The political football of curriculum reignites the culture wars

Steven Kolber, Teacher

 

The culture wars have been reignited by Ministers of Education, tapping into the earlier History Wars and bringing discussion of the Australian Curriculum consultation document into mainstream media reportage.

 

This continues an ongoing challenge to education, where ill-informed political intervention into teaching matters leads to reductive and simplistic conclusions. These simplistic conclusions overlook the genuine expertise and professionalism of teachers and show a bizarre disconnection and misunderstanding of teachers’ work. 

The Australian Curriculum is essentially an internal document, not really relevant to those not connected in delivering it. My experience of reading the proposed changes to the Australian Curriculum: Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) curriculum was one of simple appreciation. The streamlining and reduction of content will lighten the burden of an overstuffed curriculum and the greater embedding of the general capabilities is appreciated, making the work of curriculum coordinators across our nation easier.

Sadly, after reading the summary of changes, I then looked broader to consider the coverage of these changes within the mainstream media. This is where a humble 267-page document, which is limited in both ambition and scope, and ought to remain the purview of teachers, becomes a political football. 

Yet, in Australia, and perhaps other Neoliberal Western Democracies, conversations about curriculum (and the endless urge to review them) are political fodder for points scoring within a broader culture war. These ongoing culture wars mimic the earlier ‘History Wars’ circling around Keith Windschuttle who proposed that a ‘black armband view of history’ was being pushed by left wing academics. These ideas have found a new home with the ACs move to include the perspective of Indigenous Australians. Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge’s comments that coverage of the viewpoint of Indigenous Australians, in regards to genocide and invasion should be emphasised, but that “equally, that should not come at the expense of dishonouring our Western heritage” displays this tension.

Within history parlance this is referred to as ‘White blindfold history’, and in this context, it means taking a blindfold to a realistic view of our society. The vision we teachers see from our classrooms is not one of a Western culture, nor of a ‘Judeo-Christian tradition’ but a multicultural and pluralist society, shaped and reshaped in the eyes of the generation of students who we teach.

Tudge proposes that students learning and understanding ‘their’ Western heritage will increase the likelihood that they will defend our democracy. The kernel of this idea is sound but wrongly connected to curriculum. Trust in democracy as the preferred version of governance is declining and has been this way for over a decade in Australia. Despite this there have not been any significant or successful changes to the HASS curriculum, or Civics and Citizenship education proposed as solutions. Having just completed reading Keith Heggart’s excellent book, Activist Citizenship Education, it seems rather important that young people might need to be involved in the process and action of democracy. Disconnected teaching of values, be they Western or otherwise does not work. Just as past actions like installing flagpoles and posters of Simpson’s donkey within schools, the teaching of democracy in a lifeless and disconnected manner is also ineffective.

The modest changes to the HASS curriculum provide support for teachers to do their job well, however, the constant meddling and discussion of elements of this work beyond the remit of politicians does the exact opposite.

Teachers who access news are now all-too familiar with the concept of teacher bashing, coming, as it does, from multiple media sources and increasingly the leadership of said profession. The corollary of this is teacher empowerment, where teachers put aside these irrelevant distractions and build up one another through action and activism.

For teachers of HASS, this means moving from the written curriculum to the enacted curriculum, presenting the world’s history in a way that is relevant and appealing to the students who they face, in the context where they teach. As it always has been, regardless of the continued lack of support and indeed open criticism from many quarters.

We continue to teach the past, linking to the present, with an imagination filled with a system where those who do teach, are trusted to do so. And those who have thoughts without expertise are ignored and rightly placed aside. Where teachers are left to teach and where curriculum is not a political football. But rather is something that reveals the realities of the past, and the present, to our students: the future.

 

Originally Published: Teacher Magazine - EducationHQ  (Physical)

Running Word Count: 55,513