European Colonisation Taught as an Invasion
Olivia Day, Daily Mail, April 29, 2021
Proposed changes to the national curriculum will see school students taught that First Nations Australians experienced European colonisation as an invasion.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) also advised the terms Aboriginal and Indigenous be replaced with First Nations Australians or Australian First Nations Peoples.
In a report released for discussion on Thursday, ACARA said it found a lack of ‘truth telling’ about the experience of First Nations Peoples since European settlement, and raised concerns about the ‘accuracy and adequacy’ of the current curriculum.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures is a cross-curriculum priority, meaning the topic must be taught across all disciplines including maths, science and history.
There is much ground to be made up in Australian schools in learning about the full gamut of our past. We must be better informed about all sides of our history.
Curriculum proposals deserve support, not another iteration of the history wars
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The “history wars” were re-ignited last week when the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority released its draft review of the national education curriculum for public consultation.
It’s a complex document, covering every aspect of education from prep upwards, and many of its suggested changes to the current curriculum are uncontentious and unremarkable.
Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge.
Credit:Meredith O’Shea
ACARA’s recommendations include that maths classes include more units on financial literacy, that business classes are more about entrepreneurship, that there is more content at all class levels about consent in personal relationships, and that primary school students are taught to have a greater awareness of online security.
Curriculum proposals deserve support, not another iteration of the history wars smh.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from smh.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The federal Education Minister says the emphasis on teaching First Nations culture and perspectives should not come at the expense of Australia’s Western heritage.