- Title
- Teaching history in primary school: interrogating the Australian curriculum
- Creator
- Reynolds, Ruth
- Relation
- Curriculum Perspectives Vol. 31, Issue 2, p. 78-83
- Publisher
- Australian Curriculum Studies Association
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2011
- Description
- AMID A FLURRY OF CONTROVERSY and a precipitous working timeline a new primary Australian History curriculum was born in 2010. Although lacking achievement levels or achievement descriptors to guide assessment, at the moment it is to be implemented in primary schools in the next few years. While the idea of a History curriculum for primary school is not in itself a bad idea (previously primary schools did study Australian history in the conceptual strand of Change and Continuity ,in the Studies of Society and Environment learning area), the Australian Curriculum: History (ACARA, 2010) sets a new direction for primary curriculum - a direction which introduces a strong discipline-focused approach to this level of education. This is a direction that undermines the holistic approach to education valued in primary schools and which is in a large measure the secret to the success of primary schooling in Australia. Teachers in primary schools are not discipline specialists. It is foolish to expect them to be when they teach many different aspects of a total curriculum. Primary teachers are expert at catering the curriculum to the learner and adjusting the curriculum to suit learner's needs and local community conditions (APPA, 2007). The primary school attempts to provide an authentic learning environment where students are encouraged to view their learning as relevant to them at this period of time. All aspects of the curriculum are selected to accomplish this. It is responsive teaching with the learner at the very centre of the curriculum and could arguably be termed '21st century' teaching. A curriculum with specific topic driven, discipline skills and knowledges is a step backward for many primary schools.
- Subject
- primary school curriculum; history education; student needs
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1325123
- Identifier
- uon:25188
- Identifier
- ISSN:0159-7868
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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