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Demonstrating the progressive move away from a wholly prescriptive syllabus of the earlier
years of the 20 th century to a more abstract description of desired learning experiences and
outcomes, this syllabus does not prescribe set content. Rather, it establishes a set of
objectives categorised into the following four areas: basic knowledge; thinking processes;
social skills; and attitudes, feelings and sensitivities. Using the syllabus as a guiding
document, teachers then developed their own programs for their class, with a scope and
sequence chart provided as a base for units of work. As can be seen in Source 7.5, this chart
is devoid of detail, covering all grades from 1-7 on one page. The onus therefore is placed on
teachers to interpret the syllabus in order to construct grade-appropriate units of work within
an overall program. However, as mentioned, sourcebooks were published by the Department
of Education which were constructed by the syllabus committee and provided ready-made
units of work for teachers to follow and implement in their classrooms (much in the same
way as the Social Studies for Queensland schools textbook series had previously been used
for this purpose). Therefore, whilst it is not possible to tell from the syllabus whether the two
exemplar topics, British heritages and Indigenous representations were present in the Social
Studies curriculum for primary grades, the accompanying sourcebooks can be used to
investigate whether and to what degree these representations were evident. As stated by then
Director-General of Education, I.J. Matheson in the foreword to the syllabus, regarding the
sourcebooks: “I am confident these books will greatly assist teachers in developing
stimulating and effective social studies programmes for children in primary
schools...I...recommend the use of these materials in Queensland schools” (Department of
Education, 1987b, p. iii).
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