Contribution to a Public Lecture Series on History Didactics & Civic Education in Basel, Switzerland.

1. PUBLIC LECTURES ON HISTORY DIDACTICS
& CIVIC EDUCATION
History Curriculum, Political
Discourse, and their Impact
on the National Narrative
(of Pre-Service HistoryTeachers)
Dr Robert J. Parkes
The University of Newcastle, Australia

2.  Australia in Context
 The History Curriculum (from NSW to
NationalCurriculum)
 The Impact of the HistoryWars
(on Pre-service HistoryTeacher Narratives)

7. AUSTRALIA
= 23 Million
NSW
= 7.54 Million
SWITZERLAND
= 8.08 Million

8.  Skills vs Content
 BlackArmband vsWhite Blindfold History
 Integrated Social Studies vs Disciplinary
History
 Narrative vs Issues

9.  Interpellation
We are acquiescent in the face of the grand narrative of the nation.
 Rejection / Interjection
We insert or juxtapose rival narratives of the past.
 Interpolation
We draw attention to the historical narrative we are teaching as an artifice, a
representation (derived from methodological, ethical and other choices of the
historian), a rhetorical practice.

10. 1960s 1970s 1980s
Wyndham Scheme
• Introductory and integrated Social Studies
Curriculum in Form I (Year 7)
• Elective History in Forms II, III, and IV
(Years 8-10)
• External Exam at the end of Form IV (that
continued until recently)
• Prescriptive, chronological syllabus
programmed in fortnightly slabs of
content
• Australia constructed as simply part of
British Empire
Progressivism
• Non-prescriptive student-inquiry
focused
• Teachers have flexibility to select
content and methodology to suit
student interests, abilities, and
circumstances
• Australian history an elective
option only
• Shift to critical appraisal,
interpretation, & empathy
British Schools Council
• A wide range of topics
including: primitive man (sic);
Britain under theTudors; British
Empire and European
Imperialism; Political changes
in Europe.
• Year 9 a shift to colonial
history, local history, and in
Year 10Australian 20th century
history in world context.
• Systematic attention to
reasoning processes and skills,
student inquiry, interpretation
of evidence, empathy and
“historical perspective”

11. 1993 1998 2003
Radical Social HIstory
• MandatoryAustralian History for first time
• Indigenous perspectives: shift from “peaceful
settlement” to “invasion”
• Some focus on Her-story (Women’s history)
• Australia as part of Asia
Reactionary
• Constrained,Chronological,
Conservative,Content-driven
• Highly prescriptive
Recovery
• Strong emphasis on historical
skills and concepts
• Year 7 & 8World History
• Year 9 & 10Australian History
• Year 11 & 12 Elective History
(Modern,Ancient & Extension)

12. 2006 2010 2011 2012 2015
National History
Summit
• “Root and Branch”
Renewal of Australian
History
• History drives the move
towards a national
curriculum
Gillard’s
Response
• Neither Black Armband
norWhite Blindfold
Australian
Curriculum:
History
• Strong emphasis on
historical skills and
concepts
• Depth studies
• 10% of time on
linking narrative
Hasluck
Address
• Need for “ a
proper sense of
history”
Australian
Curriculum
Review
• More emphasis
needed on Judaic-
Christian Heritage
(The
Conservatives)
• Greater linking
narrative (The
Conservative
Historian)
• Celebrated focus
on historical skills
and concepts (The
Teacher)

18.  Borrowing narrative
methodology developed by
Létourneau (2006).
 “Tell us the history of
Australia in your own
words.”
 Write for 45 mins max.
 Entire RAP Sample of pre-
service History teachers
[n=97].
Remembering Australia’s Past
(RAP) Project
Létourneau, J. (2006). Remembering our past: An examination of the
historical memory of young Québécois. In R. Sandwell (Ed.), To the
past: History education, public memory, & citizenship in Canada (pp.
70-87). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

19. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100

20. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Arrival and Occupation
Dreamtime
Stolen Generations
Terra Nullius
Disposession/Segregation/Assimilation
Mabo Decision
National Apology
Violence towards Aboriginal people and…
Aboriginal violence towards settlers
Freedom Rides
Aboriginal Rights Movements (from…
Bennelong
Pemulwuy

