Ethical Complexities for History Teachers: Accredited Oral History Training in Australia

Abstract

Oral history is now recognized as an integral component of educational programming, from elementary schools to museums. This is evident in the prescribed Australian Curriculum where oral history methodology is embraced. While innovative pedagogical approaches are being developed and implemented within schooling and post-compulsory training, I pose the following questions: Are educators familiar with the practice of oral history? Are they cognizant of the ethical complexities and challenges of story collecting? In this chapter I investigate the relationship between oral history, ethics, and appropriate training with particular reference to pedagogies, sound practice, and observance of cultural protocols within an Australian context. Appropriate training demands a system of accreditation to set benchmarks for the oral history profession. The nationally accredited Australian oral history training course “Record and Document Community History” is an innovation to support oral history practitioners, including history teachers, to become qualified in the field. I offer the viewpoint that accredited training will advance the prominence of oral history within education, further developing the potential for history to be experiential and inclusive. Examples of my own oral history practice and experience in remote north Western Australia working with Aboriginal communities are drawn upon to expound how and why the accredited oral history training course came to fruition, and the pedagogical approaches employed. Of particular significance is the setting in which the accredited training has been delivered. The environment is distinctive to an Indigenous Australian context where aspects of colonization remain in living memory, such as the forced removal of Aboriginal people from their traditional lands to Government-controlled sectarian missions.