Re-centring Geography: A School-based Perspective on the Nature of the Discipline

The Australian Government is currently developing a national geography curriculum for Australian schools. The paper discusses the question of how to describe the nature of geography as a school subject, and the implications of this description for the curriculum. Geography is defined as the study of places, and its distinctiveness is identified by the main questions that geographers use to gain new knowledge and understanding. These questions are inclusive of the human-environment interactions and spatial analysis traditions of the discipline that are often proposed as alternative ways of defining the subject, and also of the different philosophical approaches adopted by geographers to the gaining of knowledge. The discipline is further defined and described through its concepts and skills. Based on recent research on student learning, a national geography curriculum should have a balance of substantive knowledge (facts, principles and explanations) and procedural knowledge (concepts, methods, skills and ways of gaining new knowledge), and enable students to learn geography by doing it and by applying their knowledge. The content could be chosen by combining professional judgements on what topics are important for students to study, and an assessment of what topics are likely to be seen as interesting to young Australians and relevant to the adult world they are about to enter. The resulting curriculum would be integrative and eclectic, focused on the study of places and the variety of ways they can be understood, and would produce students better able to analyse and understand a range of current and future local and global issues. Such a curriculum would require adjustments in university topics, especially in first year.