Historical Significance: Giving Meaning to Local Places

Harcourt, Michael

doi:10.5040/9781474285476.ch-007

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Most historians believe its core appeal lies in the thrill of historical investigation and exercise of historical thinking skills; skills that bring together all stages of historical cognition through engagement with and evaluation of historical sources (Wineburg, 2001). Historical thinking draws on inquiry-based, 'handson' learning to build critical engagement with historical sources and has been a core element of the history curriculum in Aotearoa New Zealand since 2007 (Harcourt, 2016). The more interesting the historical exploration, the more the historical imagination is engaged, and the greater likelihood of continued enthusiasm for history (Doull, Russell & Hales, 2020).…”

Section: The Context For This Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

What for the future, from learning the past?

Neill

Bell

Belgrave

et al. 2022

nzaroe

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Important curriculum development work has progressed since the 2019 announcement that Aotearoa New Zealand histories would become compulsory learning across all schools. Much effort has gone into considering how learning ‘our’ histories can engage, inspire and empower children in schools through years 1 to 10, and recent writing has focused on how to address challenges in building knowledge and capability to meet those aims. However, what will be the effects beyond those years? Will students still be drawn to choose history in their senior school years, or will they be ‘over it’? In a quest to gauge the implications of the new curriculum, our research team surveyed secondary school history students on their motivations and areas of interest in learning history, and their views on Aotearoa New Zealand history becoming compulsory for Years 1-10. Findings from our research confirmed that students’ past engagement with history influenced their ongoing interest, motivation and understanding of the subject. However, the positive learning that had drawn them to history was often about everyone else’s history rather than their own. Students identified international histories – often involving war or conflict – as favourite topics. So, while most supported the implementation of the new curriculum, they equally expressed concern that the local focus should not be at the expense of wider perspectives. They felt history could become repetitive and boring; elements which could put students off engaging with history in future. We conclude by presenting important considerations for ensuring such negative impacts do not occur.

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Section: The Context For This Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%