Australia's History: Surprises, Adventures, Incongruities

‘Australia’s History?’

‘Surprises, Adventures, Incongruities’

Rosalie Triolo Monash University

HTAV Annual Conference 2013

Further handouts applicable to this presentation are available upon request from Rosalie Triolo [email protected]

“Australian history”

1) What are the first three single words or phrases come to your mind when you hear reference to this history?

“Australian history”

2) List the first three topics that come to mind when you hear reference to Australian history.

Australia's History: Surprises, Adventures, Incongruities‘The exterior aspects and character of Australia are fascinating things … a startling and interesting contrast to the other sections of the planet. Australian history [is] … of a fresh new sort … full of surprises, and adventures, and incongruities; but they are all true, they all happened’. So wrote Mark Twain in 1897. And so may be said of Australia’s experiences since. Why, then, do some students and contemporary media commentators describe Australia’s history as ‘boring’? And what are unquestionably the responsibilities of all History teachers when confronted with such views? This workshop offers strategies for ensuring that the teaching and learning of Australia’s past is purposeful, engaging and relevant to life in local, as well as global, early twenty-first century contexts.

What are you hoping to take away from today’s workshop? …

What are our challenges? …

Why, generally, do you believe students should learn History?

Why History Education?

* Knowledge – for ‘life’ = for work, further education/lifelong learning, informed use of leisure-time

* Skills – for ‘life’ = for work, further education/lifelong learning, informed use of leisure-time

* Values, Attitudes and Behaviours - VABs - for ‘life’ = for work, further education/lifelong learning, and informed use of leisure-time. (Don’t forget the ‘B’ for ‘Behaviours’: it’s not enough to ‘talk about’ positive behaviours – they must be enacted in and beyond the classroom)

Three warm-ups …

Warm-up 1) Four foods ...

Warm-up 3)Before …

* How could you use the ‘National Film and Sound Archive’ advertisement-clip with History students? What activities?

* What are the advertisement’s limitations for use with students?

After …

* Were there aspects of Australia’s past in the clip that YOU didn’t consider when presented with the descriptor “Australian history”?

* Did potentially new topics or modes or presentation come to mind for your teaching of Australian History?

http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/schools-become-the-dustbin-of-history-20120302-1u7zj.html

Anna Clark, History’s Children: History Wars in the Classroom, New South, Sydney, 2008

Summary of findings – rare glimpses into adolescents’ views about Australian history and experiences in History classrooms …

1) A positive response to mandatory Australian History – students believe they should know their nations’ history !– but are clearly uninterested in learning about landmarks of nationhood. Most considered Federation ‘dull’ and thought political history was ‘boring’ because it lacked characters and events – and was poorly taught

Anna Clark, History’s Children: History Wars in the Classroom, New South, Sydney, 2008

Summary of findings – rare glimpses into adolescents’ views about Australian history and experiences in History classrooms …

2) A dislike of Indigenous history, finding its treatment repetitive and superficial. Students knew they ‘shouldn’t dislike it’. Teachers also found it difficult to teach because of the issues and emotions it raised about colonisation, dispossession and reconciliation

Anna Clark, History’s Children: History Wars in the Classroom, New South, Sydney, 2008

Summary of findings – rare glimpses into adolescents’ views about Australian history and experiences in History classrooms …

3) A strong sense of connectedness with and interest in Australia’s wartime experiences. Many linked the emergence of national identity with experiences of Gallipoli, then quite some way behind that - Western Front and, even further behind, ‘WW2 and Kokoda’

Anna Clark, History’s Children: History Wars in the Classroom, New South, Sydney, 2008

Summary of findings – rare glimpses into adolescents’ views about Australian history and experiences in History classrooms …

3) A strong sense of connectedness with and interest in Australia’s wartime experiences. Many linked the emergence of national identity with experiences of Gallipoli, then quite some way behind that - Western Front and, even further behind, ‘WW2 and Kokoda’. Australian History was ‘more exciting’ when positioned in international contexts

