13.07.2015 Views

Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS
  • No tags were found...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Evaluation, assessment and geographical educationF<strong>in</strong>n MøllerUniversity College of West Jutland, Skolebakken 171, 6705 Esbjerg, Denmarke-mail: F<strong>in</strong>n.Moeller@cvu-vest.dkAbstractWith<strong>in</strong> the last ten years various Danish politicians have been focus<strong>in</strong>g on the use of evaluationand assessment as tools to <strong>in</strong>crease the general quality of education <strong>in</strong> the Danish primaryand lower secondary school, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Geography</strong> education. This article describes the actualsituation regard<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Geography</strong> education <strong>in</strong> state schools <strong>in</strong> Denmark and offers recommendationsas to how <strong>Geography</strong> teachers may address the self-evaluation of their own teach<strong>in</strong>gand assessments of students’ learn<strong>in</strong>g. Furthermore, the article will <strong>in</strong>clude reflections on howteacher education and <strong>in</strong>-service tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g can contribute to qualify<strong>in</strong>g this effort.Key words: evaluation, assessment, geographical education, school geography, lowersecondary School, <strong>in</strong>-service tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g, DenmarkIntroductionDanish school geography these years is <strong>in</strong> a position of uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty as a consequenceof a present debate on the quality of education <strong>in</strong> the Danish primary and lowersecondary education. On one hand it is generally acknowledged that schools needto focus on and improve the quality of science education, because <strong>in</strong>ternationalsurveys demonstrate that the level of Danish students’ scientific literacy is too lowcompared with students’ results <strong>in</strong> other countries. Different <strong>in</strong>itiatives have beentaken over the last couple of years to change this situation. National standards <strong>in</strong>every subject have been made, and the number of exam<strong>in</strong>ations <strong>in</strong>creased. On theother hand, it seems to have been a shock for some politicians to realize that youngpeople <strong>in</strong> Denmark <strong>in</strong> fact do have very little geographical knowledge. Dur<strong>in</strong>g someyears now school geography has been a low status subject <strong>in</strong> Danish schools and thatmay be the explanation for this present situation.There has not been a tradition <strong>in</strong> Danish schools for us<strong>in</strong>g systematic evaluationand assessment for many years. Assess<strong>in</strong>g and judg<strong>in</strong>g the results of the educationand the students’ learn<strong>in</strong>g and knowledge has been handed over to the teachers, whothemselves have had to make the decisions of how this had to be done. This situationis currently under change. Teachers now are be<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>structed to assess relatedto the national standards.Evaluation and assessment <strong>in</strong> school geography: the situation of todayIn the ‘Act on the Folkeskole’ (the Danish Primary and Lower Secondary School)the use and function of assessment is be<strong>in</strong>g described this way: “As part of theteach<strong>in</strong>g, there shall be a regular assessment of the pupils’ benefit from the teach<strong>in</strong>g.169

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!