|
|
|
PRESIDENT'S COLUMN
Teaching History in Schools
Rae Frances
John Howard kicked off his tenth anniversary as leader of the Federal Government with an Australia Day address attacking the teaching of history in schools.
For many years, it's been the case that fewer than one-in-four senior secondary students in Australia take a history subject. And only a fraction of this study relates to Australian history. Real concerns also surround the teaching of Australian history in the lower secondary and primary schools. Too often history has fallen victim in an ever more crowded curriculum to subjects deemed more 'relevant' to today. Too often, it is taught without any sense of structured narrative, replaced by a fragmented stew of 'themes' and 'issues'. And too often, history, along with other subjects in the humanities, has succumbed to a postmodern culture of relativism where any objective record of achievement is questioned or repudiated.
Part of preparing young Australians to be informed and active citizens is to teach them the central currents of our nation's development. The subject matter should include indigenous history as a part of the whole national inheritance. It should also cover the great and enduring heritage of Western civilization, those nations that became the major tributaries of European settlement and in turn a sense of the original ways in which Australians from diverse backgrounds have created our own distinct history. It is impossible, for example, to understand the history of this country without an understanding of the evolution of parliamentary democracy or the ideas that galvanised the Enlightenment.1
Not surprisingly, Howard's speech provoked heated discussion in the media, especially from teachers who felt that he has misunderstood and misrepresented their endeavours. New South Wales teachers felt particularly aggrieved, in view of the prominence given to Australian history in this state under former Premier Bob Carr's urging. And few of us would endorse Howard's version of our history. But to give Howard his due, it would be a good thing if more Australians understood more about their past, and had a sense of how this has shaped the present. But it is a two-edged sword: one cannot teach about the evolution of democracy and the ideals of the Enlightenment without paying close attention to the rise of the labour movement in Australia. The 'distinctiveness' of our history can be attributed in no small part to this aspect of our past. It would certainly do no harm, in the current context, to have more Australians appreciate the chronology of labour's long struggle for fair and decent wages and conditions and the long history of achievement that the current legislation threatens to undo. And while a bit of postmodern deconstruction and relativism is fine, it doesn't do any harm to balance this with conveying a real sense that determined activism can achieve identifiable results. As labour historians, the best thing we can do is embrace the call for more Australian history in schools and seize whatever opportunities arise to make sure that the kind of history taught does indeed better equip Australians to exercise their rights as citizens. |
1
|
| |
|
Conferences and Branch Activities | |
| Meanwhile, members in our various branches have been busy dealing with the future as well as the past. The Brisbane Branch held a very successful conference on the Industrial Relations reforms. Secretary Ted Riethmuller has offered to provide notes from the talks of Margaret Lee and Terri Butler who gave presentations on the legislation and its ramifications, email <tedr@bigpond.net.au>. The Brisbane Labour History Association is also holding a Conference/Dinner/Concert on Saturday 23 September. This event will explore the historical relationship between the labour movement and the folk movement in Australia with a particular emphasis on Queensland. A committee is in the process of planning the event. For more information contact the President or Secretary or Dale Jacobsen on <srmusic@ozemail.com.au>. |
2
|
|
In Melbourne, a conference, 'Working to Live', to mark the 150th anniversary of the Eight Hour Day will take place 21-22 June 2006. In November 2007, a conference in Melbourne in the centenary year of the Harvester Judgement will reflect on the fate of the living wage. Across the Tasman, labour historians are organising a Trans-Tasman conference for February 2007, bringing together historians to reflect on our shared and comparative histories. And if the Melbourne Branch executive members are not exhausted by the Eight Hour Day Conference this year they will be organising the next National Conference of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History in Melbourne in July 2007. The Federal Executive is keen to support branches and individuals in keeping the discussion of labour history alive and relevant and has recently voted seed funding to both the Trans-Tasman and the National Conference in Melbourne. For further information about these conferences and for links to other Branch activities, see our website: www.asslh.org.au. |
3
|
| |
|
Australian Research Council | |
| Following a motion unanimously endorsed at last year's Annual General Meeting, the President, on behalf of the Society, protested to the Federal Minister for Education about Ministerial intervention in the awarding of Australian Research Council funding in the last round of grants. It seems our protest, and those of other groups representing the humanities and social sciences, have had some effect. The new minister, Julie Bishop, announced in March that she would take a less interventionist role in the grants process than her predecessor, Brendan Nelson. She has also decided not to appoint lay persons to the quality and scrutiny committee of the ARC following the public controversy created by Paddy McGuinness's hostility to so many of the grants recommended by peer review for funding. It remains to be seen if this politician's promises will be fulfilled. |
4
|
Endnotes
1. The Prime Minister, The Hon John Howard MP, Address to the National Press Club, Great Hall, Parliament House, 25 January 2006, "A sense of balance: The Australian Achievement in 2006". Transcript available at <http://www.pm.gov.au/News/Speeches/speech1754.html> (accessed March 2006).
|
Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.
|