Teachers’ Challenges of Using Local History Projects to Develop Learners’ Historical Skills – A Case Study of Motheo Education District

This study explored the teachers’ challenges in using local history projects to develop learners’ historical skills. Despite the importance of local history projects in developing learners’ historical skills and knowledge, there is evidence that teachers are struggling to teach and administer them effectively. The study used critical pedagogy as a critical framework, along with an interpretive paradigm, to guide the qualitative approach to achieve the aim and objective of the study. The study purposefully sampled five participants from five different schools in the Motheo Education District, Free State Province. Semi-structured interviews were used as a data collection strategy. Thematic analysis was used to make sense of the data. The researchers’ findings show that social science teachers who participated in the study faced many challenges in teaching local history projects to develop learners’ historical skills. To mitigate these challenges, the Department of Education should develop strategies to organize workshops to empower teachers, specifically in teaching local history projects, using available resources. The paper also recommends a collaborative effort of relevant stakeholders to come together to assist the schools. State the contribution of this study to scholarship. The study is contributing to research on social sciences education by assisting teachersto be aware of challenges that impacts on the teaching of local history project. It is anticipated this with this knowledge Social Science teachers will be able to minimise or circumvent these challenges. Keywords: Local history project, Historical skills, Teaching History