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 TE
HU A
& M CH
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SC SO A IN
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IE CI NIT G
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viii
GUIDE TO THE TEXT

ix
x
GUIDE TO THE ONLINE RESOURCES

xi
 INTRODUCTION
Recent developments in the Australian Curriculum attest to the dynamism of curriculum
policy and practice, and the need for teachers to have a deep understanding of curriculum and
teaching so that they can respond to educational change in a professionally and academically
informed and discriminating way. Since the last edition of this book, the Humanities and
Social Sciences learning area has seen significant change, with the finalisation of subjects in
Civics and Citizenship and Business and Economics. Most significant, in the primary years, has
been the combining of the separate subjects of the learning area to form a single subject in
Humanities and Social Science, encouraging a fresh perspective on curriculum planning and
student learning. The continuing significance of general capabilities and cross-curriculum
priorities contributes to the opportunities and challenges faced by teachers and schools in
developing comprehensive and cohesive teaching and learning programs.
It is generally accepted that curriculum change is, and needs to be, a constant feature of a
dynamic and responsive education. In addition, any curriculum needs to be interpreted in light
of current understandings of student needs, contemporary events and theories of teaching and
learning. This interpretation requires a critical approach to curriculum and teaching informed
by a sound educational philosophy. The basic nature and aims of the Australian Curriculum
are well established, and this book demonstrates how to use them as a basis for planning and
teaching. At the same time, the book critiques aspects of the Australian Curriculum where
appropriate, and also addresses the challenges of teaching the humanities and social sciences
more generally. Its approach is based on a critical inquiry approach to the curriculum, which
is explained and elaborated in its various chapters.
In its overall thrust, the Australian Curriculum endorses teaching and learning that are
inquiry-based, engaging and relevant to students’ lives today and in the future. Accordingly,
the sixth edition of this book continues the approach of earlier editions in blending a deep
and critical understanding of the nature and purposes of the curriculum area with practical
professional knowledge and skills in teaching and learning. The principles and practices
explored are aimed at helping teachers to translate the Australian Curriculum into vibrant,
rigorous and effective teaching and learning.
While the book links closely to the Australian Curriculum, it does not attempt to
summarise the detail of curriculum content. This can be found in the various national,
state and territory curriculum documents and assessment profiles. The main focus is on
understanding how this content can be organised into a coherent set of experiences, related
to broader educational goals, and incorporated in plans for teaching and learning.
The organisation of the book recognises the broad structure of the Australian Curriculum.
Part 1 establishes the context for teaching humanities and social sciences, including the
development of the Australian Curriculum and the implications for curriculum and teaching
of global social change.
Part 2 deals with key processes of teaching within a broad inquiry model. It considers how
to plan activities, lessons and units which will develop important knowledge, understanding,

xii
 INTRODUCTION

thinking processes and skills, including those that are the focus of the Australian Curriculum’s
general capabilities, such as Critical and Creative Thinking and Ethical Understanding.
Chapters on assessment, language and learning and information and communication
technologies flesh out important aspects of teacher professional knowledge and practice as
they apply to this curriculum area.
Part 3 of the book addresses the disciplinary subjects which are the basis of the Humanities
and Social Sciences curriculum in the secondary years, and their role in an integrated approach
to HASS in the F–6/7 years. A major focus on history and geography is combined with
chapters on civics and citizenship and economics and business. The focus is on understanding
how to teach the key concepts, thinking processes and skills that underlie the subjects.
The final part of the book, Part 4, opens with a chapter on the opportunities for integrating
the various strands of the Australian Curriculum into an overall program, so important for
primary and early secondary school curriculum planning. This is followed by a consideration
of the three cross-curriculum priorities of the Australian Curriculum, and the crucial contribution
that the Humanities and Social Sciences learning area can make to them. The book concludes
with a discussion of global education and its key values of human rights, justice, peace and
sustainability which are perennial concerns for the humanities and social sciences.
Any curriculum will have greatest success if its parts come together to support the whole,
and the Australian Curriculum is no exception. Accordingly, this book aims to ensure a
consistent and interconnected approach to the various aspects of the learning area, rather than a
study of disconnected parts.
This consistency is assisted by learning devices to support readers as they work through the
chapters. For instance, the key questions addressed in each chapter are linked to the sections
that deal with them, and there are numerous activities for discussion, application and further
reflection, along with additional resources to broaden the inquiry.
The book deals with the curriculum from the early years to the end of compulsory
schooling, and emphasises the need for a developmental approach to planning across this
period of schooling. Numerous examples of ideas and activities, including snapshots and case
studies of classroom experiences, illustrate the application of the book’s approach to both
primary and secondary years.
The humanities and social sciences is a challenging and exciting field full of potential for its
students. It deals with questions that are central to their lives, and which are also among the
most significant issues for all people. It can show students the richness of human experience
in societies, cultures and environments of the past and present. It can help them to construct
visions of the future and to propose ways of achieving them. The principles and practices
explored in this book will help teachers to translate the Australian Curriculum into vibrant,
rigorous and effective teaching and learning programs that achieve this potential. Underlying
the work is a commitment to help teachers construct educational experiences that will assist
students to contribute to a just, democratic, peaceful and sustainable future.

