Understanding and Teaching the Australian Curriculum: Geography for Primary Schools by

It is not common to think about how geography is taught at primary school. Indeed, many of us are unaware if geography is taught at all in the first years of schooling. Professional geographers and educationalists will be pleased to learn that geography’s position in the school curriculum is strengthening: since 2008, a committee of teachers, academics and government officials has been developing the geography curriculum from reception to the senior school years as part of a broader national approach to learning at school. In May 2013 the geography component of the Australian curriculum was endorsed by State and Territory Ministers, giving a cogency and impact that should not be overlooked. Associate Professor Alaric Maude was the Institute ofAustralian Geographers representative on the geography curriculum committee, and he has now produced a guide to that curriculum that is both a resource for teachers and a fascinating insight into contemporary Australia in its own right. This book is focused on the teaching of geography at primary school because, as Maude notes, primary school teachers are responsible for teaching seven of the nine years in which the subject is compulsory. Moreover, many primary school teachers will be unsure of how to teach geography and even of what the subject should focus on, as few will have taken the subject themselves in the senior years of high school, and even fewer will have done so at University. This book aims to help teachers understand the curriculum they are being asked to teach while also demonstrating to them that it is an interesting and important subject that constitutes essential knowledge for the contemporary era. Understanding and Teaching the Australian Curriculum: Geography for Primary Schools is not a conventional textbook. Instead, it is better thought of as a resource for teachers organised into 10 chapters. Chapters One through Three provide the conceptual underpinnings for the book. The first chapter discusses what geography is; why it has a separate place in the curriculum; the key concepts of place, space, environment, interconnection, sustainability, scale and change; the ambitions of the curriculum; and how to use the children’s own experience to enhance their learning. The second chapter examines the knowledge-and-understanding strand within the curriculum and how these are separated in pedagogy. Chapter Three considers the inquiry-andskills strand within the curriculum and outlines how they have been built into the learning experience of students. Chapters Four through Ten then consider in sequence the teaching of geography from the foundation or reception year of primary school through to year six. Understanding and Teaching the Australian Curriculum: Geography for Primary Schools is full of resources for teachers as they seek to achieve the best possible learning outcomes for their students. Important concepts and key techniques are clearly identified, and there are resources dotted throughout the book to help teachers in their task. The text also includes examples of teaching aids and suggestions for in-class discussion. Perhaps one of the most important things about Understanding and Teaching the Australian Curriculum: Geography for Primary Schools is that it makes the teaching of geography come alive. Its content is a world away (pun intended) from old-fashioned approaches that focused on lists of cities and exports or on beach formation and creation. Alaric Maude is able to show us that rather than being a discipline of colonial power, geography is a dynamic approach to understanding our world and the people within it. Its sections on Indigenous Australians and their view of the world are especially enlightening, as is the discussion of how our environment sustains us. Importantly, Maude shows us how teachers can both do their best for students and get the best out of students, resulting in betterinformed learners. Finally, it is important to acknowledge that the production of this book was more than a labour of love for Alaric Maude. As a former Secretary of the Institute of Australian Geographers, he both participated on the curriculum committee bs_bs_banner