IDENTIFYING THE ISSUES FROM HISTORY TEXTBOOKS RESEARCH

The textbook is one of the important resources in the process of teaching and learning. The textbooks, specifically for the history subject, not only transport factual knowledge but also historical images, notions of space and time, and social values in which society needs to convey to the next generation. In Brunei Darussalam, the most common teaching materials are textbooks and worksheets. The primary focus of this study is to analyse the upper primary history textbooks that was previously used in the country. The impetus for research in this area arose from the recent educational reform changes in Brunei Darussalam where the teaching of history in the upper primary level has been replaced by social studies. This study undertook the design of descriptive and content analysis research. It is descriptive because investigations were conducted on the content of the three upper primary history textbooks. The content analysis on the other hand was used to examine explicit and implicit objectives and aims of the previous primary history curriculum portrayed in the textbooks. There were two main issues identified from the textbook research study. Firstly, the aims and objectives were not evenly distributed in the content of the textbooks and secondly, the lack of relevant facts and evidence showed in the content of the textbooks. One of the interesting observations in all the textbooks studied was on the profound emphases of the Monarchical system. This may perhaps be a unique way of approach in setting the aims and objectives of history curriculum by reflecting the national ideologies of Brunei Darussalam. Based on the above findings, it is recommended that further research study in history textbooks should be made in order to align it with the current teaching of social studies in the upper primary school level. Future study should center on gaining a better understanding on how to develop appropriate textbooks and how to improve the use of textbooks in the social studies lessons.