FAMILY groups and educators have welcomed a review of the national curriculum that aims to restore recognition of the influence of Western civilisation on Australia’s history.
Federal Minister for Education Christopher Pyne announced the review on January 5, saying it was prompted by the concerning results of students over the past decade.
Research officer for Family Voice Australia (FVA), Ros Phillips, said the national curriculum was “deeply flawed” and needed attention.
“Most Australian children have very little idea about the key teachings of major world religions that have greatly influenced world history,” she said. “Australian history courses, even when studied, have often ignored the Christian influences that gave us democracy and religious freedom.”
Former director of Sydney’s Centre for the Study of Western Tradition, Luciano Boschiero, said although the timing was not ideal, reviewing the curriculum was a good idea.
“Christopher Pyne’s arguments that the nation’s European traditions should feature in our school curriculum, especially in our history program, are completely justifiable,” he said.
“We should not forget that our nation’s history and identity is inevitably tied to Western civilisation and it is immensely important that our students remain cognisant of that.”
But Dr Boschiero said it was also important to remember that Western civilisation is “not exclusively Christian”.
“Western civilisation is tied heavily to the rise of Semitic traditions, including Judaic and Islamic culture,” he said. “When we either defend or criticise Mr Pyne for referring to Western civilisation, we should be wary that we are talking about a tradition that is rich in its cultural diversity.”
Kevin Donnelly, who, with Ken Wiltshire, was appointed to lead the review, told the ABC that Australia has a strong Christian heritage that needed to be taught in schools.
“We are a Western, liberal, democratic nation, our heritage is one that goes back to Judeo-Christian tradition,” he said. “If you look at Federation, for example, in 1901, 90 per cent of Australians described themselves as Christians, so you can’t airbrush that from history, it has to be recognised.”
Writing for his think-tank, the Education Standards Institute, Dr Donnelly, who is a senior research fellow at Australian Catholic University, has said that the current history curriculum “undervalues Western civilisation and the significance of Judeo-Christian values to our institutions and way of life”.
He has also criticised the postmodern, subjective approach the curriculum utilises, where topics such as citizenship “means different things to people at different times and depending on personal perspectives, their social situation and where they live”.
It’s not just the subject of history that Dr Donnelly seeks to improve, but also the teaching of English in schools.
“The English national curriculum adopts an exploded definition of literature, one where classic works from the literary canon jostle for attention alongside SMS messages, film posters, graffiti and multi-modal texts,” he wrote last year.
The national curriculum was approved in December 2010 and governs teaching in schools up to Year 12. It is due to be adopted in New South Wales this year, while other states have already adopted staged implementation.
A preliminary report will be submitted in March, and a final report in July. Mr Pyne has earmarked 2015 as the year any changes recommended by the review come into effect.