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understand the relationship the researcher has with the textbooks undergoing analysis in any
research project; as this will impact both the way the textbook is researched and the approach
taken to research (Nicholls, 2005). When I began my PhD study, I was a high school
classroom teacher of the curriculum areas History (including other Humanities subjects) and
English; and am now a tertiary educator. However, the relationship between textbook and
researcher is somewhat removed, as the majority of the texts investigated and analysed were
not ever personally used in the classroom and the selection of what constitutes ‘history’
textbooks has been predetermined by the teachers who used them in the classroom, the
publishers, and curriculum developers. In addition, the relationship is further removed as the
textbooks were used in the past, ranging in publication years from 1906 to 1988. Therefore,
there is no personal investment based on school experience of using the selected textbooks
used. The exception to this is The modern world emerges (Lawrence, Eshuys, & Guest, 1986)
which I used as a high school student for one year in the mid 1990s, and the film Babakiueria
(Featherstone, 1986) which was viewed once in the mid 1990s; both at different public
schools. This avoids some of the reflexivity issues that Rogers raises about educational
researchers working within familiar settings which may “...bring with us histories of
participation within these institutions as students, teachers…” (2004b, p. 250).
Being a former History and English teacher, I am cognisant of the power language has to
inform and persuade readers, through selection of words, positioning of phrases, omissions
and inclusion of content; particularly within the educational curriculum context. This makes
it even more important to ensure that the theoretical groundings of the methodology are
clearly outlined. Doing so, will avoid what Parker and Burman describe as researchers
“…who already have some political sense and can recognize its relevance and scope…know
already that language contains and reinforces ideology…simply generated the analysis that
makes sense to them in a fairly atheoretical, but politically informed, way” (1993, p. 161).
Instead analysis is conducted using a strong theoretical understanding, and political
perspectives on the conduct of historical research substantially disclosed.
There are a variety of terms, used by researchers, to describe what could be referred to as an
insider’s perspective. Wagner refers to this as “the science of the concrete” as opposed to
“abstract powers of explanation” (1990, p. 79). Fairclough (2001) discusses this term as
‘members resources’ and Gee (2004) as ‘cultural models’. In consideration of this, and as
applicable to this research, I am able to interpret curriculum documents and other official
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