xiii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors and Cengage Learning would like to thank the following reviewers for their
incisive and helpful feedback.
Paul Grover, Charles Sturt University
Vicente Reyes, University of New England
Deborah Green, University of South Australia
Linda Willis, University of Queensland
Kate Harvie, Deakin University
Tim Jetson, University of Tasmania
Peter Andersen, University of Wollongong
Pamela Smith, Charles Darwin University
Tim Perkins, University of Notre Dame
Wendy Harte, Griffith University
Snowy Evans, James Cook University
Paul Reitano, Griffith University
William Keane, Emmaus College; Swinburne University
Yvonne Salton, University of Southern Queensland

Education Services Australia Limited content

ª 2008 Education Services Australia Limited as the legal entity for the COAG Education
Council (Education Council), which is the successor to the Ministerial Council on Education,
Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. Cengage Learning Australia Pty Ltd has reproduced
extracts of the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (2008) (Text)
in this publication with permission from the copyright owner. The Text was endorsed by
Education Council. This publication is solely created by Cengage Learning Australia Pty Ltd
and does not represent the views of, and is not endorsed by, ESA or Education Council.

xiv
CONTEXT: THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL PART

1
SCIENCES IN THE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
Part 1 introduces the broad context of curriculum and teaching in the humanities and social
sciences (HASS) in two ways.
Chapter 1 discusses the current Australian Curriculum, including its most recent changes.
It explains how the Australian Curriculum draws on the visionary ideas of the 2008 Melbourne
Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. In translating that vision, the Australian
Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has developed a three-dimensional
design comprising specific subject curriculum documents, a set of seven general capabilities and
three cross-curriculum priorities. These elements are outlined in this chapter, and throughout
the book various chapters describe how that three-dimensional design works in the HASS
learning area and the subjects within it.
Five approaches to HASS curriculum are described, and the chapter identifies three that are
most likely to translate the vision of the Australian Curriculum into classroom practice:
mastering problem solving in the disciplines; participating effectively in society; and critical
social inquiry and action. The chapter considers the implications of the HASS curriculum for
teachers’ professional development. It envisages teachers who exhibit the knowledge, skills and
dispositions of globally competent teachers and who use a critically reflective, inclusive
approach to teaching. Finally, it considers the young people for whom the curriculum is
designed, discussing aspects of their beliefs and opinions that are relevant to teaching and
learning in HASS.
Chapter 2 describes the ‘big picture’ context in which the teaching of the humanities and
social sciences takes place: the globalising world of the twenty-first century. The discussion

1
 shows the significance of globalisation for the HASS curriculum, and how the HASS
subjects contribute to students’ understanding of global change. Major causes and features of
globalisation are described, and the implications of globalisation for the wellbeing of people
and the planet are explored. The chapter identifies rich opportunities in the Australian
Curriculum – in subject areas, cross-curriculum priorities and general capabilities – to
study these debates and other issues arising from globalisation. The chapters in Part 4 of this
book further develop the potential for exploring the increasingly globalised world in the
HASS curriculum.

2
CHAPTER 1
HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES IN THE
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
Rob Gilbert and Brian Hoepper

SNAPSHOT

➜ Chris
Chris had just gained a teaching post at a middle school, and was allocated a Year 6 class in
social studies and a Year 9 class in history.
In thinking about the year ahead and the program of lessons to be developed, Chris
remembered the characteristics of ‘powerful and authentic social studies’ from the US
National Council for the Social Studies (2008), which had been discussed in the History
curriculum course at university, and wanted to ensure that these were achieved.
As Chris remembered it, powerful and authentic programs were:
• meaningful, built on essential questions, ‘big ideas’ and key concepts, emphasising depth
over breadth
• focused on developing skills such as information gathering and analysis, critical thinking,
communication, data analysis and the use of twenty-first-century media and technology
• integrative, addressing the totality of human experience and drawing on a range of
disciplines, current events, global and local examples, and students’ own lives
• inquiry based, so that students would learn how to research, develop and display data,
synthesise findings and make decisions on issues
• value-based, embodying commitments to solving problems consistent with democracy,
social justice, sustainability, equality and freedom of thought and speech
• critical, modelling decision-making processes in ways that recognise different points of
view, assess competing arguments and values, are sensitive to cultural differences and
make reasoned judgements
• challenging, upholding high standards of clarity, precision, depth and relevance in
researching and discussing questions and issues, and in drawing conclusions
• active, where students process rich and varied resources to debate issues, make decisions
and express their findings in various media and forums. Wherever possible, this would
involve students participating in and contributing to their communities.
Convinced that such a program would be an excellent experience for students and a
valuable contribution to their lives, Chris drew up a checklist that could be applied to the
teaching units to be developed. This checklist became a guide to planning, but also to
reflection; at the end of each unit Chris planned to make notes about which of the

3
 characteristics had been achieved and what more needed to be done, and to discuss these
points with colleagues.
These characteristics of ‘powerful and authentic’ curricula are based on extensive research
and practice in the teaching of social and environmental studies in schools. However, not all
school programs reflect these features and, taken together, they pose significant challenges
to teachers, schools and curriculum designers.
You might consider to what extent your own experience with this curriculum area
demonstrates these features. It is the purpose of this book to prepare you to teach in ways
that will realise these ideals.

