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Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

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The problems of geography and geography education <strong>in</strong> TurkeyF<strong>in</strong>ancial and social problems: There are not sufficient adequate sources for geographyresearch and development.Related to vocational identity problems: In Turkey, there are two k<strong>in</strong>ds of geographydepartments <strong>in</strong> the universities. One of them is tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g teachers and the otheris educat<strong>in</strong>g graduates to undertake geographical research. But because there are noexact def<strong>in</strong>itions of their duties there are some difficulties.Problems related to curriculum: In Turkey, there have regularly been changes <strong>in</strong>the school schedules. But curriculum development is beh<strong>in</strong>d the times. Currently anew curriculum is be<strong>in</strong>g prepared, this aims to br<strong>in</strong>g Turkish geography accordancewith other countries of the world.Related to teacher candidate problems: There are few adequate applicants tobecome geography teachers because of an out-of-date curriculum and traditionalteach<strong>in</strong>g approaches. This is also due to government policies that do not promoteteach<strong>in</strong>g, candidate teachers <strong>in</strong> the universities have serious anxiety about their future(Kayan, 2000, Koçman, 1999).Related to school book problems: School books generally have <strong>in</strong>adequate current<strong>in</strong>formation, they are not written to meet the needs of the students and support theirlearn<strong>in</strong>g.Inadequacy of practice: Tra<strong>in</strong>ee teachers <strong>in</strong> the geography departments of the universitieshave few chances to practice; they thus graduate <strong>in</strong>experienced (Kayan, 2000).Related to lack of tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g services: There is no adequate <strong>in</strong> service tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g forthe graduate students, they therefore cannot be made sufficiently aware of learn<strong>in</strong>gand teach<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>novations (Özey, 1998).Be<strong>in</strong>g not able to benefit from the education technologies: A lack of resourcesand tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g opportunities means that teachers cannot benefit from technological<strong>in</strong>novations like computers, the Internet and GIS.<strong>Geography</strong> education with regards to university, primary and secondaryschoolsIn Turkey, there are geography lessons <strong>in</strong> primary and secondary school education.<strong>Geography</strong> is taught <strong>in</strong> social studies (stage 4−8) lessons <strong>in</strong> primary school, andthere are geography lessons <strong>in</strong> secondary school (stage of 9−12). In Turkey, there arecurrently 19 geography departments <strong>in</strong> differently university (Table 1).Table 1. The <strong>in</strong>stitutes of geography <strong>in</strong> TurkeyUniversityFaculty1 University of Afyon Kocatepe Usak Faculty of Science and Literature2 University of Afyon Kocatepe Faculty of Science and Literature3 University of Ankara Faculty of Language history and geography4 University of Atatürk Faculty of Science and Literature5 University of Atatürk Faculty of <strong>Education</strong>6 University of Balikesir Faculty of Science and Literature204

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