4) …

•

Anna Clark, History’s Children: History Wars in the Classroom, New South, Sydney, 2008

Summary of findings – rare glimpses into adolescents’ views about Australian history and experiences in History classrooms …

4) … Oft-quoted concerns about:* persistent use of textbooks and ‘reading comprehension’ with little else by way of resource/source or activity* superficiality* repetition* absence of meaningful discussion

5) Oft-quoted positives …

•

Anna Clark, History’s Children: History Wars in the Classroom, New South, Sydney, 2008

Summary of findings – rare glimpses into adolescents’ views about Australian history and experiences in History classrooms …

5) Oft-quoted positives …

* teachers’ enthusiasm and passion for history and apparent belief that ‘understanding the past can guide us to a better present and future’ …

* high expectations

* obvious qualifications as ‘History professionals’.

So, what are we to do about this?

Select an Australian history topic that you find the most

challenging to teach either because of your lack of knowledge, experience, resources or because of

students’ apparent disinterest …

Form groups based on common quests to enliven your students (and your) experiences of that history.Share your concerns and the resources you presently use, then embark collectively on determining …

1) possible textbook resources2) possible websites3) possible primary sources4) possible non-traditional resources for the History classroom – novels, poetry, ? 5) possible support organisations6) possible means of enhancing your professional knowledge and enthusiasm

i

Discussion, with Rosalie’s input.See handouts: 25 highly recommended

providers of high quality ‘Australian History’ education resources and

experiences (see website home pages)

Concluding references to any further recommended textbooks, websites,

non-traditional resources, other support organisations, other means of

professional learningnot already mentioned …

Australia’s history is full of ‘surprises’, ‘adventures’ and

‘incongruities’.

It is “NOT” BORING.

Sadly, too often, the TEACHING OF IT CAN BE.

13 ‘essentials’ of effective and fascinating experience of Australian History

The students’ experience should:•be purposeful and outcomes-based;•incorporate diverse perspectives and values that inspire critical thinking and questioning;•embrace primary and secondary sources - ‘evidence’ - in diverse (and sensory) forms;•challenge generalisations and simplifications;•model the work of historians – inquiry methodology

• offer different ways of learning (‘multiple intelligences’);

• offer opportunities for demonstrating understandings and skills’ development in different forms and media;

• draw on the experiences of ‘real’ people – for problem-solving and development of empathy;

• identify continuities and changes across time;

• explore multiple spatial dimensions;

• identify similarities as well differences between histories and cultures, but seek also the ‘common humanity’;

• link with other Humanities disciplines (Geography, Economics, Politics, etc) as well as disciplines beyond the Humanities;

• conclude with ‘hope’ and provide the means (including what students can do) for a better future.

* SO ... How will you reply if someone says to you ‘Schools have become the dustbin of history’?

* What will you say if someone says to you ‘Australian history is boring and irrelevant to most Australian students today’?

An attempt at a response ...

No study of the past, including Australia's past, is boring or irrelevant when taught by competent teachers. Such teachers know and teach their content with all its nuances, complexities, perspectives and contestabilities. They use primary and secondary sources in rich and diverse forms. They foreground the skills their students are developing not only for success in school but for life beyond. They believe and demonstrate that knowledge of the past may inform choices for a better present and future. They develop their students' capacities to solve problems creatively, and to empathise with others. Christopher Bantick comes closest to the truth when recalling the 'imaginative and passionate' teacher of his school days. But rather than condemning universally the state of Australian history and its teachers, he and others would be better-placed to demand that only specialist teachers be placed in the nation's History classrooms - those with a History academic or career background, with significant tertiary pre-service preparation, with recent subject association or school-based professional learning, or with strong recreational interest in Australian history. They are the teachers most likely to work effectively with any curriculum and resources. All students deserve experience of positive expertise; their votes in favour of further and deeper study will follow.Dr Rosalie TrioloPresident: History Teachers' Association of Victoria