Edward Washington

Edward Washington is a teacher of history in museums with a love of understanding the present by interrogating the past. He has a genuine passion to help support young learners to better engage with the stories and discipline of history, through museums, museum collections, archives and historic places. Similarly, he wants to support teachers, developing their confidence and interest for teaching history and setting an industry standard.

Ed is an accredited primary school teacher and has spent the last decade in the field of museum education working with tens of thousands of students, from Year 1 to Year 12, each year. He has led the development of successful learning programs, digital resources and digital engagement programs which complement and extend what students do in the classroom – getting them excited about ‘doing history’.

Ed loves the challenge of creating opportunities for young learners to think critically about the past through various creative methods and media and place-based experiences. He has created award-winning learning resources, championed universal museum access for students with additional access requirements and developed professional development courses for primary teachers with an interest in developing new skills in history. In 2019 Ed received the Ruth Pope scholarship for international travel and research, travelling to Ireland, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland, gaining new perspectives on interpretation and best-practice approaches to museum education.

Ed will use his Churchill Fellowship to investigate museum pedagogy related to the teaching of contested or challenging history and perspectives in museums, to primary students. Ed holds degrees in Education and History from Macquarie University, as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts from UNSW, College of Fine Arts.