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Geography and the A ustralian Curriculum: Unfulfilled Knowledges in Secondary School Education
Author(s) -
CASINADER NIRANJAN
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geographical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.695
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-5871
pISSN - 1745-5863
DOI - 10.1111/1745-5871.12081
Subject(s) - curriculum , inclusion (mineral) , subject (documents) , context (archaeology) , pedagogy , five themes of geography , geography , critical geography , sociology , scope (computer science) , cultural geography , human geography , social science , mathematics education , historical geography , library science , development geography , archaeology , psychology , computer science , programming language
The introduction of geography as a separate discipline within the A ustralian Curriculum offers hope for revitalisation of the subject in A ustralian school education after decades of decline. Since the 1990s, the subject has been largely submerged within an integrated curriculum framework that has had significant consequences for the presence and character of secondary school geography. Its inclusion in the learning area of SOSE (Studies of Society and Environment) within schools has diluted the degree, breadth and depth of geographical education. However, in spite of the hope provided by its re‐institution, the process of national curriculum construction has had disconcerting consequences for the type of geography being offered to A ustralian students at the secondary level. Building on critical overviews of the history of secondary geography as an A ustralian school subject since the 1980s, recent philosophical discourse on approaches to geographical knowledge in a school context, and the author's personal experience as a geographical educator and researcher, this paper argues that the nature of knowledge embodied by the new geography study design in Years 7–10 is flawed in both its scope and its direction. While reflecting many of the characteristics of a social realist approach to geographical knowledge, the A ustralian Curriculum minimises the elements of critical analysis that provide geography with its unique educational identity and value.