Ten years of the HSIE K-6 Syllabus

1
Ten years of the HSIE K-6 Syllabus Common HSIE
syllabus questions and answers.
Anne Southwell Senior Curriculum Adviser HSIE
K-6 Curriculum Directorate
NSW Department of Education Training NSW
Public Schools Leading the Way
www.det.nsw.edu.au
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Q.1

• What do the letters HSIE stand for?

3
Answer to Q.1

• Human Society and Its Environment, which is
  commonly known as SOSE - Studies of Society and
  Environment or Humanities in other states and
  territories.

4
Q.2

• How many strands are there in HSIE K-6? List them.

5
Answer to Q.2

• Four Change and Continuity, Cultures,
  Environments and Social Systems and Structures.
  Each strand is divided into two sub strands.
• It is worth noting the Resource system sub strand
  in Social Systems and Structures is often a
  standalone strand in some other states.

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Q.3

• How many outcomes are there in each stage? 4, 6,
  8, 9, 13 or 15?

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Answer to Q.3

• Four HSIE outcomes in Early Stage 1
• Eight outcomes in Stages 1, 2 and 3 i.e. the
  smallest number of outcomes for any Key Learning
  Area. This is why the outcomes are so complex. It
  could well have been easier for teachers to have
  more outcomes that were simpler and easier to
  understand.
• Note SciTech has 9 outcomes, PDHPE has 13 and
  Creative Arts has 15.

8
Q.4

• Must the topics in the HSIE Units of Work,
  developed by NSW BOS be taught? True or false.

9
Answer to Q.4

• False this is stated in the 1999 BOS Principals
  Package, in the Overview the 28 units are not
  mandatory and also in the units of work the
  units of work at not mandatory page 5.

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Q.5

• What is mandatory? The syllabus, the outcomes,
  the indicators, the content?

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Answer to Q.5

• The whole syllabus is mandatory including the
  outcomes and the syllabus subject matter that
  unpacks and supports the outcomes. The wording
  Students in stage X will learn about at the top
  of pages 43, 49, 55 and 61 identifies the intent
  of this subject matter.
• Skills and values and attitudes will be addressed
  if the syllabus subject matter is referenced
• Indicators included in the syllabus are described
  as examples only (p.19).
• Some teachers are incorrectly assuming that only
  the outcomes are mandatory and therefore they can
  choose to address content that is not described
  by the syllabus.

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Q.6

• HSIE does not have any skills, because there are
  no skills outcomes? True or false?

13
Answer to Q.6

• False
• HSIE has 3 distinct skills Acquiring
  Information, Using an Inquiry Process and Social
  and Civic Participation. These skills do not have
  outcomes. However it is impossible for students
  to learn about HSIE syllabus subject matter
  without engaging with these skills in a
  hierarchical manner through the stages. This is a
  good reason for referring to the syllabus subject
  matter when developing and undertaking teaching
  and learning programs.

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Q.7

• Which HSIE strand is the smallest?

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Answer to Q.7

• Environments this strand is about 25 smaller
  than the other 3 strands according to the
  syllabus subject matter listed, because learning
  about the Environment is also included in Science
  and Technology and PDHPE. However this strand
  receives the most support in the units of work
  particularly Stage 2. (Refer to the table
  diagrams on pages 42, 76 and 114 of the BOS units
  of work.)

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Q.8

• Which strand receives the smallest amount of
  teaching and learning in the BOS units of work?
  What are the implications of this for school
  planning?

17
Answer to Q.8

• The Cultures strand If only the units of work
  are used in a school plan there is insufficient
  teaching of the Cultures strand in all stages.
• Schools will need to source other topics or
  resources to fill the gaps DET Curriculum K-12
  Directorate has developed considerable support
  for the Cultures strand available at
  http//www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/
  primary/hsie/index.htm

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Q.9

• Should Stage 3 teachers teach about ancient
  civilisations?

19
Answer to Q.9

• No.
• No primary school should include ancient
  civilisations in their school plan for HSIE.
  There are no primary HSIE outcomes or syllabus
  subject matter that cover any aspect of an
  ancient civilisation such as Egypt, Greece, or
  Rome etc.
• Ancient civilisations is the first major topic
  students will engage with in Stage 4 History
  Societies and civilisations of the past. Teaching
  about an ancient civilisation in primary schools
  has a negative effect on student engagement with
  HSIE in High School, in the same way that primary
  teachers deal with student disengagement when
  they encounter students in a class that have
  already been taught something they now need to
  cover.

