ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the impact of the 1980s changes, takes a critical look at some of the outcomes and suggests the need for balanced and constructive discussion around pedagogy and the place of knowledge in history education. A crude polarisation between ‘progressive’ and ‘traditional’ that too often characterises curriculum discussion is particularly unhelpful for beginning teachers. In Australia, the Teaching History unit on the AC History Units website provides a concise outline and explanation of the skills and concepts used in the Australian Curriculum: History. However, while the comprehensiveness of recent history syllabuses certainly suggests progress and impressive learning on paper, in Australia there has been very little widely disseminated evaluation of, or reflection about, what actually happens in practice. The tendency in Australia to enshrine elements of the ‘new’ history is nowhere better illustrated than with the source-based question in the Teaching History Modern History HSC exam.
