Aotearoa New Zealand’s New National History Curriculum and Histories of Mourning

This paper deals with the political and educational background to the formation of the Australian national history curriculum first under the auspices of a newly-formed National Curriculum Board (2008-2009) and then under the auspices of the Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2008-date) during the period 2008-2010. The author describes and analyses the political and educational circumstances that have led to interventions in the curriculum design process that may well vitiate the original intentions of the curriculum designers. The process of curriculum design began in 2008 with the formation of a professionally-based History Advisory Group of which the author was a member (2008-2012). The author outlines the activities and contribution of the History Advisory Group and its sometimes fraught relations with the Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. The author argues that these interventions which have been both political and educational, together with the well-intentioned process of consultation has led to unfortunate design changes and to politically-motivated delays in curriculum implementation which could lead to its being overturned by a successor conservative coalition government.

Download Full-text

Critical Reflections for How to Make New National History Curriculum from History Class

The Korean History Education Review ◽

10.18622/kher.2021.03.157.113 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 157 ◽

pp. 113-154

Author(s):

Seok Young Son

Keyword(s):

National History ◽

History Curriculum ◽

History Class ◽

Critical Reflections

Download Full-text

Representing Australia's Involvement in the First World War

Journal of Educational Media Memory and Society ◽

10.3167/jemms.2014.060101 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 1-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Heather Sharp

Keyword(s):

Great Britain ◽

First World War ◽

World War ◽

National History ◽

History Curriculum ◽

The First World War ◽

Static View ◽

First World

This article investigates discrepancies between narratives of national independence in public discourses surrounding the First World War and narratives of loyalty in school textbooks in Queensland, Australia. Five textbooks commonly used in schools from 1916 to 1936 are analyzed in order to ascertain how the First World War was represented to pupils via the history curriculum. This article argues that, although public discourses were in a state of flux, and often viewed Australia as a country that was becoming increasingly independent of its colonial ruler Great Britain, textbooks that maintained a static view continued to look to Great Britain as a context in which to teach national history to school pupils.

Download Full-text