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Why a Successful Geography Curriculum Needs Boundaries

Why a Successful Geography Curriculum Needs Boundaries. Alex Standish Institute of Education, University of London. The significance of boundaries. Boundaries are a pre-condition of meaning and also the basis of knowledge. Distinctiveness provides inherent value.

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Why a Successful Geography Curriculum Needs Boundaries

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  1. Why a Successful Geography Curriculum Needs Boundaries Alex Standish Institute of Education, University of London

  2. The significance of boundaries • Boundaries are a pre-condition of meaning and also the basis of knowledge. Distinctiveness provides inherent value. • The unique purpose of schools is education. Education involves the acquisition of theoretical knowledge (Young 2008). Schools also have other purposes such as teaching basic skills. • The purpose of academic knowledge is to explore and explain the natural, social and human worlds by going beyond everyday experience.

  3. Boundaries cont. • Theoretical knowledge is divided into disciplines depending upon forms of knowledge or the object of study. • The role of the teacher is to introduce pupils to different areas of knowledge, such that they can see beyond their personal experience. • Boundaries can be crossed, but we must know when and why we are crossing one. E.g. effective inter-disciplinary learning is dependent upon strong disciplinary knowledge.

  4. What is Core Geographical Knowledge? • In order to determine what counts as core knowledge we need a bounded understanding of geography.

  5. What makes a study geographical? A study is geographical if it contributes to one of geography’s core concepts

  6. Identifying geography’s core concepts • GA (Thinking Geographically/Matthews & Herbert): Place, Space and Environment • NCGE/AAG (Five Themes): Location, Place, Human-Environment Interactions, Movement, Region. • While essential for identifying geographical knowledge, this does not tell us how to organise the curriculum!

  7. What is the object geographers study? • ‘Geography is the study of the variation and interaction of physical and human phenomena across the surface of the Earth’. • ‘The study of the earth as a home to humankind’ (Ron Johnson 1985) • The curriculum should contain the knowledge that describes and explains geographical phenomena. This is organised into sub-disciplines but also needs to introduce children to the world.

  8. Children need to be introduced to: • Knowledge of all the world’s major regions. • Knowledge of all geography’s major sub-disciplines (including how they interact). • Knowledge of how to use/interpret maps (& other spatial data) and conduct fieldwork.

  9. Conclusion • In order for geography to advance in British schools we need clearly boundaries between educational/non-educational activities and geographical/non-geographical knowledge.

  10. References • De Blij, H. & Muller, D. (2012) Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts. Wiley. • Geographical Association: Manifesto (2009) • Geographical Association: Thinking Geographically (2012) http://www.geography.org.uk/download/GA_GINCConsultation12ThinkingGeographically.pdf • Herbert, J. and Mathews, D. (2004) Unifying Geography: Common Heritage, Shared Future. Routledge. • Standish, A. (2012) The False Promise of Global Learning: Why Education Needs Boundaries, New York: Continuum. • Young, M. (2008) Bringing Knowledge Back In: From Social Constructivism to Social Realism in the Sociology of Education. London: Routledge.

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