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What Europe do we teach?A view from Spanish GeographyMireia Baylina, Maria PratsDepartment of Geography, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona,08193 Bellaterra, Spaine-mail: Mireia.Baylina@uab.esAbstractThe aim of the paper is to analyse the teaching of the Geography of Europe in Spanishuniversities in order to detect the relationship between the practice of teaching and recentgeopolitical changes in Europe, in the context of the evolution of regional geography issues.We examine the organisation of the subject, the area of study, the focus adopted and therecurrent, absent or new issues.Key words: Europe, teaching, regional geography, Spanish universitiesIntroductionThe teaching of the Geography of Europe in Spain in the early years of the 21 st Centuryis set within two important processes: geopolitical changes in Europe since 1989and the changes in the academic context of geography, most particularly of regionalstudies (Childs, 1995; Halseth and Fondahl, 1998).The end of the Cold War and changes in the map of Europe has implied a processof redefining Europe and of the search for a clear role on a global level. In this matter,Europe needs to convey an idea of citizenship, to inform more about Europe itself,and to create the sensation of “feeling European”. Moreover, through teaching atall levels, it is possible to work towards this knowledge of the European dimension,although teaching about Europe should not only serve to legitimise the Europeanproject, but to promote critical awareness of the process and to know and understandour immediate surroundings.The geopolitical complexity of Europe demands new analyses of the territory(Foucher, 1998) and, for this purpose, the concept of a region is crucial. A regionalgeography that uses the explanation of what is local as part of a global reference,and which, in turn, observes historic, economic and social events that have takenplace within the territory, is very important to provide elements to understand thecurrent situation.To explore the approaches to teach the Geography of Europe in Spain we havecompiled the syllabi used in the Geography Departments in the Spanish Universities.Out of the 42 Departments consulted, 38 responses were obtained, 28 of whichwere positive ones in that they teach the subject and 10 were negative, they don’t.This has been complemented with some interviews of Catalan colleagues who haveexperience of teaching the subject.230
Approach, scope and course structure: a worthwhile diversityIt is difficult to generalise about the treatment of the Geography of Europe. Theplurality of definitions for the concept of “Europe” itself clearly reflects the uncertainty,ambiguity and conventionality of which countries actually make up thisterritory.The title by which the course is known appears to be particularly significant.“Geography of Europe”, “Physical Geography of Europe”, “Human Geography ofEurope”, “Regional Geography of Europe”, Geography of the European Union”,“Human Geography of the European Union”, The European Union”, “Geographyof the European Community”, Geography of the European Communities”, and“General Geography of Europe” are the titles given to this subject.When researching the scope (what is included within the term Europe), in mostcases we observed that Europe is not simply limited to the countries of the EuropeanUnion, although it is hard to tell from the syllabi exactly where the continentends. Course-content descriptions provide an ambiguous answer to the question ofboundaries when describing “Europe”. In some cases, the syllabus makes it veryclear that it is dealing with the “European Union”, while in others there is a clearsequence of thematic blocks or themes that include countries that are part of theformer “Eastern Europe” and Russia. But, actually, this way of considering Europeat least as far as the Urals and the Caucasus in all the themes is fairly exceptional.The attempts appear when dealing with a wider Europe for certain themes (physicalenvironment, population or geopolitics, for example) and with a more limited Europe(EU or “Eastern Europe”) to speak about economics or differences in regional development.In some cases, the solution has been to provide a thematic focus to half ormore of the syllabus, while the remainder covers it with a review of different Eastern“regions” (“Russia”, “Russia and Eastern Europe”).The predominant focus of the syllabi analysed is on classical themes followedat quite a distance by regional geography, and in only two cases we can speak ofa holistic focus based on a problem-oriented perspective, in accordance with Lévy(1997). This distribution is no surprise, given that teaching of the Geography ofEurope in most countries of the European Union has developed from the classicalregional focus of French regional geography to a thematic, transversal focus onthe territory. In fact, the discrediting of classical regional geography within thegeographical community, the appearance of new scientific paradigms (quantitativeor critical geography) and the political, economic and social development ofthe continent have all strengthened this focus. Indeed, integration in the EuropeanUnion, common policies and the main problems of the countries (in-migration,environmental problems, transport congestion, unemployment, etc.) has favouredthe thematic treatment of the subject.Post-modernism and cultural changes have incorporated new themes and conceptssuch as multi-cultural, linguistic and religious diversity, nationalism, cultural landscapes,welfare…, and some of these can be observed in the syllabi studied. However,we have not identified a single syllabus with a clear post-modernist orientation.231
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Changing Horizons inGeography Educa
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ContributorsAnouk AdangFaculty of G
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Margaret C. KeaneSt Mary’s Univer
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Artur ReligaDepartment of Geography
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Contents1. Exciting Geography......