Express CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Bring your learning to This chapter provides an overview of the broad field of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS)
life with interactive with particular reference to the Australian Curriculum. It outlines the elements of the curriculum
learning, study and
exam preparation tools
and how they connect with the purposes of education in Australia and more generally. The
that support the nature and aims of the humanities and social sciences subjects are discussed, and relevant
printed textbook. aspects of students’ beliefs and interests are considered. The implications of these points for
CourseMate Express
the philosophies and competencies that teachers need to develop are also discussed.
includes quizzes, ‘Take
this further’ activities, After reading this chapter you should be able to answer the following key questions by
a tool to help you working on the chapter sections listed on the right:
develop ‘Your
philosophy of
teaching’, and more! What is the current state of the curriculum in Humanities and social sciences and the
humanities and social sciences in Australia? Australian Curriculum, p. 4
What are the key elements of the HASS Disciplinary knowledge, general capabilities and
curriculum? cross-curriculum priorities, p. 11
What are the main approaches to teaching and Approaches to curriculum and teaching in HASS,
learning in society and environment? p. 16
What are the challenges of becoming a teacher Becoming a teacher of humanities and social
of humanities and social sciences? sciences, p. 17
How should the experiences of students be Considering the students, p. 20
taken into account in the curriculum?

HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES AND THE

AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
Teachers of the humanities and social sciences face a fascinating prospect. They introduce their
students to new worlds of knowledge and new ways of thinking with which students can build
their futures. They address personal, social, cultural, political, economic and environmental
issues across time and place to enable students to participate in their world in informed,
confident and creative ways. They can engage students in wanting to learn in ways that will
4
 CHAPTER 1 HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES IN THE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM

stay with them far beyond school. As the opening Snapshot well illustrates, preparing to teach
in such a broad, complex and dynamic field is a great challenge, but one with great rewards for
students and great satisfaction for teachers.
Like any curriculum area, the nature of the HASS curriculum is dynamic and changing.
Until around 2008, the humanities and social sciences curriculum in most Australian states was
organised around a broad social and environmental studies key learning area, most commonly
labelled Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE), which was developed during a national
curriculum initiative of the 1990s (Australian Education Council, 1994a, 1994b).
In 2008 the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)
was established by the federal, state and territory governments to develop a new national
curriculum. ACARA’s Australian Curriculum has developed through various versions in the
years since. In early 2016, ACARA published version 8.1 of the curriculum, and it is to this
version that this book makes reference and connections as it helps prepare you to teach in the
Humanities and Social Sciences.

The development of the Australian Curriculum

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority states that the ‘Australian
Curriculum is designed to develop successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active
and informed citizens’ (ACARA, 2015a). Guided by the 2008 Melbourne Declaration on
Educational Goals for Young Australians, which provides the fundamental rationale and goals for
Australian education (see Case 1.1), the Australian Curriculum has been implemented through the
process described in The Shape of the Australian Curriculum Version 4.0 (ACARA, 2013).

CASE 1.1 THE MELBOURNE DECLARATION PRIMARY AND SECONDARY

EDITED EXTRACTS FROM THE MELBOURNE DECLARATION ON

EDUCATIONAL GOALS FOR YOUNG AUSTRALIANS
Literacy and numeracy and knowledge of key disciplines remain the cornerstone of schooling for
young Australians. Schooling should also support the development of skills in areas such as
social interaction, cross-disciplinary thinking and the use of digital media . . ., a school’s legacy
to young people should include national values of democracy, equity and justice, and personal
values and attributes such as honesty, resilience and respect for others.
Goal 1: Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence. This means that all Australian
governments and all school sectors must:
• ensure that schools build on local cultural knowledge and experience of Indigenous students
as a foundation for learning . . .
• ensure that schooling contributes to a socially cohesive society that respects and appreciates
cultural, social and religious diversity.

5
PART 1 CONTEXT: THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES IN THE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM

Goal 2: All young Australians become successful learners, confident and creative individuals,
and active and informed citizens.
Successful learners . . .
• are able to think deeply and logically, and obtain and evaluate evidence in a disciplined way
as the result of studying fundamental disciplines
• are creative, innovative and resourceful, and are able to solve problems in ways that draw
upon a range of learning areas and disciplines
• are able to plan activities independently, collaborate, work in teams and communicate ideas
• are able to make sense of their world and think about how things have become the way they are.
Confident and creative individuals . . .
• are enterprising, show initiative and use their creative abilities
• develop personal values and attributes such as honesty, resilience, empathy and respect for others
• relate well to others and form and maintain healthy relationships
• are well prepared for their potential life roles as family, community and workforce members
• embrace opportunities, make rational and informed decisions about their own lives and
accept responsibility for their own actions.
Active and informed citizens . . .
• act with moral and ethical integrity
• appreciate Australia’s social, cultural, linguistic and religious diversity, and have an
understanding of Australia’s system of government, history and culture
• understand and acknowledge the value of Indigenous cultures and possess the knowledge,
skills and understanding to contribute to, and benefit from, reconciliation between
Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
• are committed to national values of democracy, equity and justice, and participate in
Australia’s civic life
• are able to relate to and communicate across cultures, especially the cultures and countries of Asia
• work for the common good, in particular sustaining and improving natural and social environments
• are responsible global and local citizens.
Source: ª Education Services Australia, 2008

