ABSTRACT
There has been much controversy in New South Wales since the Ministry of Education introduced a mandatory component in the history syllabus for years 7-10 (pupils aged 12-16). This component consists of 100 hours of Australian history. The Board of Studies, a statutory body independent of the Department of School Education, is responsible for the design of the syllabus. Membership of the History Syllabus Committee represents State, Catholic systemic schools, independent schools, the Department of School Education, universities and parent bodies. A draft syllabus was developed (April-July 1991) and distributed to 400 teachers and other interested parties for comments and suggestions. As a result of the representative responses, revisions were made through an extensive democratic consultative process in line with Board guidelines. All but two members of the Syllabus Committee endorsed the revised draft. It was approved on the understanding that there would be a review at the end of 1992 for all the schools that chose to implement the mandatory 100 hours in Year 7 in 1992. This would be followed by a further review after three years.
