The subject of this study is how elementary school pupils look upon foreign cultures. Two hundred children have written essays about what they think about thoughts and belief in other countries. The analysis shows that democracy, justice and equality are very important conceptions within children's general view of life. The children are deeply sympathetic to the plight of poor people in the world, especially when they suffer from war and natural catastrophes. When the children try to explain what happens in the world, religion has no great importance. The children's great degree of empathy gives the impression that it is desirable and imperative to find a suitable didactic way to teach them about the situation in the world so they can understand it.

This study aims to investigate how a number of students who are at the end of a teachers’ educations program in social studies, geography, religion and history interpret that the national curriculums states that every teacher is responsible for students language development and should be supportive of language backgrounds. In the light of the curriculums the study explores how the teacher education students feel that the education has prepared them for teaching children with Swedish as a second language. The study also examines how the teacher education students think that the teacher education could improve in matters like preparing future teachers to teach social studies, geography, religion and history to second language children. The study is based on interviews with seven university students and shows that they feel a responsibility to develop their future students’ language. It also shows that the teacher education students don’t experience that their education has addressed these challenges. The study also reveals that the participants understand the difficulties with teaching second language students. A lot of their thoughts on the subject are similar to what previous research stresses as central to teaching these students despite that the teacher education students don’t feel prepared. The question of possible improvement in the teacher education shows that the participants in the study believe that there is room for improvement in the teacher education regarding second language students.

The advent of democracy in South Africa necessitated a radical transformation in education. It was recognised from the outset that the revision of History education was an activity that had to be accorded special consideration if the renaissance of education in South African public schools was to become a reality. Yet, precisely at a time when the nurturing of historical consciousness, especially among the youth, is so urgent an undertaking, the subject History is increasingly being judged as lacking in utilitarian purpose, and is deemed irrelevant and meaningless. A strong need is thus felt among History educationists to strengthen History studies because of its importance not only in itself but also because a knowledge of the past is crucial to an understanding of the present. In a South African educational context this thesis attempts to make a contribution to this worthwhile endeavour. It investigates the nature, functions, changing modes and historical role of historical consciousness in the writing and teaching of History in South Africa; proposes a heightened interest in adopting an outcomes-based approach to the teaching of history; and advocates an historical consciousness approach to the teaching of History to learners in the Further Education and Training phase (schools), within the framework of the above-mentioned Outcomes-based Education system. It recommends, among others, the training and retraining of teachers in the historical consciousness approach; the adoption of a fresh methodology; and the revamping and strengthening of the content and scope of the present curriculum to accommodate the new historical consciousness approach. The thesis concludes with a set of recommendations which could serve as a basis for the nurturing of historical consciousness in the South African History classroom. / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Didactics)

The advent of democracy in South Africa necessitated a radical transformation in education. It was recognised from the outset that the revision of History education was an activity that had to be accorded special consideration if the renaissance of education in South African public schools was to become a reality. Yet, precisely at a time when the nurturing of historical consciousness, especially among the youth, is so urgent an undertaking, the subject History is increasingly being judged as lacking in utilitarian purpose, and is deemed irrelevant and meaningless. A strong need is thus felt among History educationists to strengthen History studies because of its importance not only in itself but also because a knowledge of the past is crucial to an understanding of the present. In a South African educational context this thesis attempts to make a contribution to this worthwhile endeavour. It investigates the nature, functions, changing modes and historical role of historical consciousness in the writing and teaching of History in South Africa; proposes a heightened interest in adopting an outcomes-based approach to the teaching of history; and advocates an historical consciousness approach to the teaching of History to learners in the Further Education and Training phase (schools), within the framework of the above-mentioned Outcomes-based Education system. It recommends, among others, the training and retraining of teachers in the historical consciousness approach; the adoption of a fresh methodology; and the revamping and strengthening of the content and scope of the present curriculum to accommodate the new historical consciousness approach. The thesis concludes with a set of recommendations which could serve as a basis for the nurturing of historical consciousness in the South African History classroom. / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Didactics)

The diploma thesis The Use of Regional History of Vltavotynsko in History Lessons. Workbook with Regional Historical Topics is a contribution to the methodology of history lessons. It defends the importance of regional and environmental education as well as education for relationship to cultural-historical heritage in lessons of history, especially at upper primary schools. The mentioned aspects of history education are observed in particular chosen educational documents, which determined the form of education in the 1990s and then also the final product of this reform - the Framework Educational Programmefor primary education. The main output of the thesis is a textbook about the regional history of Vltavotynsko called People from the River, which reflects the learned knowledge. The textbook does not only contain exercises typical for a workbook, but it also includes other texts and visual materials which present the basic historical development in the micro-region to pupils in an attractive way and they are a valuable contribution to pupil's environmental education, too.