Decolonising Australian history education: An Australian perspective

Abstract

History education communities worldwide are grappling with the imperative to decolonise history education. Australian history education researchers are uniquely placed to contribute to this project, owing to their experience of decolonising history education within a settler-colonial context. We do not claim to have any quick fixes, however, recent scholarship provides practical strategies for enacting decolonising approaches and elevating sovereign First Nations voices in history classrooms. The article encapsulates these strategies as actions centred on critically reflecting, listening, learning, localising and evaluating. It also illustrates how the concepts of place, positionality, and settler colonialism provide theoretical underpinnings for this work. Overall, it shows that although structural reforms need to be led by First Nations leaders and communities, non-Indigenous educators have a responsibility for decolonising history education and themselves. International readers will be interested in how these approaches and challenges converge with those in their own contexts.