The State of School History

History Curriculum Overview

History Continuum in K-16

Mandatory History
Stage 1, 2, 3 4 5
Change and Continuity Investigating History Australia to 1914
Cultures World War I
Environments Societies and Civilisations of the Past Australia between the Wars
Social Systems and Structures World War II
Aboriginal and Indigenous Peoples, Vietnam War
Colonisation and Contact History Changing Rights and Freedoms
People Power and Politics in the Post-war Period
Optional Study: Shaping of the Modern World

Elective History
6 6 6
Ancient Modern Extension
Preliminary Preliminary What is History?
History, Archaeology and Case Studies Historical Project
Science Historical
Case Studies Investigation
World at the Beginning of the
Twentieth Century
HSC
Cities of Vesuvius HSC
Ancient Society World War I 1914–1919:
Personality National Study
Historical Period Personality
Study in Peace and Conflict
Overview of History Teaching
 Divergent philosophical beliefs about teaching
history (Falmer & Knight, 1995).

 Since the early 1800s until the 1970s history in

Western societies was presented as a technicolour
story, filled with linear events and the lives and
deaths of famous white men (Unsted, 1956;Brooks,
1993).

 History was taught, not constructed and received by

students in a passive fashion (Sylvester,1994).

 Oral storytelling was the main teaching strategy

supplemented by blackboard notes and teacher
dictation (Falmer & Knight, 1995; Sylvester, 1994).

 History contained a moral message for young

people and taught respect and dutiful citizenship
(Brooks, 1993; Falmer & Knight, 1995).
Changing tapestries
 In the 1940s, Marjorie Reeves in Great Britain used a
patch or depth study approach to focus on a particular
issue.

 In 1968, Mary Price defended history from student

disinterest and the absorption of the subject into the
discipline of Social Science.

 Studies by Booth (1969) suggested that students would

be more engaged if involved in active learning.

 Some history teachers were advocating that school

history needed to be more active and modelled on the
real work of historians to engage student interest
(Sylvester, 1994).
Changing Tapestries cont
 Piagetian paradigms about the formal operational stage
suggested students could not deal with complex source material
and critically analyse history and therefore were incapable of
historical enquiry.

 Revolutionary ideas about active learning and subject specific

learning by Bloom, Bruner and Plowden were instrumental in
over-turning Piagetian developmental theories. (Goodson, 1978;
Sylvester, 1994; Falmer & Knight, 1995).

 The need to captivate student interest, combined with new

learning theories and teaching approaches culminated in the
development of Active History (Falmer & Knight, 1995; Slyvester,
1994).

 The new history replaced the old version and condemned those
who practised what was considered obsolete (Falmer & Knight,
1995).

 History teachers were divided in their philosophical beliefs.

Active History

 Active History is student

focused, conceptually based
and modelled on the work of
historians (Falmer & Knight, 1995;
Goodson, 1978; Slyvester, 1994).
Australian stories
 1970s were times of school-based curriculum
change, active history pedagogy and exposure to
learning theories by Bloom.

 In 1973 the Australian Historical Association was

established to publish professional historical
research.

 Yet in 1980s, the percentage of students

undertaking history in senior years of schooling had
declined (Macintrye, 1999).

 The contraction of students studying history

continued in the 1990s
Contraction of Modern History
HSC Students
Table *: Enrolment in Modern History H.S.C. Courses (Board of Studies, 1998)

Year Enrolment Location: Enrolment Location: Enrolment Location: Total

Country Metro Overseas

1991 4 467 9 763 18 14 248

1992 4624 9782 28 14 4341

1993 3 916 8542 25 12 483

1994 3 532 8066 39 11 637

1995 2 989 7568 34 10 586

1996 2 967 7584 27 10 578

1997 2 989 7257 47 10 293

Declines
 Decline of students studying history occurred at a time of
increasing public interest in social, local and cultural histories
(Macintrye, 1999) and the emergence of post-modernist
accounts of history that focus on individuals and use stories,
narratives to engage interest .

 The Board of Studies suggests that the introduction of new

subjects into the curriculum such as Legal Studies (1989),
Aboriginal Studies (1991) and Business Studies (1990) account
in part for the decline (Board of Studies, 1998, p. 5).

 Macintrye (1999, p. 9) identify economic and government

policies shifting the emphasis on curriculum away from traditional
principles of social and individual development to economic
viability and vocational outcomes.

 Both explanations for the decline in student interest in history are

related.
 The proliferation of social science subjects (Legal Studies,
Aboriginal Studies) and vocationally oriented courses (Business
Studies) can be presumably linked to the economic and
vocational paradigm shift in educational policy that Welch (1996)
describes and accordingly turn students’ attention to the
achievement of employability skills and away from academic
courses.
Debates
 The movement from academic to vocationally relevant courses
raised serious concerns both nationally and internationally with
educational stakeholders.

 In Great Britain, Australia and the United States of America,

governments responded to the crisis by elevating the status of
history in the compulsory years of schooling and mandating the
skills and content to be taught (Board of Studies, 1998).

