The necessity of mentoring the historically disadvantaged senior history teacher

M.Ed.Having been a marker and senior marker for the Matric final History exams in Gauteng I found that it was mostly the learners from the historically disadvantaged schools that were performing poorly. I assumed that the learners from these schools performed poorly in their matric exams because their teachers had developmental needs relating to their teaching skills. I also theorized that assisting the teachers through workshops only would not be a good idea, because most teachers complained about having to attend them. Based on the above assumptions, the aim of this research was to assess the developmental needs of historically disadvantaged senior History teachers in Gauteng residing in the D5 district. The results of this needs assessment would then form the basis of a discussion on how a mentoring programme could address these needs. The qualitative method of "one on one" interviewing was used to collect the data. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants and the constant comparative method of data analysis was used to identify the developmental needs. I complete this study with a discussion on how a mentoring programme can address these needs. The main findings were that mentoring could be very beneficial to address the developmental needs of senior History teachers, but that the problems regarding the poor Matric results for History of learners from historically disadvantaged schools involves more than assisting the senior History teacher. Further studies will need to be done to assess the standard of teaching in the lower grades. What also needs further investigation is the role that the attitude of fellow teachers and the broader community has on the motivation of learners to do well in the subject History