Getting on with the important work of decolonising Australian History education
Rebecca Cairns
Decolonising Australian History Education book cover (Routledge, 2024). Possum skin cloak photo by Al Fricker, 2023.
History curriculum is again making news with headlines like ‘Colonisation will be taught in school as curriculum in NSW is overhauled’ and ‘Studying colonisation and Aboriginal resistance to be mandatory in NSW high schools.’ This is not to say that studying the effects of colonisation and the resistance of First Nations People have not been part of national and state curricula before. Rather, by foregrounding Aboriginal Peoples Experiences of Colonisation as a core depth study, the revised NSW History curriculum aims to ensure First Nations histories and perspectives are not overlooked among other options and broader narratives of Australian history.
This sort of prioritisation has potential to challenge the dominance of colonial narratives in the telling of Australian history and make space for the sort of truth-telling now advocated for by the Australian Curriculum version 9.0. However, as Kenyes highlights although there “is a new consensus emerging about the importance of truth-telling in education,” there is still much to be done to “disrupt colonial knowledge, ways of knowing and the colonial power structures they continue to uphold.”
A new edited collection, Decolonising Australian History Education: Fresh perspectives from beyond the ‘history wars’ seeks to support the Australian history education community to engage in the these processes of prioritisation and disruption. The 12 chapters from Indigenous and non-Indigenous education researchers explore strategies for decolonising Australian history education in early childhood settings through to primary and secondary contexts, and beyond. Importantly, the chapters examine the latest research and theoretical developments in ways that are accessible for educators at all career stages, while acknowledging that there are no quick fixes.
The collection highlights that ongoing critical self-reflection, or decolonising self, is a crucial action for non-Indigenous history educators seeking to decolonise their practice. In the Foreword, Gundijtmara Elder, Professor Mark Rose urges readers to “recognise the boundaries of your paradigms and the sources and intentions of your tacit assumptions.” The collection provides practical examples of and steps for facilitating the deep listening and reflecting this necessitates. While this work can be individually and collectively difficult and discomforting, Professor Rose encourages readers to “be prepared to experience the exhilaration of going to a brave space.” Overall, the collection illustrates that decolonising history education is fundamentally an ethical project requiring recognition of one’s own positionality.
Decolonising history education also involves systemic critique. Chapters prompt the critical evaluation of the sorts of historical sources and voices, resources, curriculum documents and pedagogical approaches used in History classrooms, as well as evaluating how the socio-political conditions of education can act to maintain coloniality. As Weuffen, Fricker and Cairns argue in the closing chapter, “decoloniality tackles the implicit, unspoken, unquestioned, and assumed undercurrents of western ideologies woven into the fabric of Australian education.” To assist in making the implicit more explicit, some chapters identify strategies for enacting History curriculum in ways that decentre westerncentrism and make space for intercultural and localised narratives that elevate First Nations Peoples histories and perspectives.
Other illustrations focus on listening to First Nations leaders and young people about how history education can be transformed, being informed about formal truth-telling processes, listening to stories on and from Country, building relations with First Nations communities and organisations, supporting schools to audit curriculum and resources, and finding resources and texts created by First Nations authors.
Decolonising Australian History Education is not a Deakin project, though owing to the strengths of Deakin education researchers, a number of the contributors are associated with Deakin and the Transforming Curriculum, Assessment and Pedagogy (TCAP) research group, which publishes this blog. As one of the co-editors, I gratefully acknowledge the work of all contributors and all the Australian educators and students who go to “a brave space.”
Rebecca Cairns lives and works on Wadawurrung Country as a non- Indigenous researcher and senior lecturer at the Deakin University School of Education. Prior to this, she taught in secondary schools. Her curriculum inquiry research examines the complexities of how we do curriculum, focusing on focusing on history education, studies of Asia, and decolonising practices.
No GenAI tools were used in the writing of this post.