Recently, the Federal Education Minister, Alan Tudge, called upon the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) to substantially rewrite the new draft of the Australian Curriculum. Among other subjects, he focused on History and Civics and Citizenship, arguing that, in the new draft, “important historical events are removed or reframed, such as the emphasis on invasion theory over Australia Day. Even Anzac Day is presented as a contested idea, rather than the most sacred of all days…”
Such a statement betrays a startling ignorance about the teaching of History, and indeed, history itself, but it does reveal the Federal Government’s attitude towards teaching and education. It is a strictly conservative mindset, centred on idolising a romanticised and perhaps non-existent past, and certainly lacking any endeavour to challenge the status quo. It is citizenship as the storing up of historical knowledge, not citizenship as an active endeavour central to democratic society.
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