Education
Book Details

Teaching the Nation

Politics and Pedagogy in Australian History

Academic Monograph

Anna Clark

The 'History Wars' have come to dominate discussion of Australian history in recent years, playing out over various national sites of celebration and commemoration.

About this Title

The 'History Wars' have come to dominate discussion of Australian history in recent years, and have been waged over various national sites of celebration and commemoration.

Anna Clark suggests that this anxiety over Australia's past has intensified as debate grows over how to teach 'our history' to 'our children'.

Arguments rage over whether to teach the colonisation of Australia as an 'invasion' or a 'settlement', and whether students need to know Australia's first prime minister. Meanwhile, many school children still think Australian history is boring and irrelevant.

In light of John Howard's recent call for a change in how history is currently taught in schools, Teaching the Nation examines the politics and pedagogy of Australian history education at a time when the nation's history seems more hotly debated than ever.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Author's note

Abbreviations

Introduction: Our history, our children

1. The politics of history education

2. An international debate

3. The syllabus in the making

4. Teaching and learning history

5. History in a national framework

6. Tomorrow's citizens

Conclusion: Inheriting the nation

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Anna Clark is an Australian Postdoctoral Fellow in history education at Monash University. With Stuart Macintyre, she wrote The History Wars (Melbourne University Press 2003), and has recently published Convicted!, a history book for children (2005).

978-0-522-85234-9