The nature of values and why they matter in the teaching and learning of history

Abstract

This chapter explores the nature of values and why they matter in the teaching and learning of history in Australian schools. It addresses the place of values in Australian education and contestation about their representation in Australian history and curriculum documents. In considering how values can be critically examined as part of the moral purpose of history education, it argues that values are not only implicit in the narratives historians construct about the past, and embedded in those primary sources that survive the past; that values also permeate the decisions history teachers make about how history is encountered in classrooms. It argues that that when teachers’ practice focuses on developing their students’ progression in historical thinking, students will acquire a vocabulary to analytically engage with those values embedded in conflicting accounts of the past. Addressing values in this way assists students to decide which values might guide them to act in ethical and morally just ways; as in their everyday lives, young people need to understand situations, identify causes of change and continuity and place them in a long-term perspective. Young people also need to acknowledge the value perspectives of others, develop personal values, make judgments and reflect on their decisions.