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How the Teaching and Learning of History has Changed



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2. How the Teaching and Learning of History has Changed

Beginning in the 1970s, there was a dramatic change in the way that young people studied History in schools. This change was encapsulated in the term the ‘New History’. It had its origins in Britain, but its impact was soon felt in continental Europe, the United States and Australia. That impact continues today, and it can be seen in the way History is conceptualised and applied in the Key Learning Area of Studies of Society and Environment.



2.1 The ‘Old History’

Until the 1970s, the ‘Old History’ had dominated schools. History was presented as a straightforward and undebated chronicle of the past. It was often the story of heroic men and their wondrous achievements. The ‘Old History’ celebrated the achievements of nationalism, imperialism, militarism and industrialism. In Australian schools, History had a strong Eurocentric emphasis. Much of what was taught focused on events and developments in Britain and continental Europe, and on the expansion of European influence in the rest of the world.


These ‘Old History’ approaches dominated the historical elements of Social Studies courses in primary schools and the subject of History in secondary schools. Students spent much time reading the set textbook, listening to the teacher embellish and explain the stories in the text, and memorising key information about historical personalities, events and developments. When undertaking projects, students often copied extracts from encyclopaedia and texts, and dressed them up with illustrations and colourful headings.
There was also a moral aspect to such teaching, as stories of heroism and achievement were used to affirm such desirable values as diligence, bravery, altruism and honesty. Characters such as Raleigh, Drake, Sidney, Horatio and a faithful Russian servant leapt from the pages of Social Studies readers - spreading a cloak for the Queen, calmly finishing a game of bowls, giving a cup of water to a dying soldier, defending a bridge, or sacrificing self to save a noble family from wolves. Occasionally, a woman made an inspiring appearance, nursing the wounded by lamplight in the Crimea, saving young immigrant girls in Sydney from fates worse than death, or braving the surf to rescue shipwrecked souls.

2.2 The ‘New History’

The New History began to change all that, especially under the influence of the innovative Schools Council History 13-16 project in Britain. New approaches challenged the key features of the old History and Social Studies: the undisputed character of the past; the objectivity of historical accounts; the supremacy of Eurocentric values and achievements; the dominant role of the teacher; the relative passivity of the student; the emphasis on rote learning of information. And, at the same time, new developments in Social Studies (largely emanating from the USA) dovetailed with the influence of the New History. These developments ushered in a focus on inquiry, including the new approaches to both primary and secondary sources that are widespread today.



2.3 Students using secondary sources

Put simply, these new approaches encourage young people to see that histories are interpretations of the past, and that they are constructed using the available sources of evidence. Thus, histories are partial in two senses – they are incomplete (because no-one can have all the evidence, and tell the whole story) and they reflect the backgrounds and beliefs of the people who produce them (because it’s impossible to tell the objective story of the past). Students are therefore encouraged to read histories more critically – to discern perspectives, standpoints and biases.


Here’s an extract from a written History (a secondary source) that was used in Queensland primary schools from around 1920 until the 1950s.

Progress of Britain from 1714 till 1820


During the eighteenth century Britain made a great advance in trade and manufactures, in wealth, and in the number of her people...

... the brains and hands of clever and resolute men found out the means of making goods with far more ease, speed, and cheapness than had ever before been possible. Machines, instead of hands, began to spin and weave...

Not only in cotton and in wool, but in silk and iron, and many other articles, steam soon gave our workmen the first place in the markets of the world. The trade of the country grew so fast that the Thames, the Tyne, and the Mersey were filled with forests of masts, borne by ships that sailed to and from every part of the world...

In this same age, by conquest and discovery alike, the British Empire was much enlarged. In India, our power grew under the rule of Warren Hastings, Lord Cornwallis, and Lord Wellesley, brother of the Duke of Wellington.

In the course of the great war we became masters of the Cape of Good Hope, Malta, and other places of value. New lands of settlement for colonists were either first found or first explored, by the famous Captain James Cook.

History Reader Book VI, Blackie and Sons, Glasgow, c. 1920.
Using a ‘New History’ perspective, the standpoints and biases of this version of past events might be discerned through some probing questions, such as:


  1. What types of activity are praised in this source?

  2. What types of people are praised in this source?

  3. In the description of industrialisation, which people seem to be left out of the story?

  4. In the description of industrialisation, what bad effects are not mentioned?

  5. In this source, are ‘conquest’ and ‘discovery’ praised, or criticised?

  6. The source refers to ‘settlement’ of ‘new lands’. What word(s) might an indigenous person use instead of ‘settlement’? Why?

  7. What words in the source suggest that the author thinks ‘nationalism’, ‘industrialisation’, ‘growth’ and ‘colonisation’ are good, or at least sees them as ‘natural’ or ‘normal’?

  8. What words in the source suggest that the author thinks a male-dominated society and a social class system are good, or at least sees them as ‘natural’ or ‘normal’?

The source above, being from early in the twentieth century, is perhaps an easy target to critique. But students could also think critically about a more recent source dealing with the same topic, as below:



'Revolutions in Agriculture and Industry'


Until she was overtaken by her rivals, Britain led the world in the production of manufactured goods. She was for a time the world's greatest producer of coal, iron and steel... The nation was rich and powerful, but the common people had paid a heavy price, as we shall see...

The related changes in agriculture and industry had a great effect on ordinary people. Child labour, exploitation of women, low wages, long hours, uncertain employment, dangerous factories, and disease-ridden slums resulted. These became known as the 'seven deadly sins'...

The factories around which the slums spread were described by the poet Blake as 'dark satanic mills'. Although a few factories were well run, most workers found them to be a hell on earth...

The fencing of machinery, the Ten Hour Day (1848), better wages, and the restriction of the use of child labour, were only some of the reforms gained as the union movement grew stronger... Life for the working-class family gradually improved as new laws were passed to regulate factories.

Margaret Macfarlane 'Revolutions in Agriculture and Industry' in B. Hoepper et al 1978, Horizons, Thomas Nelson Australia, Melbourne, pp. 202, 205-6.
Students could ask similar questions about this source. In particular, they might note that this author does refer to some elements overlooked by the earlier author – the experiences of ‘common people’; social and economic disadvantages; the need for reform; political and legislative responses. Still, they might also note that the overall message is still an optimistic one, that celebrates growth and progress and that suggests that existing systems are capable of providing effective remedies for social ills.



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