20
Answer to Q.9 (cont)

• Secondary teachers are not able to substitute a
  different topic, they have to teach about ancient
  civilisations. Secondary teachers are rightly
  complaining about the impact of ancient
  civilisations being taught in primary schools on
  their school planning and programming.
• It is also impossible for primary teachers to
  assess and report upon something that is not in
  the syllabus because there is no syllabus
  standard by which to judge student achievement.
• It also begs the questions Is this an
  unnecessary topic that is contributing to teacher
  workload? or What is being left out of the
  Stage 3 HSIE to make time for ancient
  civilisations?

21
Q.10

• In which stage would you teach a topic on
  colonial exploration / inland explorers?

22
Answer to Q.10

• There is no stage in which a topic on Colonial
  Exploration or Inland Explorers should be taught.
  In Stage 3 there is a brief mention of colonial
  exploration, but there is not sufficient syllabus
  subject matter to justify a standalone topic.

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Q.11

• Does HSIE need to be taught in Early Stage 1?

24
Answer to Q.11

• Yes, because the Education Act (reflected in DET
  policy) states that all Key Learning Areas must
  be addressed in each year of schooling.
• But, if all the Early Stage 1 aspects of HSIE are
  not covered then no lasting harm will ensure,
  especially when Early Stage 1 teachers (wonderful
  people ?) focus on developing student literacy,
  numeracy and socialisation skills, which often
  closely align to the HSIE syllabus subject
  matter.

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Q.12

• Is it a good idea to alternate the teaching of
  HSIE with SciTech?

26
Answer to Q.12

• It is best practice to teach the HSIE K-6
  syllabus in each term. While the time allocated
  to HSIE teaching will be different in each
  school, about 90 minutes or about 10 of
  classroom time a week should be available to this
  Key Learning Area. This time is identified in the
  HSIE Principals Package and reflected in DET
  policy. This may overlap with literacy and
  numeracy at times.

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Q.13

• Is HSIE best taught in an integrated way with
  SciTech?

28
Answer to Q.13

• There are only 3 HSIE outcomes where some Science
  and Technology logically integrates these are
  the two Environments outcomes and the Resource
  Systems outcome in Social Systems and Structures.
  
• In these 2 areas there is some overlap with
  Science and Technology however there is still
  specific HSIE syllabus subject matter that will
  need to be taught in these 2 areas that does not
  integrate. Refer to the syllabus subject matter
  in these 2 strands for clarification.

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Q.14

• How is it best to teach about Aboriginal history
  and culture within other topics or stand alone?

30
Answer to Q.14

• Teaching Aboriginal history and culture is not
  optional. All schools need to consider where they
  are teaching about Aboriginal history and
  culture.
• Ideally Aboriginal history and culture is best
  taught interwoven through all topics and strands
  (where it logically fits of course) e.g. a Stage
  3 topic on China for example would not include
  any specific Aboriginal culture. But some
  teaching and learning is better than nothing at
  all if there are some teachers who feel that
  they can cope with this best in a standalone unit
  then so be it.
• Refer to the Shared History web site for detailed
  teaching and learning support
  http//www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/
  shared/index.htm

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Q.15

• How long should teaching of the discovery of
  Australia and British colonisation take in Stage
  2?

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Answer to Q.15

• British colonisation needs to be scheduled for
  one term to allow the rest of the Stage 2
  syllabus to be taught, but this will be a big
  term of HSIE and its location needs to be
  managed.
• The discovery of Australia has only a brief
  mention in Stage 2 and does not justify an
  additional terms worth of work, a couple of
  lessons would be considered sufficient. It is
  worth noting that learning about Aboriginal and
  Indigenous Peoples, Colonisation and Contact
  History is also a mandatory part of Stage 4
  History usually covered in Year 8.
• This may be one term where no Science and
  Technology is taught balanced against a term
  where Science and Technology has a major focus.

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Q.16

• Are local, State and Federal Governments taught
  in Stage 3?

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Answer to Q.16

• Local government is actually taught in Stage 2
  Social systems and structures SSS2.8, because
  Local government deals with the environment in
  the local area it is also possible to look at
  some aspects of the Environments strand when
  learning about local government.
• State and Federal Government are part of Stage 3,
  and should be addressed together. It is not
  appropriate to spend a term in one year on State
  government and then another term in the next year
  on Federal government.

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Q.17

• Is teaching about Gold in Stage 3 the best way
  cover aspects of Change and continuity ? What
  other units of work are in the school plan to
  teach this strand?

