Reading between the lines of the history syllabuses can assert the rightful place of women, Pittwater High School teacher Jen Sonter told Federation members. Ms Sonter was speaking at the Centre for Professional Learning’s Women in History: Reclaiming (In)Visible women course last week (14 August).
Presenting the session “What is best practice in reclaiming invisible women? A women’s place is in the syllabus”, along with Centre for Professional Learning Acting Director and history teacher Margaret Vos, former high school principal and Federation Life Member Judy King and Winmalee High School history teacher Emma Seabrook, Ms Sonter said that by looking at the syllabus dot points that relate to women, even if they don’t explicitly reference them, she was able to inject 40–50 per cent more women’s history into her teaching across the syllabuses.
“I encourage you to promote the female personalities in Ancient China, the Mediterranean, Mediaeval Europe and Contact and Colonisation in stage 4. Make visible to Joan of Arcs, Barangaroos and Lady Howes that shape these important historical periods,” she said.
“Let’s move past the box ticking of nurses and housewives in the World Wars in stage 5 and instead investigate female volunteers who parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe to organise resistance and missions against the German troops.”
“In my Elective History class, we did Vikings and looked at the shield maidens; my students wanted to call them the ‘viqueens’ instead of the Vikings. We also looked at pirates that transcend traditional gender roles, like Anne Bonny, but also villainesses, women murderers, assassins and terrorists in history,” she said.
Emma Seabrook recommended a huge list of resources for History stages 4 and 5 and Extension History.
When discussing resources for the stage 5 topic Rights and Freedoms: Civil Rights in Australia and the USA, Emma Seabrook said Rosa Parks was a really interesting personality to look at.
“She certainly was not the first woman to refuse to give her seat on a bus to a white man,” Ms Seabrook said. “Claudette Colvin was 15 and pregnant, so she was not deemed by the male leadership of the civil rights movement to be the most appropriate person to push forward. So, even within the civil rights movement in America, women of colour faced the judgement of men, and so when Rosa Parks did the same thing, because she was a respectable married woman, she was deemed to be the one that they would use in campaigning.”
“The women who have been pushed forward in history are often because men have allowed it to happen,” she noted.
For the Constructing History topic for Extension History, Ms Seabrook discussed many reasons why approaches to history have changed over time.
Get creative
The sidelining of women scientists and mathematicians, the fate of women labelled witches, the exclusion of women from powerbroking roles in religion and women and voting rights were all raised by Judy King in the opening session.
Ms King encouraged members to implement the syllabus creatively and to teach what they want to teach and best suits the needs of their students. She said content and skills chosen to underpin the overarching themes like cause and effect, contestability, change and continuity should be the decision of teachers.
The essential components of a meaningful unit of work, the importance of images and visual sources, key concepts and the role of key enquiry questions were covered. Ms King also discussed useful databases, websites and historical sources for Aboriginal history and culture and convict women in Australian colonial history.
Monash University SensiLab research fellow Monika Schwarz, who specialises in the analysis, visualisation and physicalisation of historical data, introduced members to the Conviction Politics Hub. She spoke about resistance and activism by women convicts and interactive data visualisation. In group work, members discussed how they could utilise the resources in their teaching.
The course will be offered to Federation members again, at the Australian Education Union ACT Branch, Level 1, 71 Leichhardt Street, Kingston, ACT, 2604 on 31 October. Click here to register.
Praise for the course
The course evaluation forms revealed participants found the historical sources and practical implementation strategies useful.
“Thank you to Federation and the CPL [Centre for Professional Learning] team for providing another extremely useful PD [professional development]. All PD by the CPL have presenters who are genuine experts in their fields, provide useful resources and knowledge,” one participant wrote.
Wide course and conference offerings
The Centre for Professional Learning offers a range of high quality, research-based professional learning in a range of curriculum and pedagogical areas. Click here for the full list of courses and dates.