History in the Australian National Curriculum: Content, Competency and Controversy

Abstract

This paper focuses on the process and structure of Australia’s history curriculum, which was established as a national curriculum in the last decade. The study traces the background of major political and social debate in formulating that curriculum and analyzes its structure. This research deepens the analysis of how two pillars were created in constructing the curriculum: content, which is historical knowledge to be acquired; and competency, which signifies skills to be developed. In the development of Australia’s history education, content-based teaching transformed into a competency-based approach around the 1960s. However, because of “history wars,” history teaching widely became public controversy. Conservative politicians believed that students should learn chronological narrative history, and they promoted a national curriculum for history. Accordingly, Australia’s history curriculum was launched in 2011. The curriculum structure comprises two main strands: historical knowledge and understanding; and historical inquiry and skills.