GeoCapabilities and curriculum leadership: balancing the priorities of aim-based and knowledge-led curriculum thinking in schools

Abstract

The small-scale research presented in this paper was conducted as part of the Geo-Capabilities project. Though originating in the Anglophone world, the project attempts to address the purposes and values of geography education internationally. Using the idea of "powerful disciplinary knowledge" the project asks what geography has to offer that helps young people develop the human capabilities they need in order to live a life that they consider valuable. In this paper we explore the challenges and opportunities presented by GeoCapabilities in several European national contexts. We asked selected teachers and teacher educators in four different countries (Finland, Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden) what role they thought geography plays in enhancing students' "human potential". Despite marked differences relating to the legal and structural background in each country we found major similarities in teachers' and teacher educators' curriculum thinking in relation to geography's contribution to the future well-being of their students.

Geography Curricula Objectives and Students’ Performance: Enhancing the Student’s Higher-Order Thinking Skills?

“…Teaching values, like sustainable development and diversity, are an important part of geography teaching and learning (see e.g. Uhlenwinkel et al 2017). The value-based LOs included in the curriculum reflect geography's ability to teach values that are important in helping students to appreciate a diverse society, in which everyone has the opportunity to participate actively (see also Bednarz 2019).…”

“…Butt and Lambert 2014, 9), and in some parts of the world, for example in Sweden, the Netherlands, China, and parts of the United States and South America, geography is taught as part of social studies. However, geography's status as a named subject in upper secondary education is quite common across the globe: for example, in Sweden, the Netherlands, China, parts of the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guyana, Paraguay, and Uruguay (Bednarz, Heffron, and Solem 2014;Brooks, Quian, and Salinas-Silva 2018;Uhlenwinkel et al 2017). Furthermore, researchers have noted that geography seems to have a general "body of knowledge" (Butt and Lambert 2014, 1) and a general understanding of geography education's goals (Chang and Seow 2018, 32).…”

GeoCapabilities,Didakticalanalysis and curriculum thinking – furthering the dialogue betweenDidaktikand curriculum

“…Early on in the GeoCapabilities project, it became clear that central concepts used in the project were hard to translate to an international context (Uhlenwinkel, B eneker, Bladh, Tani, & Lambert, 2017). In my experience, the meaning of concepts such as 'curriculum making' and 'curriculum leadership' did not translate easily when interviewing Swedish teachers using a common GeoCapabilities project framework (Bladh & € Orbring, 2016).…”

Vom GW-Unterrichten zum Unterrichten mit geographischen und ökonomischen Konzepten. Zu den neuen Basiskonzepten im österreichischen GW-Lehrplan AHS Sek II.

“…Vielmehr wird dies der Verantwortung den Lehrenden überlassen (vgl. Lambert, Solem & Th ani 2015;Donert 2015;Uhlenwinkel et al, 2016). Lehrer/innen übernehmen folglich "Curriculum-Leadership", d. h. sie wählen in der Unterrichtssituation zu einem bestimmten Th ema jene fachlichen Zugänge (Core Concepts bzw.…”