Effective teaching of social science would require: A. Perpetuating all…

Effective teaching of social science rests on an evidence-based, critical method: examining sources — including old textual material — with a critical eye, and cross-checking (triangulating) evidence drawn from more than one kind of source, rather than accepting inherited practice unquestioned or relying on a single category of evidence.

Applying this to the four statements: critical analysis of literary texts, however old, and giving primacy to triangulation of sources are the two practices that embody this method, so together they identify what effective teaching of social science actually requires.

• Perpetuating all cultural practices of the past treats every inherited practice as valid without examining it, which is the opposite of critical inquiry.

• Discarding all non-textual sources removes whole categories of evidence — artefacts, images, oral testimony — that triangulation depends on, narrowing rather than strengthening the evidence base.

Critical analysis of texts combined with triangulation of sources is therefore the pedagogically sound requirement.