Many nations have experienced conflict over the content of their History curriculum, and debates over the relative importance of skills (historical thinking) versus content (historical knowledge). Australia is no exception. This paper seeks to contribute to discussions over the importance of historical thinking in History education by exploring the changing conceptions of historical thinking in the History curricula of New South Wales (NSW) (Australia's most populous state; which evolved from the earliest British colony; has an uninterrupted tradition of History teaching in high schools; and a rather unique post-compulsory extension course). Recently, History has become a mandatory subject in all Australian schools from the foundation year through to the last year of compulsory schooling [F-10], for the first time since the federation of the Australian states (1901), when curriculum was constitutionally determined to be a State responsibility. This paper charts the changing forms and relative importance of historical thinking as an explicit outcome of History education in NSW History curricula, from its emergence in the 1970s elective History curriculum to current explication in the NSW syllabi for the mandatory Australian 'national' Curriculum. It also explores the nature and significance of the post-compulsory 'senior' History extension course in NSW, an option for History students in the final non-compulsory year of schooling. This extension course boldly incorporates the study of historiography, requiring students to apply their meta-historical insights in an original historiographic investigation, anchoring complex historical theory in an experience of being an historian. We argue that the move to incorporate historiography into the curriculum expands . A Austrália não é uma exceção. Este artigo busca contribuir para as discussões sobre a importância do pensamento histórico no ensino da História explorando as concepções em mudança de pensamento histórico nos currículos de história de New South Wales (NSW) (o mais populoso estado da Austrália, que evoluiu de uma antiga colônia britânica e tem uma ininterrupta tradição de ensino de história no ensino médio, e um curso adicional ao ensino obrigatório, que é único no país). Recentemente, a história se tornou um tema obrigatório em todas as escolas australianas, desde o primeiro fundamental até o último ano da escola obrigatória (F-10), pela primeira vez desde a federalização dos estados australianos (1901), quando se determinava constitucionalmente que o currículo era uma responsabilidade do Estado. Este artigo mapeia as formas cambiantes e a importância relativa do pensamento histórico como um resultado explícito do ensino de história nos currículos de história de NSW, desde o seu surgimento no currículo de história eletivo da década de 1970 até a explicitação nas ementas de NSW para o Currículo "nacional" obrigatório australiano. Ele também explora a natureza e o significado do curso adicional "sênior" de história posterior à escola obrigatória de NSW...

In the digitally reliant twenty-first century, the exclusivity of printed sources for investigating and interpreting the past has been eroded, and other modes of historical interpretations, such as film, virtual reality simulations and online museums, have found a growing audience and influence. History education has followed suit in Australia, with a range of multimodal sources commonly featured in history teaching programmes (Donnelly, 2018). Film has become an increasingly popular choice as teachers strive to engage a student population accustomed to multimodality, and with technological upgrades facilitating viewings in learning spaces (Donnelly, 2014a). Using data from history teacher practice studies, this paper argues that films have the potential to impact historical consciousness, and proposes a model of the pedagogical mechanisms at work in these instances. Implementation strategies and practices are further illustrated by reference to two teaching protocol exemplars, the weekly plans of which are included in the paper.

The Ghanaian senior high-school history curriculum encourages teachers to guide students to explore, question and construct historical interpretations, rather than accept established historical narratives. This study investigates how those teachers conceive and implement the curriculum intent by exploring their pedagogical reasoning and classroom practices. The project described in this paper draws from a range of investigative instruments including in-depth interviews, classroom observations, post-lesson interviews and teachers’ planning paperwork from 15 public senior high schools in Ghana’s Central Region. This research found that teachers’ pedagogical reasoning was consistent with constructivist educational theory as well as responsive to the history curriculum, but that their stated understandings did not align with classroom practice. The findings indicate limited constructivist strategies in history lessons, as most teachers were didactic in approach and tended to teach history as a grand narrative.

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