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Answer to Q.17

• No Gold is a very small component of Stage 3
  Change and Continuity.
• The topic Gold becomes the focus rather than
  the covering the syllabus subject matter in the
  strand
• Only teaching about Gold usually leaves out a
  large component of early Australia history,
  particularly about other significant events and
  people related to colonial Australia prior to
  Federation in 1901. Refer to the subject matter /
  content on page 61.
• Australian Democracy is often another unit of
  work.

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Q.18

• Is General Religious education (GRE) an optional
  part of the syllabus?

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Answer to Q.18

• GRE is not optional to teach
• Some parents (rarely) can ask that their
  child(ren) do not participate in these lessons.
  This does not mean that all students in the class
  are then denied this learning.
• GRE is part of the Cultures strand in particular,
  although some aspects may be part of other
  strands in a small way. Teachers may need support
  to develop teaching and learning about the 5 main
  world religions in Stage 2.
• Resources for all stages may need to be borrowed
  or purchased to support this teaching in all
  stages. Schools may borrow suitable resources
  from the DET Henry Parkes Equity Resource Centre
  (mail out available).
• Resources to support this teaching and learning
  are available at
• http//www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/
  primary/hsie/resources/index.htm

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Q.19

• If a school decides not to use COGs then the only
  other support for HSIE is the BOS units of work?
  True or false?

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Answer to Q.19

• False
• In the last 10 years a great deal of syllabus
  support has been developed for HSIE by NSW DET,
  however this has often been overlooked by
  teachers because the names of the support
  material does not have the same topic name as
  those in the units of work.
• Resources include published materials that have
  been distributed to schools over the years and
  also units of work that can only be downloaded
  e.g. units for multistage classes.

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Q.20

• What secondary subject(s) does HSIE lead into?
  Mandatory and elective?

42
Answer to Q.20

• History and Geography are both mandatory in
  Stages 4 and 5 in High School. All students in
  Year 10 sit a School Certificate exam in
  Australian History, Geography, Civics and
  Citizenship.
• There are 3 Stage 5 HSIE electives Aboriginal
  Studies, Work Education (both small number of
  students) and Commerce (more than 25 of all
  students).

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Answer to Q.20 (cont)

• This means that there is limited flow through of
  the primary Cultures strand into Stages 4 and 5.
  Specific study of different cultures is limited
  to HSIE International Studies, a School developed
  Board Endorsed Course undertaken by a handful of
  classes in NSW.
• Stage 6 HSIE has a wide range of electives such
  as Modern and Ancient History, Geography, Society
  and Culture, Legal Studies and Business Studies,
  the most widely taken course after English (the
  only HSC compulsory subject) and Mathematics.

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HSIE 10 years on

• The HSIE K-6 syllabus is standing the test of
  time very well.
• There are some minor adjustments that can be
  identified to ensure currency at this point in
  time.

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Considerations include

• Updating HSIE teaching and learning programs to
• Annotate the syllabus subject matter for each
  stage, this will identify where teaching about a
  topic has moved into another stage (higher or
  lower) or to another KLA completely all factors
  that contribute to teacher workload
• Engage with the range of specific HSIE support
  material that has been developed over the last 10
  years to support classroom teachers
• Include teaching about Cultures where both
  Australian identities and cultural diversity area
  addressed for all students, where cultural
  diversity is considered in the context of unity
  with diversity
• Consideration is given to reducing the depth and
  breadth of content on British colonisation in
  Stage 2 knowing it is taught again in Stage 4.

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Considerations (cont.)

• Reduce or even eliminate the use of global
  contexts in Stage 3 when global contexts are
  covered in Stage 4 Geography e.g. using a case
  study of an Australian rainforest instead of
  looking at global examples of rainforests global
  responsibilities Antarctica.
• Remove the global focus from the Resource Systems
  outcome in Stage 3 (SSS3.7) while retaining
  learning about Australian resources and wider
  community responsibilities
• Include practical hands on activities for
  students in all stages with historical artefacts
  and engagement with historical situations so
  that students understand change over time and the
  impact different technology had on the way people
  lived that is now so different to the way people
  live now e.g. using excursions, visits to
  historical sites, museums, role plays to make the
  teaching of history easier for teachers and
  students.

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Thank you

• For additional support or information contact
• Anne Southwell, Senior Curriculum Adviser HSIE
  K-12 at Curriculum K-12 Directorate (02) 9886
  7156 anne.southwell_at_det.nsw.edu.au