CAP (2009) document.

 

Grade 8 social science syllabus

The syllabus seems well organised as it stipulates the values and skills to be emphasised under each topic. Teaching methods are also suggested which helps in guiding teachers on how to tackle certain topics as well as how to assess them. The syllabus also seems to contain a lot of content from the history discipline. The only problem which hinders the effectiveness of this syllabus is that it is very wide since it involves far too many subjects which makes it difficult for teachers to plan. It allows teachers to be biased and concentrate on their areas of specialisation more than on other areas. Apart from that, in some schools the syllabus is not holistically taught as teachers decide to leave out certain content. Therefore, the only way out could be to integrate history with citizenship so that none of the subjects will be more important than the other and none will be the responsibility of the other. The name could even change to history and citizenship. This ensures that there will be a clear assessment tool and even teachers will be aware that they are not teaching history only but citizenship too.

The four official documents reviewed above demonstrate some convergence on the need for the infusion of citizenship values in the school curriculum due to their priceless contribution to nurturing patriotism in learners. This appears to add weight to the plausibility of integrating history and citizenship as one subject.

 

Perceptions of teachers towards integration of history and citizenship

Participants were asked to express their opinions towards the integration of history and citizenship. The specific question which they were asked was: To what extent do you think that the integration of history and citizenship could work? The intention was to find out if teachers could have positive or negative attitudes towards the integration of history and citizenship. They all showed a positive attitude towards this integration since they believe it could be successful. Teacher1 said:

I think it could be successful to a greater extent, although I do not have the reasons but

I think it could be a success.

Teacher 1 seemed to be always brief or reserved, possibly due to the little knowledge she seemed to have on citizenship or she was just mindful of her time.

Teacher 2 was more elaborate and said:

Yes, it could be successful to a greater extent because it will remind learners of who they are since being a citizen is to live according to what is expected in a community. I think this integration will make History to be lived not taught.

This shows that the participant is aware of the ability of history to make learners conscious of their societal expectations (Hunt 2000). This also agrees with Iyer's (2018) claim that integration facilitates the development of learners who can actively participate in achieving the goals of a democratic African society.

Teacher 4 observed:

Teachers often confine History to the classroom and do not do a follow up to see whether the learners practice what they learn. Integration with Citizenship education could change this.

This could be interpreted in many ways. First, it could be because teachers seem to pay lip service to the citizenship values in history, or because history as a subject lacks a practical part (Liphoto 2018; Fru 2015). The rest of the teachers concurred since they also believe that integration is plausible and could make learners conscious of who they are and understand where they want their country to be, and more importantly, to love their country. This is confirmed by Fru (2015) who highlights the nationalistic value in the list of values identified as being propagated by history. This also confirms the complimentary model where history is considered as providing a seedbed for the flourishing of citizenship.

Teacher 3 said:

Of course, this integration is plausible because Citizenship has values, so whenever you deal with a historical topic there is always a notion of citizenship. You allow your learners to explore how that topic can help to promote citizenship values. For instance, you can ask questions such as what can you say about Hitler's actions regarding his country?

This shows that participants appreciated the patriotism value espoused in history (Fru 2015) as highlighted earlier. Apart from that, teacher 5 claimed that this integration could awaken a sense of patriotism in Basotho learners which could make Lesotho develop economically. The positivity demonstrated by the participants also appears to confirm the findings of Loredano (2014) where teachers exhibited positive attitudes towards curriculum integration. He said:

I think it will be successful to a greater extent. We are actually behind time because countries which capitalized on teaching their citizens to love their country have progressed well. For example, the Americans whose patriotism is way beyond human capacity. I therefore believe that if we can integrate History with Citizenship education, this country can go far.

