‘What did Australian school students
learn about the Great War during the
war? What do students learn about the
war today?’
Dr Rosalie Triolo
Faculty of Education
Monash University
Abstract:
Magazines created during the Great War by education departments
or single schools, as well as text or other books deemed
compulsory or recommended reading, conveyed official and usually
conservative views about the war. Such publications shaped
lessons in schools and profoundly influenced life beyond, yet are
highly-underrated and rarely-used resources today for
understanding values, attitudes and activities during the war. A
century later, education continues to shape and be shaped
variously by official or wider social views. Events of the Great War
also continue to be taught. In some ways, the media and the
messages are the same; in other ways, not.
This session will focus on representations of the Empire and its
Allies, specifically representations of France and Belgium. It will
draw mainly on primary sources used in Victoria, but will
incorporate examples from elsewhere. It will encourage participants
to identify similarities and differences between past and present
teachings.
Inquiry method. What does it
mean?
Students:
* frame questions
* locate, organise and analyse evidence
* evaluate, synthesise and report conclusions
* take action of some sort (preferable)
* re-consider consequences and outcomes of each
phase
(Hamston & Murdoch, 1996),
* with teacher assistance …
* with a starting point of prior knowledge …
* within a spirit that inquiring and learning are ongoing
and that there will very likely be further evidence …
hypotheses are tentative …
(Triolo, 2014)
Identify three countries that
you believe Australian and
New Zealand students learned
about during the Great War.
What is one thing about each
of those countries that you
believe the students learned?
• Department of Veterans’ Affairs
> Commemorations
> Education
> Education Resources
> Resource kits, books, websites and
online publications
• http://www.dva.gov.au/Pages/home.aspx
Evidence collection (I)
12 sources from (the hundreds) in
the forthcoming DVA school resource
‘Schooling, Service and the Great
War’
• Inquiry question:
What did school students learn during
the Great War about the British Empire,
its Allies and its enemies?
• Enjoy reading the evidence …
• In light of it, consider the extent to which
your preliminary hypotheses have been
confirmed or challenged.
• IF instances of the latter, ‘what’ have you
learned?
Evidence collection (II)
6 pages from Rosalie Triolo,
‘Our Schools and the War’,
Australian Scholarly, Kew,
2012, pp. 8-23.
• What did school students learn during the
Great War about the British Empire, its
Allies and its enemies?
• Enjoy reading the evidence …
• In light of it, consider the extent to which
your preliminary hypotheses have been
confirmed or challenged.
• IF instances of the latter, ‘what’ have you
learned?
• Report back?
• Conclusions:
What do you think are the similarities
between what students learned then, and
now?
What are the differences?
What’s ‘missing’ from my examples with
you today?
• Any questions?
• rosalie.triolo@monash.edu