ACTIVITY 1.1
Consider the goals from the Melbourne Declaration in Case 1.1, and the following questions.
Discuss your thoughts about the questions with a group of two or more of your fellow students.
1 In terms of your own schooling, which of these goals were met well and which were not?
2 Which goals do you believe are particularly relevant to the humanities and social sciences curriculum?
3 Which goals do you believe provide the greatest challenge to schools and teachers?
What would schools need to do to achieve these more challenging goals?
4 What differences of opinion arose in your discussion? What would account for these
differences?

6
 CHAPTER 1 HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES IN THE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM

From this broad-ranging set of aspirations, the curriculum states what will be taught and what and
how well students will learn. These goals are translated into a three-dimensional design comprising:
• subjects in eight learning areas: English, Science, Mathematics, Humanities and Social
Sciences, the Arts, Languages, Health and Physical Education, Technologies
• a series of general capabilities infused across the curriculum to develop students’ capacity to
deal with the rapidly changing demands of social, economic, environmental and
technological spheres of life in the twenty-first century. See http://www.australian
curriculum.edu.au/generalcapabilities/overview/introduction
• cross-curriculum priorities to be embedded in all learning areas, to ensure that subjects are
relevant to the lives of students and address contemporary issues. See http://
www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/crosscurriculumpriorities/overview/introduction
Figure 1.1 illustrates the relationship among these contributions to the Australian Curriculum.

Figure 1.1 Elements of the development of the Australian HASS Curriculum

Melbourne Declaration on
Educational Goals for Young
Australians

Shape of the Australian

Curriculum Version 4.0

Cross-curriculum priorities Foundation–Year 10 General capabilities in the

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait curriculum, including Australian Curriculum
Islander Histories and Cultures eight learning areas • Literacy
• Asia and Australia’s • Numeracy
Engagement with Asia
• ICT Capability
• Sustainability
• Critical and Creative Thinking
• Personal and Social Capability
• Ethical Understanding
• Intercultural Understanding

Humanities and Social Sciences

learning area, including five subjects:
F–6/7 Humanities and Social Sciences
7–10 History
7–10 Geography
7–10 Civics and Citizenship
7–10 Economics and Business

7
PART 1 CONTEXT: THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES IN THE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM

The development of the Humanities and

Social Sciences learning area
Beginning in 2008, ACARA developed four separate curriculum documents in the broad field
of Humanities and Social Sciences. They were in History (Years Foundation–10), Geography
(F–10), Civics and Citizenship (3–10) and Economics and Business (5–10). These were
introduced in phases: History was included in Phase 1 (along with English, Mathematics and
Science) and the three others in Phase 2. As these curricula were developed, state and territory
education authorities responded in various ways. Some curricula were adopted immediately and
were relatively unchanged, while others were revised by states and territories, and some were
delayed for later consideration.
In 2015, partly in response to complaints about curriculum overcrowding, particularly in
the primary years, the Australian Government initiated a review of the curriculum which led to
a revised Version 8.1 of the Australian Curriculum. In the revision, the years F–6/7 have been
defined as a single subject: Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS). (The ‘6/7’ tag acknowledges
the fact that Year 7 is located in the secondary school in some jurisdictions, and in the primary
school in others.)
Thus, the HASS learning area now comprises five subjects: Years F–6/7 HASS; 7–10
History; 7–10 Geography; 7–10 Civics and Citizenship; 7–10 Economics and Business. The
combination of four subjects to produce the F–6/7 HASS subject was the major change ushered
in by Version 8.0 and continued by Version 8.1 in 2016. In the new F–6/7 HASS, History,
Geography, Civics and Citizenship, and Economics and Business are each called a ‘sub-strand’.
The distribution of the sub-strands varies across the years. History and Geography are
represented in all the primary years, but Civics and Citizenship begins in Year 3 and Economics
and Business in Year 5.
At the time of writing, states and territories are planning to move to the latest version of the
Australian HASS curriculum, but it is unclear just how this will be achieved – and differences
are likely to remain in some jurisdictions. (For information on state and territory decisions
about implementing Version 8.1 of the Australian Curriculum, see http://www.australian
curriculum.edu.au/curriculum/overview.) For consistency, this book is based on the latest
version of the Australian HASS curriculum: Version 8.1. While the specific nature of HASS in
some states and territories may vary from the Australian Curriculum version, the basic
approaches to teaching HASS as outlined in this book will still apply.
Each of the HASS subjects – History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship, and Economics
and Business – is dealt with in relevant chapters of this book. In those chapters, the nature and
aims of the subjects are discussed, as well as how they might be taught to achieve the greatest
benefit for students, both as sub-strands within the F–6/7 HASS subject and as distinct 7–10
subjects. The structure of the F–6/7 HASS subject is particularly complex, given its attempt to
link across the four sub-strands which make up the learning area. Its structure is described in
the next section.

