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It is important that students have an understanding of the contemporary world. This
can only be achieved by placing into perspective its historical origins. This exposure
to the recent past should give students a knowledge and awareness which will assist
their comprehension of the world in which they live. (Board of Secondary School
Studies, 1987)
This rationale emphasizes the importance of understanding history within a contemporary
context, an aspect of study particularly relevant for the Indigenous representations exemplar
topic for this research, due to the significance of the political rights (particularly land rights)
movement in the 1960s and 1970s. The syllabus content is structured into ten semester units
(see Source 7.6) from which teachers select four as learning experiences for students (to
cover the four semesters across years 11 and 12).
Source 7.6. Semester Units extract from Senior syllabus in Modern History (Board of
Secondary School Studies, 1987, p. 4)
The Crossroads textbooks, written and edited by H.R. Cowie encompass the ten units across
the five textbooks that comprise the series, following closely the structure of the syllabus.
This reinforces that it is appropriate to select this textbook series as a representative example
of a textbook that translates the syllabus to classroom learning experiences.
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