New syllabus guide: What's changed in History?

Sam Di Sano

Teacher and School Enablement Leader at Atomi

2000

min read

In a nutshell

Ancient, Modern and Extension all have significant changes in structure and content;
Completely new syllabus topic: ‘The Shaping of the Modern World’, includes The Enlightenment, The French Revolution, The Age of Imperialism, and The Industrial Age;
Focus on key ideas and Western traditions including democracy, liberty, human rights and capitalism;
World War I is shifted from year 12 to year 11;
World War II topics retained;
Students must study a non-European or Western study;
Retained focus on Aboriginal history.

The core study, ‘Cities of Vesuvius – Pompeii and Herculaneum’, will remain the same;
The new syllabus will have a ‘Survey’ and a ‘Focus of Study’ for each topic;
‘Historical concepts and skills are integrated’. Things, like analysing evidence and determining reliability, will be more intertwined with each module;
Asian and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures can now be studied.

Modern History will still focus on National Studies and Peace and Conflict. However, there is a new core study ‘Power and Authority in the Modern World 1919-1946’;
The new syllabus will have a ‘Survey’ and a ‘Focus of Study’ for each topic;
There is a greater focus on World War II’s impact on the modern world;
Students must now choose at least one non-Western or European topic;
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures can now be studied.

Extension History will continue to offer the students creativity and independence while providing a little more structure;
Key questions and case studies are now organised into sub-topics under Constructing History;
There are more case studies available;
There are now only three areas of debate, as opposed to five;
The Source Book of Readings has been removed.

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References

Published on

February 8, 2019

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