We, as student teachers of history in NSW, petition both the NSW Board of Studies and DEC to develop a centralized history-teaching resource-sharing database indexed by syllabus topic and annotated for ease of use. We believe it would be a very cost-efficient method, firstly, for improving the quality of both history teacher education and secondary history teaching in NSW and, secondly, for improving the retention rate of early career teachers. This would allow teachers (and student teachers) to focus on, and develop, how to best teach students rather than each separately consuming their limited time compiling resources outside of the limited frame of textbooks (which student teachers have no access to). It would also dramatically reduce the occupational stress, and workload, of early career teachers (and student teachers) who the DEC has a low rate of retention of. While there is always a place for teachers' own research into their field of knowledge, history is notable for how colossal the subject's scope and the variety of sources necessary for its teaching. Having said this it seems something that all teachers would benefit from having. The History Teachers’ Association of NSW demonstrates the limitations of an entirely user-driven and user-funded interface while private online variations are an ill fit for a syllabus as developed and specific as the NSW BOS’ and too fragmented in membership to be effective for NSW students.

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