Facing the Past

Facing the Past –Transforming our Future is Shikaya’s core project in partnership with the Western Cape Education Department and Facing History and Ourselves.

Since 2003 the project has been supporting teachers to develop a culture in schools whereby young people learn to become active, tolerant and responsible democratic citizens who value  diversity, human rights and peace.

Facing the Past – Transforming our Future uses the case studies of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust and apartheid South Africa to help young people connect the past to the moral and ethical decisions they make today.

The Facing the Past methodology and approach allows young people to connect history to the moral questions inherent in a study not only of violence, prejudice and racism but also of courage, caring, and compassion and individual responsibility in a democracy.

In working with personal experiences and choice in these histories, links  are  made to the issues and moral dilemmas facing young people today.

So far over 200 teachers from more than 60 schools in the Western Cape have participated in Facing the Past. Nearly 10 000 young people in History, Life Orientation and English classes, have been engaging with the past to learn about themselves.

Facing the Past is based on and supported by the work of Facing History and Ourselves. Click here to find out more about Facing History and Ourselves.

The Facing the Past website is currently undergoing revamp. The website will be relaunched in January 2010 and Facing the Past teachers will be able to download resources and lesson plans.