Holocaust, colonisation in school curriculum overhaul

History students in NSW will learn about the effects of colonisation on Indigenous Australians and the experiences of Holocaust victims as part of a major curriculum overhaul. The curriculum rewrite will also mean students will be schooled on democratic processes and the Australian constitution. The sweeping changes will only affect high-school students and are part of several changes to the syllabus in the nation's largest education system. The overhaul will also affect the teaching of geography, science, creative arts, and health and physical education. NSW Education Minister Prue Car said the history syllabus would help students become well-rounded and better informed. "The new syllabuses will provide students with opportunities for in-depth learning and support teachers with essential content for evidence-based explicit teaching," she said. Previously, high-school students could be taught about topics such as colonisation and the Holocaust but there were no guarantees on the extent to which they featured in school curriculums. Students in years 7 and 8 will now undertake mandatory, in-depth study on Indigenous Australians' experience of colonisation, including Aboriginal perspectives. They will also be taught detailed history of the Holocaust, including the experiences of Jewish survivors in post-World War II Australia. Geography students will also be taught about the impacts of climate change. NSW Education Standards Authority chief executive Paul Martin said the syllabuses were research-driven and would build on knowledge already established in primary school. "These documents went through a robust consultation process which has resulted in high quality syllabuses that reflect feedback provided by teachers and the broader community," he said. Teachers will have two years to get their heads around the new content before rolling out the updated classes in 2027. The state in July announced plans to roll out a reworked primary-school curriculum that included a focus on explicit teaching in a bid to reverse sliding results, replacing a pupil-led model formerly in vogue with many experts.