 A strong debate over whether skills should be given precedence

in the history curriculum over content, percolated in Great Britain
and to a lesser extent in the United States of America and in
Australia (Board of Studies, 1998, p. 23).

 Internationally, calls for the old history to be revived were made

by neo-conservative stakeholders (Board of Studies, 1998).

 Significantly, history teachers when afforded the opportunity to

construct and own the curriculum, had used philosophical beliefs
about how history should be taught to guide their classroom
practice. These findings support constructivist theories of
curriculum development and practice.
Australia’s Response
 International trends about history curriculum making were
reflected in Australia’s attempts to:
 locate national history in an international context (Senior
History Syllabus in Australian and Asian History, Tasmania)
 minimise unnecessary repetition in primary and secondary
curricula (New South Wales Stages 4 and 5 History
Syllabus)
 develop students’ understanding of citizenship (Western
Australian Senior History Syllabus).

 In the mid 1990s the decline of history within the New

South Wales Curriculum was halted with the McGaw
recommendations to strengthen the current Year 10
School Certificate curriculum and assessment as a way of
increasing the rigour of the senior curriculum that follows.

 The result has been the prescription of Australian History

for all students in New South Wales until Year 10, and a
choice of depth approaches into Ancient and Modern
History in Years 11 and 12.

 These changes to the New South Wales history curricular

have compelled history teachers to change their work
practices.
Reform Overview
Time Period 1999:

1997:  Draft Syllabus

 McGaw Review: Shaping their future  Review of the aims, validity, assessment

 Independent report published for and content of all H.S.C. syllabi.

government and public consideration.  Consultation with community, teachers

1997: and educational representatives on Draft

 White Paper: Securing their future Syllabus

 Government blue-print for HSC  Final Senior Syllabus

assessment and curriculum reform  Examination, Assessment & Reporting

1998: Supplement (EARS)

 Subject Evaluation Reports  Specimen Assessment Papers

 Subject Writing Briefs  Differences between EARS and

Change in Modern History
structure

Modern History
2 Unit
2000

Modern History
People and Events
2 Unit
Change in Ancient History
Structure

Ancient History 2000

2 Unit

Ancient History Personalities and

2 Unit ‘their Times
History Extension 2000

Modern

Ancient Medieval History

Some Concerns about
Modern course
 Lack of comparability across options

 The inappropriateness of the external examination to

assess the full range of student achievement

 The need to replace the core World War One Study

 The study of two individuals too demanding

 Modern World Studies more difficult in scope, content and
complexity than other options.

 Difficulties of resourcing the course.

 The eurocentric nature of the course. (Modern History

Consultation Report,
 1999, pp. 3-4)
Concerns about Ancient
 Too many complex outcomes to teach.

 Lack of definition about content areas.

 Parity of options across the course.

 The inappropriateness of the external

examination to assess the full range of
student achievement

 Concern about the ability of the course to

meet the needs of the full range of
students.
2007 HSC Enrolment
Statistics
 Course Name Units Female Male Total
 HSC Courses
 Aboriginal Studies 2 233 90 323

 Ancient History 2 6839 4656 11495

 Business Studies 2 7887 8106 15993

 Economics 2 2247 3515 5762

 Geography 2 2179 2382 4561

 History Extension 1 1359 919 2278


 Legal Studies 2 5420 3379 8799

 Modern History 2 5302 4467 9769


 Society and Culture 3110 621 3731
The Ups and Downs

 Growth in Business Studies

 Moderate Decline in Modern
History
 Increase in Ancient History
 Declines in Modern coincide
with mandatory Australian
History in Stage 5 Introduction.
 More girls choose History
New Directions

 National Curriculum
 ICT Technologies
 Changing nature of work in
C21ST
 Relevance of History for
students
Rudd's pick to seek national
curriculum

 January 31, 2008

 The Prime Minister has named Barry

McGaw as head of the new National
Curriculum Board, to be established by
January 1 next year with a mission of
forging a single national curriculum.

 The Labor Government's national

curriculum, which will be implemented in
2011, will initially cover English,
Mathematics, Science and History from
kindergarten through to the end of high
school.
National Curriculum
 sets core content and achievement standards
that are expected of students at each year of
schooling;

 provides flexibility for jurisdictions, systems

and schools to deliver the national curriculum in
a way that allows all students to achieve its
standards;

 establishes the standards as the basis for the

national testing and measurement program to
be agreed by governments, to measure student
progress;

 broadens options for students considering

different futures, preparing students for further
study in all areas of future employment across
the trades and technical and professional fields
and in new and emerging areas of knowledge;
and
continued
 ensures that student achievement is
reported on the same scale and in a
similar way nationally. National
curriculum in these four key learning
areas will be developed by 2010 and
implemented from 2011.
Continued
 As a second phase of work, national curriculum will
be developed in languages and Geography.

 The National Curriculum Board also has a role in

the National Asian Languages and Studies in
School Program that aims to increase the number of
high school students who will become familiar with
the languages and culture of Australia’s main Asian
trading partners — Japan, Indonesia, China and
Korea.

