From the coming of the Knights to EU membership ; an innovative Maltese history textbook based on history thinking skills and evidential work

Abstract

From the Coming of the Knights to EU Membership is a new Maltese history textbook for 13 to 15-year olds choosing history as their special option subject in secondary school. This textbook was edited and part-authored by the author of this paper and published by the Maltese History Teachers’ Association in October 2008. This textbook covers the main historical events that are proposed in the state secondary level history curriculum for history special option groups, referred to in Malta as the SEC Syllabus. The first school leaving national examination based on this curriculum was held in May 2009. I have been working in history pedagogy for over 20 years, but up until now I have avoided writing history textbooks. For years there have been many complains about the lack of history textbooks in all levels in Maltese schools, however I have resisted the idea of being involved in the writing of one because I suspected that in some ways the absence of a book was a blessing in disguise. Throughout the years I have as a teacher educator been privileged to have watched some history lessons given by my B.Ed and P.G.C.E. student history teachers which have been absolutely brilliant. These wonderful history teachers involved their students in effective tasks and activities which truly engage historical thinking. I have often wondered would these history lessons have occurred had there been a textbook? The temptation to follow slavishly the official history textbook might have been too great to resist, and excellent history lessons might have been replaced by mediocre ones. The last thing our secondary school history students need is a textbook to be learnt off by heart. That is not how good history learning works. Students need to be bombarded with a variety of teaching approaches where the focus is on active learning involving understanding historical knowledge with a focus on primary history sources and analyses of different perspectives and interpretations. I am not the only one who believes that textbooks are not necessarily beneficial; this is what Christine Counsell has to say: “Teachers who are learning to lead discussion, to devise activities that will support discussion with younger or weaker pupils, teachers who are thinking hard about their discipline (the fact that it is provisional and contested) need support They need nurture. They don’t need fixed or single textbooks! This can only close down historical discussion in the lesson and inhibit challenging professional thinking among teachers.”