Geography in Education and Teaching Methods

School geography and the didactics of geography are closely linked: as a research discipline focusing on teaching and learning processes from a content-centred perspective (Martinand, 2005), the didactics – in this case, that of geography – focuses primarily on the various challenges specific to the school subject, whilst also addressing teacher training, teaching resources and curricula.

The curricula (Lehrplan 21, Plan d’études romand, Piano di studio della scuola dell’obbligo ticinese – to mention only those that now govern compulsory education in Switzerland) set ambitious objectives for geography: it must enable pupils to acquire the intellectual tools necessary to understand the complexity of the world in its many dimensions (environmental, social, economic, ethical, etc.), to develop their ability to identify problems, carry out scientific investigations, and create models. School geography must therefore contribute to the development of critical thinking and complex reasoning, with a view to fostering responsible citizens who are capable of making reasoned choices when seeking solutions to the major problems facing societies today and in the future (Hertig, 2015).

Just like the parent discipline, school geography focuses on the relationships that human societies have with space and those they have with one another across space (Raffestin & Turco, 1984/1995). As such, it helps pupils to develop their ‘geographical relationship with the world’ (Thémines, 2006), which is fundamental to their relationship with knowledge. The training of geography teachers – both in terms of academic knowledge and teaching methodology, in both initial and continuing professional development – is therefore a fundamental issue if school geography is to make a genuine contribution to helping pupils at all levels develop civic, social and scientific skills that are in line with the objectives that the school system assigns to the subject. A sound education is essential if teachers are to be able to design and implement teaching approaches that are genuinely enriching for their pupils. This involves, first and foremost, the ability to offer learning experiences other than the tedious exercises in memorising static facts to which school geography is still all too often reduced.

However, geography teachers must also be able to avoid the pitfalls of oversimplification or becoming overly reliant on technology, and to take a critical look at the various teaching methods and resources… whilst possessing the necessary skills to guide the learning process.

Activities

These, in brief, are the main areas of focus of the work carried out by the Thematic Group on ‘School Geography and the Teaching of Geography’, as reflected, amongst other things, in the regular contributions by members of this group or of the Swiss Association for the Teaching of Geography (ADG-CH) published in GeoAgenda.

Philippe Hertig, 2018