21.  The colonising of Australia was
a war of terror on the
Indigenous population. . .The
colonising of Australia was an
attempt to make a new British
country that did not incorporate
the culture or population of any
other peoples. [#26]
 This followed by selecting a
distance halfway between
Sydney (the first colonised
city) and Melbourne (the
second colonised city) which
became Canberra. [#52]
 The next century, the English
explorations of the Pacific
progressed to the ‘discovery’ of
the east coast ofAustralia by
James Cook, leading to the first
fleet colonisation in 1788.At this
time Australia began to be
divided into independent states
and territories void of a national
democracy such as the US. [#39]
 It was in the early 16th century
that British sailors began looking
at Australia as a new place to
settle. [#74]

22.  According to the colonists and convicts,
Australia was an unoccupied country.To
their worldview, the indigenous people
did not constitute a civilisation on par
with their own because they had not
made large changes to the land for
agriculture or built towns and cities . . .
This notion ofTerra Nullius ignored the
many thousands of years of connection
the Aboriginal people had to their land
. . . By the late 19th century those early
colonies had developed into cities and
States but no single view of Australia
existed. [#2]
 From an indigenous perspective,
Australian history has been fraught
with the annihilation of the Aboriginal
race through to the assimilation in
order for white settlers to gain
dominance over the land and therefore
resources. [#40]
 Aboriginal people had a spiritual
connection with the land; their
purpose for life was to care for the
land. If they did not do this they had
no purpose. Different to the white
settlers’ viewpoint on land and land
use.They viewed land for expansion
and industrial reasons.This caused
many tensions between English
settlers and Aboriginal people, the
ignorance of the white settler
cause Aboriginal people and their
culture to be discriminated and
devalued. Upon the settlement of
the English,Australia was
proclaimed as ‘terra nullius’
Meaning that there is no man’s
land, therefore the settlers were
allowed to do whatever they wished
to do with the land. [#21]

23.  The Aboriginal people, however,
lived on Australia for many
thousands of years, before being
invaded by Europeans . . .The lives
of the Indigenous community
were still being valued as inferior;
Aboriginals could be killed without
major concern. [#37]
 For the aboriginal people this meant
they were displaced from their land
and many thousands were killed as
europeans expanded. At the same
time, guerrilla warfare began to
take place between the aboriginals
and the new settlers as both sides
fought for the right to their land.
[#74]
 Australian history begins with the
colonisation by the English and the
inhabiting of the country prior to the
colonisation by the Indigenous
Australians, the Aboriginals. From
then the history of our country is
concerned around the treatment
of the aboriginals by the white
settlers. The policies of the time
that were implemented controlled
the treatment of these people.The
Assimilation, Self-Determination,
___ and ___ were the policies
brought in by the government of the
time before the “White Australia”
policy was introduced as an attempt
to breed out the original owners of
the land that was wrongly labelled
“terra nullius”. [#50]

24.  1914-1918- WW1Australia’s first real chance to
show its strength as its own country and show
it is strong enough to be its own country.
Gallipoli the great battle ground where we
showed our true strength andAussie spirit.
[#8]
 When WorldWar One came around,
Australia was still very much so a baby
country, not valued very highly by others as
it was still only so new.Australian’s sawWWI
as an opportunity to prove themselves, as a
chance to be on the ‘stage of the world’ and
show their abilities. [#37]
 1914 was the outbreak of the first world war,
Australia particpipated in a bloody conflict on
the Peninsular of Gallipoli inTurkey inApril
1915 as part of the conjoined ANZAC forces
(Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), this
is retrospectively considered to be a baptism
by fire of the newly formed nation. Solidifying
what Australian meant as opposed to British.
[#97]
 Throughout the war the ANZACs engaged in
British battles and garnered some level
international influence due to its role. [#39]
 In 1914Australia enteredWorld War I with
voluntary ranks and entered the world stage as
a new country. [#70]
 Men were known to be strong and brave if they
joined the war and thousands were shipped off
overseas to fight battle in Europe.The first
time Australia really made a mark on the world
was in Gallipoli which could also be sen as
Australia's biggest military fail. From here the
idea of theANZAC a brave solider who
partakes in mate-ship and courageous acts was
born.This idea has and still is imbedded in
much of Australian society. [#74]

25.  Students tend to adopt the dominant
narratives . . . Relativist?
 Curriculum appears to have had its effect . . .
and political discourse?
 Interpolation still to come . . .We have still
not put into question all forms of historical
representation.