2008 Guidelines

An oral history competition in commemoration of Nkosi Albert Luthuli, the national finals of the Young Historians’ Competition will take place on 01–04 October 2008, to be initiated by South African History Online and the South African Department of Education.

The competition is open to all learners from Grade 8 to Grade 11 and all history educators in secondary schools.

Competition for Learners

Learners will be required to research and prepare a presentation or a documentary film or video on one of the following topics:

Our unsung heroes: Investigate the life of a member of your community, showing, through oral history research, how the individual has shown leadership qualities and through commitment and dedication, made a difference to your community;
Investigate an example of local community struggle in your community against apartheid, in which the community came together to demonstrate their opposition to some apartheid government action that directly affected the local community. For example the Potato Boycotts in Mpumalanga or the Sekhukhuneland (Limpopo) revolt in the 1950’s of rural communities. Background on this community resistance can be found in the two volumes of The Road to Democracy in South Africa (SADET) that was distributed to schools. (Sekhukhuneland (volume 1) and the 1973 Durban strikes (volume 2)).
Investigate how the formation of the community-based organizations that were affiliated to the United Democratic Front affected members of your community by interviewing people who participated in its formation or various youth, women, student and other civic organization affiliates;
Investigate the re emergence of the labour movement that commenced with the Durban strikes of 1973 and the impact of working class mobilization on the community; or
Investigate the role played by members of your family and community in the South African war against Angola and other neighbouring states in the 1980s, whether in the South African National Defence Force or the liberation armies as South Africa commemorates the 20th anniversary of the defeat of the SADF at the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale in 2008.
Investigate the history of your school through interviews with former learners, parents and other members of the community, focusing on what changes have taken place around education, particularly in terms of attitudes and organization.

Please note the following:

The project must be based on oral history research.
Learners should be assisted in their choice of person/persons to be interviewed. Learners should be bly guided to choose a person/persons from their local community.
Adjudication will be weighted in terms of the quality of research, rather than the mode of presentation.
The presentation may be in any of the official languages. Learners should be actively encouraged to use any official language.

Criteria for learners

The learner will be expected to do TWO things:

Give an oral presentation or video documentary of his/her oral research to a panel of adjudicators (It is not intended to be a dramatic presentation nor poetry).
Prepare a portfolio in written form.

The portfolio must include the following:

Portfolios must show evidence of research. They should interview members of the community and should be able to show evidence of the interviews, for example letters to interviewees, transcripts of interviews or tape recordings including the lists of questions posed to the people that they interviewed and their responses – either in written form or on a tape recording. Remember that you need to interview more than one person for verification purposes.

Interviews may be conducted and recorded in any of the official languages.

Portfolios must also show evidence of reflection and should give attention to the following:

Learners should make it clear why they chose the topic, show a clear understanding of the historical context in which the individual worked and how the information from the interviews relates to the historical context or how it helps us to understand events from a personal perspective.
Learners should include a personal reflection on what they have learnt about the possibilities for individuals to bring about change in society, and what they have learnt personally from carrying out the oral history research and the value of oral history research in helping us to understand our history/past.
Learners must acknowledge all sources used in their portfolios. Bibliographies should be included. Plagiarism will be heavily penalised.

Assessment criteria for oral history research projects (adapted from NCS FET HISTORY Subject Assessment Guidelines)

Scope of the oral history project

Oral history projects in the FET have a number of components:

key question to focus the research;
background research to set the interviews in context;
the interviews and transcription of the interviews;
a written discussion about how the information in the interviews relates to the period and
an evaluation of the interviews as sources about the past.
Self-reflection at the end: what has doing this project meant to me [the learner] in terms of personal growth and knowledge and understanding of the period.

(This could also focus on more direct questions, especially in Grade 10, such as: What was the most important thing you learned from the oral histories? Having done the project, what would you like to know more about? )

Note: Core assessment Criteria for research section: use the criteria for each grade as outlined for the research assignment. (Criteria might be added to make the core criteria more appropriate for specific tasks.)

Criterion 1: Formulate questions for the project

Criterion 2: Identify and access a variety of sources of information

Criterion 3: Knowledge and understanding of the period

Criterion 4: Historical enquiry and communication

Criterion 5: Presentation

Criteria for assessing an oral history project

Criterion 1: Interview questions

The questions were open-ended
The questions were appropriate and elicited information relevant to the overall question
There were sufficient questions

Criterion 2: Interviewee

Person/s interviewed was/were appropriate
The biographical details of the interviewee/s was/were given

Criterion 3: Preparation and planning

There is evidence of careful preparation for the interviews
There is evidence of project planning
All preparation and planning notes are included in the project

Criterion 4: Presentation of the information from the interviews

The interviewee/s was/were placed into historical context.
The context for understanding the interview/s was given
The information from the interviews was placed in historical context
The information from the interviews was accurately transcribed (if a tape recorder was used)
The information from the interviews was analysed and organised coherently, showing different points of view if appropriate.
The presentation of the project to the class was clear and effective.

Criterion5: Self reflection

Comments show depth of thought about the process and the product.

Competition for Educators

Educators from secondary schools entering the competition will be required to develop a work plan on how they planned and set up the oral history project in the classroom.

Each educator will be required to give a presentation of his/her portfolio to a panel of adjudicators and be prepared for a panel discussion on his/her portfolio.

Educators should include the following in a portfolio for the competition:

How the oral history project was introduced in the classroom;
What explanation was given to learners about choosing and approaching possible interviewees, preparing for and conducting interviews and using the interview as evidence to reach conclusions about the contribution of that individual;
What interventions the educator made in assisting learners to complete the project.
Examples of full range of learners’ work including not only their best learners’ outputs, but also examples of poor and medium level learners’ work.
What the teacher felt the learners gained from doing an oral history investigation

Adjudication

Adjudication will take place at a provincial level in August 2008 and at a national level in October 2008 at a national event.

Panels of adjudicators comprising historians and heritage workers will be appointed for the provincial and national adjudications.

The National Event

Ten learners from secondary schools in all provinces will be selected as the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Young Historians to represent the province at a national event in October 2008. Learners will be expected to give an oral presentation of their research and have a hard copy of their research essay available for adjudicators.

Three educators from each province will be selected to the national event in October 2008. Educators will be expected to present their portfolios to a panel of adjudicators and be prepared for an interview.