The School of Education, University of the West Indies at St. Augustine mounted a conference from 20-23 July, 1981 on the theme, Educational Research in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago: An Exploration of Needs and Approaches. A major goal of the exercise was to bring together researchers, practitioners and policy makers who would attempt to identify needs and problems in education with specific reference to Trinidad and Tobago and explore strategies for resolving them.

After Trinidad and Tobago gained independence in 1962, noticeable changes began to take place in the Education System. An important aim of these changes was to increase educational opportunities by providing greater access to secondary education. A conscious effort was set in train, therefore, to expand and transform the education system. Changes in the system which began after the attainment of statehood greatly accelerated in the seventies thanks to considerably increased revenues from the oil windfall.

It is the belief of this writer that history would be more appealing to students if the instructor took account of the distinguishing features of its subject matter, and the historian's method in planning, implementing and evaluating history curricula. This article, therefore, attempts to discuss the nature of history as a discipline. The first part deals with the nature of disciplines in general. In the second section, the writer discusses in detail aspects of the content of history as a distinct area of study, and the techniques of the historian.