Teaching History for the Contemporary World: Tensions, Challenges and Classroom Experiences in Higher Education

This book brings together history educators from Australia and around the world to tell their own personal stories and how they approach teaching history in the context of contemporary tensions in the classroom. It encourages historians to think actively about how history in the classroom can play a role in helping students to make sense of their world and to act honourably within it.

The contributors come from diverse backgrounds and include experienced history educators and early career academics. They showcase both a mix of approaches and democratize and decolonize the academy. The book blends theory and practice. It reflects on what is happening in the classroom and supports the discipline to understanding itself better, to improve upon its practices and to engage in academic discussion about the responsibility of teaching in the contemporary world.

Dr Adele Nye is a Senior Lecturer in Contextual Studies in the School of Education at the University of New England, Armidale, NSW. She is a specialist in History education in universities. She was the primary researcher in an ALTC funded national project called Historical Thinking in Higher Education. She is a member of the Australasian HIST-SoTL committee. She is the editor, with Jennifer Clark, of Teaching the Discipline of History in an Age of Standards (Springer, 2018).

Professor Jennifer Clark is currently Head of Humanities at the University of Adelaide. She has taught History in universities for over 25 years. She is a recipient of the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (UNE) and a national Carrick Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. She has been a partner on two ALTC/OLT grants exploring discipline standards. She is the editor, with Adele Nye, of Teaching the Discipline of History in an Age of Standards (Springer, 2018).