Geography, once a staple of school education, is facing significant challenges as it struggles to compete with other subjects. A shortage of qualified teachers and an incomplete curriculum in many countries are contributing to the decline of this critical subject.
Hilde Storrøsæter, a geographer and assistant professor at NTNU’s Department of Teacher Education, is raising concerns about the way geography is taught in schools. “Alarm bells should be ringing, both in the field and among teachers in schools. The development we are seeing in geography as a subject is critical. This failure affects the students’ ability to understand how things are connected in a troubled and confusing world,” she stated.
Geographical Thinking: A Missing Component
Storrøsæter, along with colleagues from nine countries, conducted an analysis of the national geography curricula for upper secondary schools. Their findings revealed a lack of clarity in defining “geographical thinking” across the board. “Geographical thinking is a way of understanding and interpreting the world through geographical knowledge,” Storrøsæter explained.
This concept is essential for understanding complex global issues like climate change and globalization, yet it is not explicitly addressed in the curricula of the nine countries studied, which include Australia, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Norway, Slovakia, South Africa, and the United States.
Gaps in Curriculum Content
The study highlighted critical deficiencies, notably the insufficient emphasis on the concept of “place,” a fundamental element of geographical thinking. “We see these as critical shortcomings,” Storrøsæter noted.
The research, titled “An international perspective on geography curricula: paving a way forward for geographical thinking,” was published in the journal International Geographical and Environmental Education.
Linking Nature and Society
Geography serves as a bridge between natural and social sciences, helping students understand the interaction between humans and the environment. This is increasingly important as society grapples with sustainability, nature loss, and unexpected political shifts like Brexit and Trump’s election.
“People vote differently based on where they live. They may live in places that have exploited their environment and their resources. When society then develops in a different direction, many are filled with a great sense of loss. This, in turn, has an impact on how people vote in elections,” Storrøsæter observed.
The Importance of Thinking Skills
The study also pointed out the absence of creative and future-oriented thinking in several countries’ curricula. Without these skills, geography education risks becoming irrelevant beyond the classroom. “If we remove the thinking, we are left with the facts. Then we lose the whole,” Storrøsæter emphasized.
Teaching Beyond Facts
Students need to be equipped with geographical and forward-looking thinking to make informed decisions about everyday choices, such as buying bottled water. “It’s about connecting one’s own actions to global contexts, and imagining different futures,” Storrøsæter said, highlighting the environmental impact of plastic bottle production.
Challenges in Geography Education
Teachers face the challenge of instilling complex concepts like climate change into students’ understanding. “To understand climate change, pupils must be able to see the connection between local floods and global emission patterns,” Storrøsæter said, drawing on her nine years of teaching experience.
International Curriculum Comparisons
The study, the first of its kind, also compared different national curricula. France’s curriculum was found to be rigid, combining geography with history, whereas Norway and Denmark offered more flexibility. However, crucial thinking skills were missing in both countries.
In Norway, a lack of direction within an open curriculum and a shortage of specialized teachers are concerns. “When the teachers who are going to interpret the open Norwegian curriculum do not have enough academic ballast, their teaching is further weakened,” Storrøsæter explained.
Hope for the Future
Despite the challenges, Storrøsæter remains optimistic about the future of geography education. “I’m concerned because teacher shortages, lack of requirements for teacher competence and weak subject curricula result in the low quality of pupils’ learning. Hopeful because both research and focus on geographical thinking are expanding, and I feel it can be used to improve students’ learning, teacher education and curriculum development,” she stated.
Storrøsæter calls for common ambitions to connect geography with major topics such as sustainability and community development, aiming to develop thinkers rather than mere fact-checkers.
Original Story at phys.org