Humanities In Australia

Sharni Moloney

S4503945

Review of Humanities

30/03/2016

Humanities teaching in Australia can be defined as the study of human behaviour. It is developing the interaction within social, cultural and political contexts. Studying these topics students will learn to question and think critically and adapt to change, this is important in a changing society (REFERENCE). By developing an understanding of the main contexts in the world thoughts of how they can interrelate on a personal and global environment. It helps students to understand the world and their place within it. Humanities are taught in the classroom for many reasons including the following, help us understand others through their languages, histories and cultures. They promote quality,

These are both an independent statutory authority that provides a high quality curriculum, assessment and reporting that enables individual lifelong learning. VCAA is responsible to the Victorian Minister for Education to serve all schools in Victoria. The humanities curriculum has changed over time fifteen years ago humanities units were known as SOSE and at a level one standard the curriculum focus in Australia was family and neighborhood: needs & wants, roles and responsibilities of family members and reasons for rules and regulations. However, in the present strand one in the curriculum is the basis of History: Family structure, gender roles, previous events and Geography: weather, seasons, famous landmarks and their location. This is one example of how humanities and its importance has developed overtime, it can now be seen as a wide range of aspects within society and the world, not just the fundamentals of living. It develops the understanding of the world and the ways we think by developing thinking skills, questioning, observing, critical thinking, the analysis of ideas, empathy, making connections, comparing your experience to others different

All teaches can chose what type of teacher they wish to be, to be a successful Humanities teacher these following ideas are seen as somewhat essential. Pedagogies of questioning to purpose (Dillon 2004) draws from theories of encouraging students to think critically when they are learning new things and to question these things rather than trust where the information is coming from. Through using pedagogies like this one the teacher is learning with students thorough researching. This can then help to create a supportive learning environment (SLE) that is seen as so vital when studied by (Hodgenson, D, May, S, Marks-Maran, D, 2008) that a SLE can be proven to help students feel safe, relaxed and willing to take risks in their classroom