Hearts and minds: Public archaeology and the Queensland school curriculum

Abstract

The school education system is an important public sphere where popular notions of archaeology and the archaeological past are produced and reproduced. Within the framework of an interpretive public archaeology, schools represent a significant social context in which archaeologists might seek meaningful engagement with the wider community. Analysis of the Queensland Education Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE) syllabus reveals that there are many opportunities for the inclusion of Australian archaeology examples in the curricula of both primary and secondary schools. In this paper we develop a public outreach strategy for engaging the Queensland school curriculum and report on two case studies from southeast Queensland where this strategy was implemented.