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Great Britain have diminished significantly, replaced with an increase in topics related to
multiculturalism and cultural diversity (see, for example, Department of Education 1988b).
Especially in the primary years, students are exposed to very little information about
Australia’s past (or current) connections with Great Britain. Other than a unit in year 5 that
briefly includes information about the reasons for the British colonisation of Australia and the
beginning years of colonial history, there are no other explicit examples of British heritages
in core curriculum. Even when content specifically related to actions by Great Britain is
included in the Social Studies or History curriculum, it is mitigated through terminology of
an undefined Europe, not recognising that (especially during the period of history events that
form the curriculum occurred—the late 18 th century), Great Britain did not refer to itself as
Europe, but as a distinct nation and imperial empire, as did the other nations in Europe. To
describe British colonisation as “The first European settlement” (Department of Education,
1988a, p. 26) is to ignore basic facts of history, namely first only Great Britain colonised the
Australian continent; and second to attribute recognition of the role Great Britain played in
Australia’s early colonisation period. Instead, students receive a type of anonymous version
of Australia’s national history that does not aid in equipping them with an accurate
representation of the facts of early colonial history, however positive, negative, celebratory or
shameful these representations are.
The following statement by Gilbert explores some of the criticisms that can be lodged at a
Social Studies or History curriculum that emphasises personal and social development at the
expense of other curriculum considerations. He writes:
While the adoption of a structured disciplinary approach was one reaction to rote
learning and moralising, another was to see the social studies as a context for
students to personally explore their own values, self and social relationships.
Dominated by a concern for relevance to personal issues and social experience, this
approach led to emphases on life skills, interpersonal skills and social issues.
While students need studies that connect with their experiences and raise issues
of concern for their personal lives, the difficulty in this version of social education is
the lack of a clear foundation for such a study. How is the study of personal
development to avoid moralising and indoctrination? What conceptual or analytical
tools and thinking skills can such a course offer students? Would the focus on
individual experience and self lead to the neglect of a broad social and environmental
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