 COAG has set a target that, by 2020, at least 12 per

cent of Year 12 students will exit school with a
fluency in
How do seniors learn?
A lesson teachers need…
Research Findings

 Motivation to learn is involves

personal assessment of
meaningfulness of activity;
 And a process of self initiation (Mills,
Pransby and Sedgeman, 1994)
 Students in schools indicate that it is
linked to strong school support, fair
discipline, student voice, high
expectations, joint responsibility
(Damico and Roth, 1994)
Research
 Intrinsic motivation and self
regulation only possible in
environments that provide choice
and control (Zimmerman, 2000).
 Students’ opportunities to develop
self regulated learning are equally
distributed across learners whose
parents value personal responsibility.
Students are goal directed, manage
time well, strong sense of self
efficacy (Caplan, Choy & Whitmore,
1992).
Research

 As students are given more

responsbility for their own learning,
student self-regulation occurs and
teachers’ roles shift to making
scaffolds for thinking and learning
(Meece, 1991)

 Teachers need to have autonomy

orientation rather than control
orientation (Deci and Ryan, 1985)
Research

 Autonomy orientation is seen as

constructivism (Comeaux, 1993)

 Teachers need to be supported

to promote autonomy,
competence and relatedness to
others (Deci & Ryan, 1991;
Ryan & Powelson, 1991)
Research

 Psychological dimensions of self

regulation comprise 4 areas:
 Why
 How
 What
 Where
 Zimmerman (2000)
Overview of the Course
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yz_sfluQj4
Content
 Identification and understanding of the philosophy and
content of the upper secondary Ancient and Extension
History syllabuses
 Different historical perspectives evident in sources
 Forms of historical communication written, oral, visual,
multimedia, etc.
 Types of History, e.g.: political, military, popular, local,
biographical ,etc
 Programming and teaching upper-secondary History: the
elements of programming history
 Using appropriate motivational classroom resources with
senior pupils
 Present world issues/historical links: classroom teaching
strategies
 Recent interpretations regarding the teaching of syllabus
content
 Assessing senior school History: internal and external
assessment models.
Outcomes

 Professional Knowledge and

Practice
 Planning, Assessment and
Reporting
 Knowledge of Pedagogy
 Knowledge of Information and
Communication Technologies
 Knowledge of NSW curriculum
requirements
Assessment overview

Area Task Weighting

1 Historical Assessment 30%
Task
2 Historical Personality 40%
Case Study
3 Group Senior History
Program and
30%
Presentation
Assessment 1: Constructing
Historical Assessment Task

 Weighting: 30%
 Due Date: Tues 26th August 2008 by 5pm
 Part A: Create an assessment task for your ancient
history topic. The assessment task must cater for
Stage 6 Ancient History students at Year 11 or 12
level.
 Part B: You also need to create an appropriate
marking criteria sheet for this assessment task. The
marking criteria must address outcomes being
assessed.
 Part C: Provide a copy of your assessment task and
marking criteria sheet by uploading your
assessment to myACU History Curriculum &
Teaching 2 Student Assessments folder for
everyone to access. These will be very useful
resources to have for beginning teachers.
Assessment Task 2: Historical
Personality Study

 Due Date: Tues 9th September 2008 by 5pm

 Weighting: 40%
 Task: Research a historical personality from the
Modern or Ancient HSC History courses.
 Prepare three original student teacher made
activities (eg: sources, timelines, tables, empathy,
visual, ICT or literacy based) that teach year 12
students about the personality.
 Family and personal background of the personality
 Historical context of the personality
 Key achievements of the personality
 Key obstacles faced by the personality
 An assessment of the personality’s legacy.
 Reference list of any materials adapted.
 Assessment Task 3 – Senior
Ancient or Extension History
Program and Presentation
 Weighting: 30%
 Program Due Date: All hard copies of programs are due on
Mon13th October by 5pm. Presentations Due Dates: Weeks
11 & 12
 TASK: In groups of four, create a teaching program for Ancient
History or History Extension Options. Choose your group’s option
from the topic list from the Course Outline. Include the following
components in your program.
 Part A: Overview statement indicating the Option, intended
audience (stage, gender, ability levels 300 words).
 Part B : Learning outcomes and Principal Focus
 Part C: The Original teaching and learning worksheets, sources
or activities your program describes which would be given to
students learning from your program. Activities should include a
range of tasks/skills (eg: source analysis, historical questions,
visual tasks, ICT, literacy tasks, sequencing, data tasks,
empathy, drama tasks).
 Part E: Reference list acknowledging source material used to
develop activities.
Presentations

 Due Date: in tutorials in Weeks 11 and

12 (Monday 13th-Friday 24th October)
 Each group will present their program and
a selected number of activities to the
tutorial group. Your presentation will run for
approximately 15-20 minutes (you will be
stopped at 20 mins). Each of you will teach
one aspect of your program to your peers
as though they were your class (include
any resources necessary). All group
members must be involved in the
presentation.