For teachers

Children and schooling

Children’s experiences of schooling in the past were diverse. What is represented in the NSW Schoolhouse Museum program is evidenced through primary sources but was not necessarily shared by all children in NSW. 

School types

Children’s schooling experiences were impacted by the type of schools available due to remoteness, cultural heritage and abilities. 

For instance:

• Aboriginal students on Aboriginal reserves could only attend Aboriginal schools. These followed a modified syllabus focusing on manual and domestic skills taught by untrained teachers.

• Policies allowed discrimination of Aboriginal students in public schools up to 1972 .

• Children in isolated areas originally had access to only a basic education through half-time schools, house-to-house schools and travelling schools. 

Refer to the NSW Department of Education’s Glossary of school types and the links on the History of education page on our website for further information.

Culture

When investigating changes and continuities in education, it is important to recognise the complex and continuing learning systems of Aboriginal Peoples.  Aboriginal children have both ‘school learning’ and cultural learning on Country with their extended families and Elders.

Diversity

Some children recently migrated to Australia may have experienced schooling which still uses early technologies such as slates.

Stage 1 history outcomes

HT1-1 communicates an understanding of change and continuity in family life using appropriate historical terms

HT1-2 identifies and describes significant people, events, places and sites in the local community over time*

HT1-3 describes the effects of changing technology on people's lives over time

HT1-4 demonstrates skills of historical inquiry and communication

Present and Past Family Life

Differences and similarities between students’ daily lives and life during their parents’ or grandparents’ childhoods, including family traditions, leisure time and communications (ACHHK030)

• Discuss similarities and differences from generation to generation, e.g. family celebrations and traditions, leisure activities and changes in technology/communication over time through a range of sources

• Compare and contrast daily life with that of parents and grandparents at the same age through stories or photographs and pose questions to ask parents/grandparents

How the present, past and future are signified by terms indicating time such as ‘a long time ago’, ‘then and now’, ‘now and then’, ‘old and new’, ‘tomorrow’, as well as by dates and changes that may have personal significance, such as birthdays, celebrations and seasons (ACHHK029)

• Define and use terms relating to time, sequencing objects or photographs from the past, e.g. then and now, past and present, a long time ago

Stage 2 history outcomes

HT2-2 describes and explains how significant individuals, groups and events contributed to changes in the local community over time

HT2-5 applies skills of historical inquiry and communication

Community and Remembrance

ONE important example of change and ONE important example of continuity over time in the local community, region or state/territory (ACHHK061)

• Using a range of sources, describe and explain how and why ONE area, e.g. transport, work, education, entertainment and daily life, has changed or ONE that has remained the same in the local area, region or state/territory since colonial times