Investigating early years and primary teachers local history choices

This paper discusses a small-scale study to explore teachers' views of history teaching and learning at the primary level in a rural district of Tasmania. Previous studies highlight the need for history teaching research in Australia, particularly at the primary school level. The qualitative research on which the paper is based involved in-depth interviews with three teachers, about history teaching through local area studies. The interview process incorporated photographs as symbolic forms of representation to foster reflection and meaning making. Findings suggest participant teachers were willing to include· difficult histories in their teaching and valued contextualised learning as a way to build a collective sense of identity and citizenship. Interpretation, critical inquiry and local/global connections in teaching primary children history tended to be overlooked and suggest opportunities for further attention.