Why Is It Difficult to Decide on a Nation-Wide Curriculum for Australian History?

~ Introduction
- Why is it difficult to decide on a nation-wide curriculum for Australian History?
- Two issues, whether we should have a nation-wide curriculum, and what to include.
- I’ll be discussing these two issues from different perspectives

~ Should we have a curriculum?
- Obvious that abiding to a curriculum is important
- “Students are unlikely to acquire essential knowledge if it is not prescribed in curriculum documents.”
- Professor Parlo Singh, head of the school of Education and Professional Studies at Griffith University.
- Push for Australia-wide curriculum for history by the government over last two decades
- Great support
- "This would be an essential and required core part of all students' learning experience to prepare them for the 21st century," conference delegates said in a communique. A summit of the government, history experts and academics in Canberra agreed to urge the states to make Australian history a key part of students' learning and to make it a compulsory, standalone subject in years nine and 10.
- The Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has called for state-based school curriculum authorities to be abolished by 2010 in favour of a national curriculum authority.
- It could do away with 800 jobs which were duplicated across Australia, and save $20mil. This would make it an economically sound change.
- "A national curriculum authority would provide not only consistency of learning across the country but sufficient flexibility for teachers in our classrooms to be providing local resources to meet that curriculum,"
- Queensland Premier Anna Bligh
- Could be made flexible to allow local content
- Could help promote nationalism, bring the nation closer.
- Also promotes a sense of Australian identity
- Learning Australian history provides a context for students to understand their identity.

~ What to include?
- Great debate as to what to put into this nation-wide curriculum for history.
- We need to ensure that... [continues]

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