This paper seeks to identify whether history educators in higher education institutions are still rooted in a tradition which is curriculum-bound, with little emphasis on historical thinking and understanding, or whether they have embraced historical thinking as a way of dealing with historical issues in the classroom. It aims to do so through a thorough examination of the assessment practices of history educators in South African universities. Current thinking and research on teaching and learning of history in the classroom has challenged the assumption that history teaching can be neatly divided into two separate parts: content and process. In contrast, historical thinking is a process which engages with the past as “an epistemological and cultural act that conveys deep and sometimes unintended messages about what it means to be historical in modern society”. By evaluating the assessment practices of history educators, it is possible to see how student history teachers are being developed and what approaches they will carry forward into the classroom. The paper will argue that while some progressive approaches are assessed in some of universities, there is little consistency throughout the higher education institutions in South Africa.