Asia in the history curriculum

Dr Deborah Henderson, Associate Professor of Cultural and Language Studies in Education at Queensland University of Technology, opens this forum in the video on the right hand side.

She is enthusiastic about the opportunity presented by the new Asia priority in the Australian Curriculum. 'This is an opportunity... to take our students on an exciting journey into the future. And Asia is a core part of that future.'

So have your say. What do you think about the upcoming challenges and opportunities posed by the Australian Curriculum? Do you share Deborah's enthusiasm?

Teaching contested history

Deborah goes on to discuss the teaching of controversial historical topics. 'I think we should embrace these issues because there are rational and intelligent ways to unpack the issues.

'Let's look at the issues, the debates, the questions,' she says. Do you agree that controversial issues should be embraced in the history classroom? 

Deborah continues: 'In history we have the inquiry process where... we're embedding a deeper intellectual engagement. We're drawing on higher order thinking and our students then are empowered with the intellectual skills to deal with these sorts of issues.'

She asks: 'How can we find out more? What are the resources? How can we be sure we're getting a range of balanced views?'

We invite you to share your thoughts and experiences on the comment board below.