Curriculum contested: Primary geography and social justice

This article argues for a redirection of the approach to geography teaching in primary education. It challenges the accepted notion that the curriculum is provided for children by adults, reflecting the interests of an adult world, rather than being one in which children have a direct interest. The basis for this challenge lies in an examination of children's geographies, which are explored through children's geographical experience at first and second band; the geographies affecting children's lives near and far, and the geographies of children's participation in community activities The idea is promoted of children as dynamic and active participants, rather than as immature and passive learners in their geographical education. This is placed in the context of social justice for children and children's sense of fairness, as well as in relation to environmental futures and global citizenship education. Within the current geography national curriculum (GNC) for England, the key stage 1 and 2 geography programmes of study could be reorientated to reflect and build from these three aspects of children's geographies. This has implications for the focus of the units of study that many teachers now use to structure the content of the primary geography curriculum. It also implies children's increasing involvement in creating that curriculum themselves, as they gain experience with the teacher on the basis of appropriate criteria linked to their personal experience. For primary schools to engage with such a reconception of geographical education, support and development is essential if primary teachers are to regain control of the curriculum and to put children's geographies at the heart of geography. The shift in curriculum thinking proposed here is contentious, but decisions on curriculum purpose, content and approach always have been so. A primary geography curriculum based on children's geographies may well reach deeper levels of commitment and learning, and that is a goal worth striving for.