Geography Education in Finland

This article explains the history of geography education from basic to higher levels up to the present in Finland. It also maps out the geography departments in universities and geography-related academic societies to give a full picture of geography education in Finland. Geography is a compulsory subject from elementary to senior high-school education in Finland. Furthermore, geography is one of the natural sciences, and it plays an important role in providing students with the experience needed to think logically about various phenomena from natural and social science points of view. It took a long time for geography to become established and to gain status as a natural science in the Finish education system. Geography education in Finland started in the 1500s. Although geography was part of history in the 19th century, geographers and schoolteachers advocated that remembering place names is not the core of geography, rather the most important thing in geography is to understand the causes of spatial distributions using knowledge from the natural sciences. Geography became a natural science subject in the late 19th century. At present, geography is seen as a bridge between natural and social sciences, and it is considered to be an important subject for fostering the ability to think logically. In Finland six universities have geography departments. In other universities there are classes on geography or geographic information systems even if there is no geography department. Therefore, students can study geography in most universities in Finland. Geographic societies are active. Each society publishes journals, and scholars try to increase the visibility of Finnish geography not only in Finnish but also in English, in order to influence both Finnish and international societies.