Explicit instruction and history teaching: clarifying knowledge or constraining inquiry?

Abstract In October of 2023, the announcement by NSW Secretary of Education Murat Dizdar signalled a policy shift towards explicit instruction, stating that explicit teaching should be used in every NSW classroom. This announcement again ignited public debate, intensified by media, regarding pedagogical approaches in schools. Primarily, media debates about teachers and schools in the main have circulated about what content is taught, this statement can be seen to have shifted the public discourse to how teachers teach. Within this debate, explicit instruction is promoted as the preferred approach. This paper argues that while explicit instruction offers a significant benefit for learning in History and the Humanities, it should not be framed as an either/or pedagogical choice. Rather, explicit instruction can be embedded within clear and rigorous inquiry-based learning principles that support disciplinary understanding and student engagement, without undermining the professional autonomy of teachers.