8
 CHAPTER 1 HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES IN THE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM

The structure of F–6/7 HASS

As explained earlier, the HASS curriculum for the years Foundation–6/7 comprises four sub-
strands phased in at different points. For each year level in F–6/7 HASS, the curriculum
document provides the following:
1 ‘Year level description’ explains the purpose and focus of the year’s study.
2 ‘Inquiry questions’ are the ‘big picture’ questions for that year. The following examples are
typical, and also illustrate the increasing complexity and sophistication of the questions over
the years of schooling:
Year 1 Inquiry questions
– How has family life and the place we live in changed over time?
– What events, activities and places do I care about? Why? (ACARA, 2015b)
Year 6 Inquiry questions
– How have key figures, events and values shaped Australian society, its system of
government and citizenship?
– How have experiences of democracy and citizenship differed between groups over time
and place, including those from and in Asia?
– How has Australia developed as a society with global connections, and what is my role as
a global citizen? (ACARA, 2015b)
You can see above how the Year 1 questions invoke both History (‘family life’, ‘changed
over time’, ‘events’) and Geography (‘places’, ‘care about’). In Years F–3, History and
Geography are the only two sub-strands in HASS. The Year 6 questions, however, include
elements of History (‘events’, ‘time’), Geography (‘place’, ‘society’), Civics and Citizenship
(‘government’, ‘democracy’) and Economics and Business (‘global connections’).
3 ‘Content descriptions’ include two strands: ‘Inquiry and skills’ and ‘Knowledge and
understanding’. The following aspects are worth noting:
– At each year level F–6/7, there is a single set of skills in ‘Inquiry and skills’. It combines skills
usually associated with the sub-strands History and Geography (in all Years F–6/7) and with the
sub-strands Civics and Citizenship (in Years 3–7) and Economics and Business (in Years 5–7).
For example, aspects of all four sub-strands can be seen in this skills statement for Year 6:

Develop appropriate questions to guide an inquiry about people, events,

developments, places, systems and challenges (ACHASSI122).

ACARA, 2015b

– For each skill, there is a link to a set of ‘Elaborations’ that provide more detailed
explanation of the skill. For example, one of the Elaborations of the above skill is:

developing different types of research questions for different purposes (for example,
probing questions to seek details, open-ended questions to elicit more ideas,
practical questions to guide the application of enterprising behaviours, ethical
questions regarding sensitivities and cultural protocols).
ACARA, 2015b
9
PART 1 CONTEXT: THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES IN THE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM

– In the years F–6/7, there is a separate statement of ‘Knowledge and understanding’

for each of the sub-strands for each year. That statement explains the specific concepts
to be developed in that sub-strand, provides another set of ‘Inquiry Questions’ that
are specific to the sub-strand, and describes the content topics to be studied in the
specific sub-strand.
– For each content topic, there is a link to several ‘Elaborations’. Each Elaboration
provides a suggested focus and content for that topic.
For example, here is one ‘content topic’ from the Year 4 History sub-strand:

Stories of the First Fleet, including reasons for the journey, who travelled to
Australia, and their experiences following arrival (ACHASSK085).
ACARA, 2015a

And here are the three ‘Elaborations’ accessed through a link from the topic:

1 investigating reasons for the First Fleet journey, including an examination of

the wide range of crimes punishable by transportation, and looking at the
groups who were transported
2 investigating attitudes to the poor, the treatment of prisoners at that time,
and the social standing of those who travelled to Australia on the First Fleet,
including families, children and convict guards
3 investigating daily life in the Botany Bay penal settlement and challenges
experienced by the people there and how they were managed.
ACARA, 2015a

You can see from this topic and its elaborations how it is possible to teach specifically ‘history’
topics within the F–6/7 HASS curriculum. The same is true of Geography (in Years F–7), Civics
and Citizenship (in Years 3–7) and Economics and Business (in Years 5–7).
However, to fulfil the requirements of the curriculum at any particular year level, students
would have to study topics from all the strands that appear in that year level, and to develop
and practise the ‘Skills and inquiry’ that draw on those sub-strands. This could be achieved in a
number of ways:
1 by teaching a curriculum that features, for example, separate ‘history’ topics, ‘geography’
topics, ‘civics and citizenship’ topics and ‘economics and business’ topics – a
‘separate-sub-strand’ approach
2 by designing topics that combine or integrate aspects of two or more sub-strands
3 by combining the two approaches, with some ‘integrated’ topics and some
‘separate-sub-strand’ topics.
An integrated approach to F–6/7 HASS and possibilities for linking its sub-strands are
discussed in Chapter 15 of this book.

