Abstract:
One of the relatively recent manifestations of citizenship education was an initiative that prompted schools and teachers to explicitly teach 'Australian' values. The National Framework for Values in Australian Schools (DEST, 2005) can be examined for the way it positioned teachers as values educators. This paper adopts a Foucauldian lens to discuss the ways History as a school subject is constructed as a space and place for fostering ethical citizens. The discussion draws on a study of three Modern History teachers and their students, based on data collected through document analysis, interviews and classroom observation (Halbert, 2010). The research revealed that whole school approaches which utilised the national framework did not necessarily sit in congruence with the teaching and learning experiences of value laden subjects such as History.