How can the History National Curriculum be best structured to support Asian content and focus as core curriculum?
The national curriculum should make the study of Asia and the incorporation of references to Asian people, cultures, places, events, sources and artefacts a mandatory part of the study of History. It is not enough to enable teachers and students to choose to study Asia: the data indicate that where this occurs, only a minority take-up the option – both students and their teachers. Accordingly, there are key criteria that apply at each stage of schooling, and for each year in the history curriculum: • Each year of schooling should include some mandatory study of Asian history and/or of the experience of Australians of Asian background. • Primary and secondary sources at all year levels should include those from Australia, Asia and Europe. • On balance across the years of schooling, there should be a rough equivalence in the history curriculum in the time spent on studies related to Asia and those related to Europe. • Consistently throughout schooling the Overview section of courses shou