10
 CHAPTER 1 HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES IN THE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM

The structure of the Year 7–10 subjects in

Humanities and Social Sciences
Each of the four Year 7–10 subjects in HASS has a separate existence within the ACARA
website. The four curriculum documents are similar in structure and layout. In common with
F–6/7 HASS, they each include links to: Rationale, Aims, Structure, Student diversity, General
capabilities, Cross-curriculum priorities and Glossary. At each of the four year levels 7 to 10,
the document features a Year level description, Key inquiry questions and a detailed ‘Content
descriptions’ section. The ‘Content descriptions’ section describes the Knowledge and understanding
and the Skills that are taught and developed in that year level. As in Years F–6/7, there are linked
elaborations provided for each of the content topics listed and for each of the skills. The year level
document concludes with an Achievement levels statement. Some subjects also provide links to
examples of student assessment tasks and responses.
The implications of these various elements will be explained in the chapters of this book
that focus on teaching the four HASS subjects: Chapters 9–14.

DISCIPLINARY KNOWLEDGE, GENERAL CAPABILITIES

AND CROSS-CURRICULUM PRIORITIES
The components of the HASS curriculum provide a rich but testing range of knowledge
resources for the development of student learning. The task for teachers is to combine these
elements into engaging, cohesive and challenging learning experiences for all students, bearing
in mind the priority given to deep learning rather than knowledge of information.
In its document on the background to the development of the Australian Curriculum,
ACARA (2013) cites the goals from the Melbourne Declaration as the basis of the learning area
knowledge, skills and understandings and general capabilities (MCEETYA, 2008, p. 13):

• A solid foundation in knowledge, skills and understandings, and values on

which further learning and adult life can be built
• Deep knowledge, understanding, skills and values that will enable advanced
learning and an ability to create new ideas and translate them into practical
applications
• General capabilities that underpin flexible and analytical thinking, a
capacity to work with others and an ability to move across subject
disciplines to develop new expertise
ª Education Services Australia, 2008

In implementing these goals in the curriculum, ACARA states that:

The Australian Curriculum is designed to ensure that students develop the

knowledge and understanding on which the major disciplines are based. Each
discipline offers a distinctive lens through which we interpret experience,

11
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 [44]
KHUSTINA—THE BETROTHAL KERCHIEF
Taras Shevchenko

On Sunday she did not dance—

She earned the money for her skeins of silk
With which she embroidered her kerchief.
And while she stitched she sang:
“My kerchief, embroidered, stitched, and scalloped!
I shall present thee and my lover shall kiss me.
O Khustina, bright with my painting.
I am unplaiting my hair,[45] I walk with my lover—
(O my Fate! My Mother!)
The people will wonder in the morning
That an orphan should give this kerchief—
Fine-broidered and painted kerchief.”

So worked she at her stitching, and gazed down the road

To listen for the bellowing of the curved-horned oxen,
To see if her Tchumak comes homeward.

· · · · ·

The Tchumak is coming from beyond Lyman,

With another’s possessions, with no luck of his own.
He drives another man’s oxen; he sings as he drives:

“O my fate, my fortune,
Why is it not like that of others?
Do I drink and dance?
Have I not got strength?
Know I not the roads of the steppes
That lead to thee?
Do I not offer thee my gifts,
(For I have gifts)—my brown eyes—
My young strength, bought by the rich?
 ... Perchance they have mated my sweetheart to another.
Teach me, O Fortune, how to forget,
How to drown my grief in drink and song.”

And as he journeyed over the steppes, lonesome, unhappy, he wept—

And out on the steppes, on a grave, a grey owl hooted.

The Tchumaki,[46] greatly troubled, entreated:

“Bless us, Ataman, that we may reach the village,
For we would bring our comrade to the village
That there he may confess ere death; be shriven.”
They confessed; heard mass, consulted fortune-tellers.
But it availed not; so with him, unholpen,
They moved along the road. Was it his burden,
The constant burden of his anxious love
(Or victim he of some one’s evil spell?),
That so they brought him from the Don
Home on a waggon?

God he besought
At least to see his sweetheart. But not so—
He pleaded not enough.... They buried him ...
And none will mourn him, buried far away;
They placed a cross upon the orphan’s grave
And journeyed on.

As the grass withers, as the leaf falls on the stream,

Is borne to distance dim,
The Cossack left this world, and took with him
All that he had.

Where is the kerchief, silken-wrought?

The merry girl-child, where?
The wind a kerchief waves
On the new cross.
A maiden in a nunnery
Unbinds her hair.
 THE PENNILESS TCHUMAK
In the market-place of Kiev
A young Tchumak drank and drank:
Oxen, wagons, yokes and yoke-sticks,
All his wealth in drink he sank,
In the market-place of Kiev.

And at sundown he awoke—

How he peered into his purse!
All his pockets he turned out,
With full many a muttered curse,
In the market-place of Kiev.

Not a penny to be found!

For his revelling was naught.
“Pour, Shinkarka,[47] half a quart!”
But she laughs at such a thought
Scorns to wait on such as he.

Then he takes his zhupan[48] off.

“Oh, Shinkarka, even pour
Just a quarter of a quart!”
“To coat add four zloty[49] more—
Then there’s drink for revelling!”