Patriotism is among the key aims of the LGCSE syllabus. This confirms the views of Philips (2003) who included patriotism among several values spread by history learning. It is also aligned with the cornucopia model where history's intrinsic contribution to citizenship education needs no further elaboration because of its involvement with a plethora of human experiences, including citizenship issues (Lee and Shemilt 2007). Though teacher 6 agreed with all the other teachers, she had a slightly different opinion on integration:

I think this integration is plausible. However, I think Citizenship should be a subject on its own maybe from as early as Grade 9 so that together with History they can help espouse the citizenship values to learners.

All the respondents said that they believe the integration of history and citizenship is viable, though they had different opinions on why they thought so. Their line of thinking was mostly positive and revealed that more values can be gained from history and citizenship (Vella 2017). The participants highlighted citizenship values such as nationalism, patriotism, democracy, constitutionalism, Ubuntu, and honesty. This appears to confirm Iyer's (2018) contention that integration is the fundamental structural basis of social sciences which, most importantly, can achieve complementary thinking among learners.

 

The preparedness of history teachers to carry out this integration

Teachers were further asked if they thought history teachers could be able to carry out this integration. The intention was still to find out if this integration is viable and whether it would not lead to more expenses through MoET hiring more teachers. Most participants believe that they can carry out this integration with proper training and materials. Teacher 1 said:

I do not foresee any challenges at all since most content is already being taught in History.

Only one teacher did not believe that history teachers are adequately equipped to carry out this integration.

Teacher 2 thought otherwise:

We stand to face serious tissue rejection if the integration of History and Citizenship is just rushed without due consideration of laying the necessary ground work and ensuring adequate preparations.

This participant was cautious and wanted the necessary preparations such as staff development of teachers through in-service programmes to be done prior to the integration. Most participants agreed that teachers are ready and that they would not have any problem carrying out this integration since they are already teaching integrated social sciences in Grade 8, so they believe that teachers are ready. However, some participants claimed that history teachers can carry out this integration only if they are given proper training and materials.

Teacher 3 stated that:

Since we have already started teaching the integrated syllabus, I think even Citizenship education will not be difficult for teachers to integrate. But proper preparations should be made like provision of materials and giving training to teachers.

Workshops and outreach programmes can be used to administer such training to staff, developing the history teachers on the processes around the integration.

Teacher 1 did not believe that history teachers are ready to carry out this integration and said the following:

I do not think History teachers are ready; it should start at the institutions of higher learning such as Lesotho College of Education and National University of Lesotho. Student teachers should be taught how to teach Citizenship education.

Before launching interventions, teachers should be afforded adequate in-service training as supported by Mokhele's (2011) study on the essence of continuing professional development (CPD) for Science teachers in Mpumalanga in South Africa. In another study, Sengai and Mokhele (2020) identified a lack of in-service training for history teachers as one of the causes of the failure of the 2166 history syllabus reform in Zimbabwe. The Lesotho context appears to be different since findings from the current study show that most of the participants believe teachers can carry out the integration even without in-service training while only one thinks otherwise. The only challenge that can be anticipated from this integration is that historical knowledge may be watered down by the inclusion of too much contemporary concepts to the extent that it sounds more like current studies. However, history teaching remains at the vanguard of citizenship education and the past should remain the springboard from which citizens learn to think and act (Arthur et al. 2003).

 

Conclusions

This study found that there are prospects of integrating history with citizenship education. This possibility stems from history's symbiotic relationship with citizenship education which was found to be in the values that they both promote such as active citizenship, patriotism, democracy, political stability, nationalism, tolerance, unity, peace, human rights, and Ubuntu among others. The relationship was further established from the similarity in the themes that they share as confirmed by the LGCSE History and Grade 8 social science syllabuses. Citizenship was found to be infused in other social science subjects such as geography, religious education, and mainly history. Themes such as peace, stability, democracy, human rights, and emerging issues as mentioned in CAP (2009) can be taught through both history and citizenship. It could therefore be concluded that the integration of history and citizenship education is plausible, and there are enough grounds to suggest so.

 

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