IEU Urges a Perspective in the History Debate

17 August 2006, 4:24pm 

''The Independent Education Union supports the teaching of history in schools''

"Indeed, the teaching of history, and indeed Australian history, is already a compulsory requirement of the curriculum in many jurisdictions, that can be successfully taught in integrated programs and involves developing a range of skills and knowledge, of which ‘dates' are but one aspect"

"However, the IEU is concerned about the continuing politicisation of schooling by the current federal government."

"While the teaching of history is important, one has to recognise that there is a finite limit to the amount of ‘subject' responsibility and testing that schools can be responsible for, yet this federal government seems intent in forcing more and more onto schools"

"The school curriculum is already overcrowded. While the teaching of history, and importantly Australian history, is important, the federal government has only behaved to exacerbate the overcrowded curriculum."

In recent times schools have faced not only additional workloads arising from national testing and reporting requirements in English, mathematics and science but also ministerial proposals to make schools responsible for teaching and assessing

consumer and financial literacy, civic and citizenship testing, values education, career education from kindergarten to year 12,increased commitment to physical activity programs for students and responsibility for diet education.

"Australian education deserves a genuine debate about curriculum. The federal government's repeated threats to withdraw funding whenever a matter comes up for discussion is simply unhelpful."

The IEU supports an understanding of our rich history and indeed believes that an examination of historical documents such as the ‘Federation Debates' can be instructive in these times, especially given the federal government's IR legislation and recent views on Australian ports. As Mr Wise stated at the Adelaide convention in 1897: ‘The danger to the States interests ...is not, as I understand it, the encroachment of the Federal Government upon the powers which the Constitution limits to the States, but the improper exercise by the Federal Government of its powers in Federal matters to the injury of the States.'

Contact details

Chris Watt 
Assistant Federal Secretary 
Ph: 03 92541830 
Fax: 03 92541835 
cwatt@ieu.org.au