To “mohyla”[50] sad he went,

Gazed adown the valley green:
Oxen, wagons—wagered, spent—
Yokes and yoke-sticks, all his wealth
Lost in market-place of Kiev!

“Oi, I’m off to distant lands!

To Moldavia[51] go I—
I’ll be slaving seven years,
Then more oxen I shall buy,
And I’ll be Tchumak again!”
RHYTHMS
 MOTHER AND DAUGHTER
“O you thought, my mother, you would never be rid of me! There
will come a day, a Sunday, when you will wish for me; you
will weep long and sore—‘O where now is my daughter?’”
The Daughter—

If thou lovest me, Sweetheart,

Let me go to the cherry orchard—
No ill shall befall thee—I will but pluck the povna rozha.[52]

To-morrow I go to the quiet dunai[53] to wash the clothes; then will

I throw the blossom on the water.
Float, float, my rozha, as high as the banks of the river are high!
Float, my rozha, to my mother! When she comes to the river to
draw water she will know that the flower was borne to her from
her daughter’s hand.
The Mother—
Thy rozha has withered on the stream; wast thou in like ill case for
these three years?
The Daughter—
I was not sick, my mother, not a year, not an hour.... You chose for
me a bad husband.
Did I not carry water for you? Why did you not beg of God to give
me a good husband?
Did I not wash the clothes for you, O my mother?
Why did you curse me in this way?
The Mother—
Nay, child, I cursed thee not. But on a day—and only once—I said:
“I hope she may never marry!”
The Daughter—
And was not that wish ill enough—that I should never be married?
You could not have wished me worse just then.
For—when I was young—I knew not what it meant—the marrying
of your daughter.
 BURIAL OF THE SOLDIER
Near the pebbly shores grows a green elm-tree.
Under the tree a soldier is dying.
Comes a young Captain bearing a gold handkerchief: he weeps with
fine, fine tears.
“O Captain, my Captain, weep not!
Send word to my friends to come and build me a house.”

With rifles shining like silver his comrades came.

They wept over his head with fine tears.

“Weep not; O ye, my dear friends; tell my father and mother to

hasten here from the country to bury me.”

“Where, O my son, shall we dig thy grave?”

“Nay, neither of you shall bury me; the young soldiers only shall
bear me there.”

So they bore him, leading his horse before him; behind the coffin
his mother walked, weeping. Even more wept his sweetheart. The
tears of his mother would not make him rise from the dead; but his
sweetheart was crying and wringing her hands.

For never before had a soldier been her lover:

And never again would a soldier be one.
 THE DRUNKARD
The Red Cranberry has withered
Over the well....
Woe to me, my mother,
With a drunkard to live!
A drunkard drinks day and night;
He does not work.
When he comes home from the Inn,
Though I be young, young,
Yet he strikes me!

I open the casement

As my mother comes.
She asks of my little ones:
“Is the drunkard home?”

Carefully, softly
Enter, my mother!
My drunkard sleeps,
Sleeps in the barn—
See thou wake him not!

“May he sleep!
May he never wake!
That he on thy little head
Bring no more grief.”

“Oi, my mother!
Abuse not my drunkard.
Tiny are my children—
Without him
Would it not be worse?”
 SONG OF THE ORPHAN
I will go into the field and talk to the dew; and together with the
dew I will bemoan our unlucky fate.
I will climb a hill and fall into thought: I was left an orphan; I have
no friends.
In my tiny garden grows a lovely lily.... And what is that to me, if I
am still young, if I am still an orphan?
As the soaking hemp rots in the water, so lives an orphan in this
world.

O my Mother dear, my grey bird, you have raised me, fed me for
these bitter woes!
O my Mother, my golden Mother, my grey dove!
You left me all alone to minister to others’ wants.
What have I done to you, my Mother dear, that you have so deserted
me?
If you had drowned me in my bath, my Mother,
I would not have exchanged my fate with any earthly king’s.

How pretty are the flowers that bloom! How beautiful the children
who have a mother!
Other people’s children are like dolls: and I am an orphan.
Other people’s children have mothers: and my Mother is with God.

O, my Mother died! My Mother—

O unhappy fortune! She will never speak,
She will never ask me, “What are you doing, my daughter?”
When I begin to think of my dear Mother
Sorrow so heavy overtakes me that I can hardly bear it.

There is no flower in this world prettier than the Cranberry:

No one is so lovely as a mother to a child.
My Mother is now in the grave—there is her grave—
O why was I born—I, so unlucky in this world?
 THE GIFT OF A RING
He gave me a ring, and I laughed and asked him:
“What does this mean?” “A gift,” he answered.
I went with another upon the morrow,
And in the evening he was so angry.
“You wore my ring,” he said, reproachful,
“The ring means marriage—you’re pledged to me!”

I flung my ring at the foolish creature

And I said: “Now hasten out of my sight.
I never saw such a stupid person,
Who says one thing and means another!”
FOLK SONGS
 “MY FIELD, MY FIELD”
(Fragment of an old song)

O my field, my field!
Ploughed with bones,
Harrowed with my breast,
Watered with blood
From the heart, from the bosom!
Tell me, my field,
When will better days be?

