ABSTRACT
The teaching of history provides a powerful platform through which issues of social justice and sustainability can be explored and developed within the primary classroom. Through a process of historical enquiry, students can uncover and critique the historical roots of contemporary issues that resonate with them in today’s world. History also enables students to recognise the processes of historical change and the transformative power of human agency (Barton, 2012; Waldron & McCully, 2016). This chapter is premised on a critical and reflective enquiry approach to history education which supports the development of historical thinking and empowers children to ask critical questions about social justice such as those relating to power, interest, difference and inequality. Drawing on the work of theorists such as Barton and Levstik (2004), Endacott and Brooks (2013) and Hawkey (2015), this chapter considers how concepts such as causation, agency and historical empathy can provide educators with the conceptual tools to incorporate the social justice perspectives of redistribution and recognition into their teaching and planning. Finally, the chapter presents a new framework for teaching history for social justice and sustainability and provides exemplars for teachers to support its application in practice.
