Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

• traditional versus progressive approaches,• didactic teaching versus enquiry learning.According to Naish (1996) it is possible to categorise these tensions to proposevarious concepts of education. One such grouping of ideologies of education suggestsfour main orientations (McNeil, 1977, Naish, 1996), namely:1. Humanistic orientation, which prefers a curriculum which will provide satisfyingexperiences for each individual such that the learner’s natural ability willbe nurtured. The emphasis is on the individual as a learner rather on the detailsof subject matter, the aim being to enhance personal development;2. Academic orientation, which views the curriculum as a vehicle to introducelearners to the academic disciplines;3. Technological orientation, which sets out to produce and achieve certain predeterminedends. There is a strong emphasis on aims and objectives and the mainpurpose of the curriculum is to achieve these ends;4. Social reconstruction orientation, which gives preference to the needs of societyover the needs of the individual.In Slovenia both academic and technological orientations are very much in theforefront of geographical education. This often leads to the socialisation of childreninto the norms and values system of the particular society in which they live. Itwould however be much better to regard the education as development, as suggestedby Kelly (1990), in which the individual fosters her or his abilities, capabilitiesand understanding. The curriculum should thus enable and encourage students torecognise, explore, evaluate and, where appropriate, challenge all views of cultureand all value systems.It has to be accepted that whatever ideology of education one follows, education is“not a random or neutral process but purposeful and value oriented with” (Stanley,1985, Fien, 1996). As Grant and Zeichner (1984) explain:“There is no such thing as a neutral educational activity. Any action that one takesin the classroom is necessarily linked to the external economic, political and socialorder in either a primarily integrative or a creative fashion. Either a teaching activityserves to integrate children into the current social order or it provides children withthe knowledge, attitudes and skills to deal critically and creatively with that realityin order to improve it.” (cited in Fien, 1996, 78)In Slovenia geography education has had a proud tradition and contribution. Themomentum must not be lost. Future decades will provide challenges which require anexpanded and redirected application of the outcomes of geographical education.Lidstone (1996) believes that geography teachers are proud inheritors of a vibrantand exciting discipline comprising scientists who are seeking ever new ways oftelling the story of our world of change and teachers who must be allowed to exercisetheir wise and discretionary judgment of what is best for their students. Currentlyit seems that structural changes are placing such stress on teachers that they are nolonger able to exercise that judgement about content and approach that makes themprofessional. Hargreaves (cited in Lidstone, 1996) explains that the struggle can beseen in teachers’ roles in four main ways:192