My field, O my field!
By my grandfather won,
Why dost thou not give
Me the means of life?
Bitter toil! With my own blood stained,
My heart’s blood is there.
How bitter for me, my field,
To look on thee!
 SONG OF THE COSSACK
Heavily hangs the rye
Bent to the trampled ground;
While brave men fighting die
Through blood the horses bound.

Under the white birch-tree

A Cossack bold is slain—
They lift him tenderly
Into the ruined grain.

Some one has borne him there,

Some one has put in place
A scarlet cloth,[54] with prayer,
Over the up-turned face.

Softly a girl has come.

Dove-like she looks—all grey—
Stares at the soldier dumb
And, crying, goes away.

Then, swift, another maid

—Ah, how unlike she is!—
With grief and passion swayed
Gives him her farewell kiss.

The third one does not cry,

Caresses none has she;
“Three girls thy love flung by,
Death rightly came to thee!”
 SONG
I walked along the river bank,
My horse paced by my side.
“Marry me, Cossack!” a gay voice cried.

“Marry me, or wed me not,

But let me hear you say
You hope you may wed me some fine day!”

“O were you richer, little one,

I’d take you by the hand,
Before my stern father we two should stand.”

“O were I rich, my Cossack,

Do you know what I would do?
I’d tramp on your father, I’d tramp on you!”

I walked along the river bank....

Don’t sigh, my little maid,
In your garden barwēnok will not fade.

If this one leaves you, do not fret,

Another will come soon.
Fresh are your roses—it’s only June.
 ORPHAN SONG—THE MOTHER
As a cloud, O Lord, let me float!
Over the village let me go.
And into the village, like fine rain
Let me fall, far below.
How my child is dressed I fain would see;
She sits in the Orphan’s seat, I know;
But she’s robed as a lady of high degree!
 SONG OF UNHAPPY WOMAN
Over my gate a pigeon’s wings!
Over my gate they flew—
But my father gave me not to him,
The one I loved so true.

To Voyvoda, a Captain bold,

My father married me:
He carried me to distant lands
Where none of my own kin be.

O I will pluck the Malva flower

And throw it on the stream—
Now float thou far, thou Malva flower,
To her of whom I dream!

The Malva blossom floated on

And circling on was swept....
Drawing the water from the stream
My mother saw—and wept.

“Oi! Daughter mine! Fear’s on my heart;

Ill liest thou on thy bed?
For lo! thy lovely Malva flower
Is withered all and dead.”

Not one day was I lying sick,

Not one day, not one hour—
Unfaithful was the man I wed,
And I am in his power.
 A GIRL’S SONG
What is the use of my black eyebrow,
What is the use of my black eyes?
My youth is nothing, my happiness flies.

For every day my youth is going:

Lustreless eyes have come through tears,
Faded my eyebrow’s curve appears.

O maidens all, I am sick at heart now—

Like a bird that dies for lack of air
Why should I for my beauty care?
 OLD FOLK SONG
O wild horses—where are ye running over the steppes?
Where is she—the maid with the lovers three?
Where is that wheat which bloomed with a white flower?
Where is the maiden with beauty of black eyebrows?
Where is the wheat—Can I not reap it?
Where is the damsel—Can I not wed her?

· · · · ·

“I had not come her gates within,

Nor sat me down her bread to break—
I stood without on the threshold bare:
She had poison ready in wheaten cake.”

· · · · ·

On a Thursday morn the Soldier came:

On the Thursday noon the youth lay dead.
On the Friday to the open grave
Before his bier his horse they led.

Behind his corse his mother wept....

The maiden’s mother thus did chide:
“O daughter mine! What hast thou done?
Was it through thee thy lover died?”

“My mother dear, what was to do?

My heart could find no other way.
My soldier love had sweethearts two—
So lies he cold upon this day.

“I would not have him—so he died—

I would not have him—he sleeps sound.
Nor shall she ever in this world
Hold him who lies in the damp ground.”
 THE DAUGHTER OF THE WITCH
(Variant)
(Song in a play—“Go not to the Wechernyci,[55] Hritz”)

“Go not, I pray thee, to the dance, Hritz!

For there await thee daughters of the witch.

“They burn the straw beneath the bubbling roots—

They’ll take your life just when their wish it suits.

“That one with black, black eyes—most potent witch is she;

She knows all roots that grow by river or by tree.

“She knows what each distils—and she loves you!

With envious love she watches what you do.”

Sunday morn she dug the roots;

Monday, cleaned them; Tuesday, brewed;
Wednesday from her cup Hritz
Drank; on Thursday he lay dead;
Friday comrades buried him.
Greatly mourned the maidens all;
Comrades, much lamenting, cursed
Her who brought about his death:
“Hritz, was never one like thee!
May the devil take the witch!”

On Saturday the old witch beat full sore

Her wicked daughter, crying o’er and o’er,

“Why did you poison him? Did you not know

What all the roots could tell you? Ere cock-crow
That he must die?” “O mother, speak not so;

“There are no scales for sorrow—why did he