Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

To have and to have not. Some questions on secondaryGeography in SpainMaria VillanuevaFaculty of Education.Universitat Autonoma de BarcelonaCampus de Bellaterra. 008193. Spaine-mail: Maria.Villanueva@uab.esKey words: teacher’s background, teaching methodology, teacher skills, geographycompetencesIntroductionAn increasing social pressure is currently placing teachers and the school systemin the “hurricane’s eye”. The cultural mix and the need for a change in attitudesand skills, is pressing the school and the role of teachers is becoming more difficultand even controversial. In this context, the question “Is there a significant role forGeography in education?” should be asked. Are teachers equipped to make geographya relevant subject in the school? This paper reports on the outcomes of a studycarried out in the framework of wider research on the geography teacher’s profiles.The work we present here was centred in the analysis of the teacher’s points of viewon some specific teaching aspects, mainly on those related to the use of resources inthe classroom. The study also analyses the relationship between the use of teachingresources in the geography classroom and the teacher’s attitudes towards in-servicetraining. The work also provides interesting insights on the teachers opinions aboutGeography in the school curriculum.The context of the research: Geography in Spanish curriculumIn the 20 th century, Geography has been sharing the same curricular unit with Historyand teachers, both of Geography and History, used to have a History degree. Theorigin of this imbalance may be related to the shortage of Geography graduates at thetime. Until the end of the 1960’s, a Geography degree existed only in four Universitiesand new departments were established only after the new Education Act in the1970’s. There are in 2005, 25 Geography university departments in Spain. Nevertheless,today historians and geographers still share the teaching of Secondary schoolGeography, which has often been considered by History teachers as just an “attachment”.In most universities, Geography has disappeared as such, from the curriculumof Teacher Training, substituted by methodological subjects; thus geographicalknowledge and skills are becoming poorer among primary school teachers, as inmany cases their geographical background is only that of lower secondary school(Villanueva, 2000).223