2023 Annual Conference

Day One: History Education for the Citizens of the Future
Dr Carolyn Holbrook, Deakin University

The discipline of History has always been concerned with educating the citizens of the future. For the first decades of Australian nationhood, this largely consisted of inculcating young Australians in the virtues of British imperial liberalism—the kind of citizenship education that sent 60,000 young men to their deaths in World War I. The relationship between the History discipline and the nation-state has fractured over the last several decades, but the importance of instilling in young Australians the skills to be active and informed citizens is no less urgent. How should we respond, as History educators, to the multitude of challenges our young people will inherit, the flood of disinformation and the rise of alarmingly sophisticated artificial intelligence, threats to democracy and declining faith in democratic systems, the crisis of housing affordability and the climate emergency? I argue that academic historians need to orient our research more explicitly to the challenges of the present, and to be more prominent advocates for the value of historical knowledge. We must also rediscover our interest in class as a category of analysis, in response to the dramatic rise in equality. As will be argued, tertiary educators can benefit by increased communication with our colleagues in the secondary system about the needs and interests of the citizens of the future.

Dr Carolyn Holbrook is a historian at Deakin University. Her research includes the history of Australian federalism, the concept of national security, anti-tobacco campaigning, Medicare and memory of World War I. Her most recent publication is Lessons from History: Leading Historians Tackle Australia’s Greatest Challenges, co-edited with Lyndon Megarrity and David Lowe (NewSouth, 2022).

• Download the PowerPoint: History Education for the Citizens of the Future

Day Two: The Power of Knowledge
Ashley Keith Pratt, Melbourne Girls Grammar, and Reid Smith, La Trobe University

Join Ashley and Reid as they explore the idea of ‘powerful knowledge’ within History and the role that a knowledge-rich curriculum has on improving student learning outcomes within our classrooms and schools. In this keynote, Ashley will explore the background to this way of viewing the purpose of school curriculum and how it relates to our History classrooms. Reid will then look at the impact that this way of constructing curriculum has on students’ ability to live in and understand their world.

Ashley Keith Pratt is President of HTAV and Executive Director of Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Innovation at Melbourne Girls Grammar. Ashley completed his Master of Education at the University of Melbourne with a focus on historical thinking and curriculum theory. Ashley is a regular presenter for HTAV on pedagogical content knowledge within the History discipline.

Reid Smith is a teacher who has worked in curriculum and instruction at both primary and secondary levels. He is also a member of La Trobe University’s Science of Language and Reading Lab and is co-CEO of Ochre Education, a not-for-profit organisation committed to closing equity gaps by sharing teacher practice.

• Download the PowerPoint: The Power of Knowledge