The teaching of Australian History is about to be revamped in VCE classrooms. Significant changes to the Australian History VCE Study Design, as developed by the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority (VCAA), are to be implemented in 2022.

These changes in Victoria, the only state to offer Australian History at a senior level, have reignited meaningful conversations on teaching the history of the world’s longest continuing culture and one of the world’s oldest democracies. The changes are also an attempt to address dwindling numbers of enrolments in the subject.

Currently, four out of five VCE History students study other societies at Year 12, which would not occur in other democratic societies across the world. But a group of history educators are looking to change that.

Emeritus Professor Richard Broome AM notes,

“Australian history is clearly revolutionary in several ways. The past is not one story, but many stories, interwoven and entangled. Our history is not dead and gone but alive with the past, and it is this history that we must know if we are truly to know ourselves.”

Leading History teacher Ashley Keith Pratt says,

“There is moral urgency and a real desire to teach Australian History better than we have in the past. Internationally, changes in POC and Indigenous rights are spreading into Australian culture. Bruce Pascoe’s work has resonated within the local community and teachers are looking at the study with fresh eyes. Educators have realised scholarship has evolved from where we were.”

With these concerns at heart and in response to the new 2022 Study Design, Broome and Pratt are leading a team of experienced historians and practising teachers to publish a series of four new Australian History textbooks, exploring key themes in Australian history.

Analysing Australian History, published by Cambridge University Press in late 2021, follows the Study Design exactly, and has been reviewed by Indigenous scholars. Each textbook is driven by the use of historical sources, inviting students to examine a range of voices from our past, importantly including perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Dr Rosalie Triolo from Monash University, explains,

“This series, written by a team of Australia’s best historians and educators will foremost inform, as well as inspire, teachers and students in secondary schools. But it will also support learning and teaching in primary and tertiary contexts and be a significant resource for GLAM and local history communities. Indeed, the series will support anyone who values knowing and sharing with others Australia’s many rich histories.”

A percentage of each sale will be donated to the Indigenous Reading Project. Learn more about their valuable work at https://irp.org.au.

Analysing Australian History will be available for purchase through booksellers or through the Cambridge University Press Education website: www.cambridge.edu.au/education