Teaching Heritage - Integrating Perspectives of Economic Groups

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	How can we formulate historical questions that lead to more integrated ways of thinking about issues?

	Rather than separating issues in relation to various economic groups, how can investigations be approached in a way that draws on the perspectives of various economic groups?


	Teachers In building units of work for classroom use with these questions and resources, you may like to consult the NSW History and Geography Stages 4-5 syllabus outcomes: History Outcomes - Stage 4 History Outcomes - Stage 5 History Values and Attitudes Geography Outcomes - Stage 4 Geography Outcomes - Stage 5 Geography Values and Attitudes For help with designing classroom assessment activities to help gauge whether these outcomes are being achieved, you may like to consult the History Planning Assessment Guidelines History Course Performance Descriptors Geography Planning Assessment Guidelines Geography Draft Course Performance Descriptors

Integrating perspectives is an attempt to overcome bias in viewing situations and drawing conclusions. Bias develops when we take a narrow look at a particular topic. Analysing problems and issues from a range of viewpoints is the main objective in working with perspectives.

So, how do we gather evidence of the diversity of views held by a range of economic groups in relation to an event such as the Great Depression? Much of what marginalised groups thought, felt and did – expressed from their particular viewpoints – went unrecorded in the past. It naturally follows that much of recorded history is biased.

Analysis focusing on perspectives, then, requires us to integrate current knowledge and awareness of situations involving marginalised groups – the voices generally unrepresented in the media and public life – in contemporary society.

The questions we ask are a key to accessing perspectives. Questions initiating an inquiry reflect the outlook (or perspective) on the investigation – signalling the likely direction an investigation will take.
Several inquiry questions in the History syllabus focus on political processes between the wars. Crucial to understanding processes is to look at those included and those excluded from disucssions.

Questions that focus on who was involved – and how the representative groups benefited from participation – can illuminate our understandings of the power different economic groups bring to Australian politics today.

One syllabus question clearly stands out as geared to perspectives – What were the differing experiences of various groups in Australia during the Great Depression? Another question that could be investigated from the perspectives of economic groups is:

How and why did Australian society and culture change during the 1920s and 1930s?
Analysing this topic in relation to economic groups evokes a key question: Who was involved in changes during the interwar years? For example, who attended the cinemas, who was involved in the retail boom of the 20s, who participated in developing government measures in response to the Depression? Furthering the inquiry, we could ask, What were the goals of different economic groups? For example, what were workers and employers aiming to achieve, what roles did different economic groups perform, what benefits were passed onto different economic groups? And leading into the syllabus related question: How and why the boom and bust period affected people from different socioeconomic backgrounds?

Ultimately, citizenship learning that assists students to work within current social and political systems needs to focus on how the processes that lead up to and beyond the Depression worked to the advantage of certain groups and the disadvantage of others.

Click the icon to listen to various points of views

Another approach to integrating the perspectives of economic groups is to ask people of different groups how they view a particular issue. Go to the discussion forum to hear a range of perspectives – including gender, Aboriginal, cultural, socioeconomic – on the meanings and practices associated with heritage. Brian Turner provides some insight into the differing viewpoints of employers and workers around the time of the Great Depression and the growing tensions that resulted.