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Barbara Katharina Mayerhofer, Teach
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How to design and implement excitin
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only increase their motivation to l
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Ministry of Education. Having in mi
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eEurope and the Bologna agendaIn hi
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The main learning approachesencoura
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as a vibrant exciting subject at un
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include ICT as part of the educatio
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19. RICHARDSON J. A. 2001. Collabor
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class using identical instructions
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ability to hold and move a load is
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the range of practical activities.
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Multimedia learning of geographical
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• an organizer and manager of a l
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Geographical fieldwork in forestsJa
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One of these field study laboratori
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learning“, to develop and then in
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egin). It is referred to the inter-
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overruled by the judge and some sus
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esses or their reciprocal relations
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formulated one of key principles in
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Dress rehearsalHow should a present
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of the world, but multiple maps of
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focused on landscape, climate, popu
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ments in academic geography, could
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Training geography teachers in Pola
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a series of intellectual as well as
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• optional subject (30 hours) use
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of the lower levels of education. H
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• the one-subject model: the cont
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delivery, and the methods of the pa
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• Pathways signal important tasks
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Geography competitions as stimuli f
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Figure 1. Changes in the structure
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Challenges for the futureNowadays t
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A perspective from the United State
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The process of GIS inquiry - Thinki
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Remote Sensing in Geography Educati
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IntroductionThe Democratic Republic
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images visualise the “tree vegeta
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PART TWOProfessional Developmentand
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Key elements of an introductory stu
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Some textbooks also provide self-le
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Geography programs and BolognaThere
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equirements. In the faculties of Ar
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Even though this only is a short an
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Background of international student
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students in their language skills.
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International collaboration in dist
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Designing and teaching the distance
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audio lectures - one for presenting
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enrolled in geography courses at po
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development experience. Whilst Craf
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Networking and social diffusion of
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is mistreated, the culture is a-cul
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3. ABALAR. 2004. “Editorial”, i
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to gather process and store spatial
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1. Fundamental to understanding GIS
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The Future of Geography and Geograp
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of geography. In Singapore Social S
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geography should become much more s
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the handful of disciplines that has
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and respected and the institutional
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3. The strength of school and unive
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It is quite clear that Vidal de la
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Effective Practices in Distance Edu
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on to the other satellite school. O
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4. Ministry of Education. 1999. The
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schools is the result of the role e
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• A statistically significant dif
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Charles University geography gradua
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Table 1. First job in studied field
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importance in geography study progr
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The Anglo-Saxon model was collectiv
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academic science. I do believe that
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can convene. Details of these modul
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preparation and to some extent, tea
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The assessment must form the basis
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The teaching shall build on the pup
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The Relationship between Geography
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Geography and Territory Planning ha
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we wished, of course we have obtain
Page 180 and 181: Why Managers from Multinational Com
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Page 184 and 185: ContextUtrecht University is a larg
Page 186 and 187: Typical is the very open atmosphere
Page 188 and 189: Times of Change for Geography Educa
Page 190 and 191: where it is divided into specific b
Page 192 and 193: • traditional versus progressive
Page 194 and 195: on European Dimension of Teaching g
Page 196 and 197: With the ongoing development of tel
Page 198 and 199: Figure 2. Present at Annual Congres
Page 200 and 201: It is expected that the more active
Page 202 and 203: An evaluation of geographyand geogr
Page 204 and 205: The problems of geography and geogr
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Page 208 and 209: Then these results were compared to
Page 210 and 211: Figure 9. Countries mentioned by th
Page 212 and 213: Internationalizing geography in hig
Page 214 and 215: nationalize their undergraduate and
Page 216 and 217: Groups also focus on international
Page 218 and 219: The Position of Geography Graduates
Page 220 and 221: have also affected the number ofGeo
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Page 224 and 225: In the Primary school curriculum, G
Page 226 and 227: the efficacy of the teaching and le
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Page 232 and 233: The regional approach is used in on
Page 234 and 235: The syllabi reflect mainly that the
Page 236 and 237: Geography Forum: Intercultural Lear
Page 238 and 239: Was Intercultural Competence promot
Page 240 and 241: of geographical education in our un
Page 242 and 243: Higher education (University) as a
Page 244 and 245: This table shows the importance of
Page 246 and 247: the studies on what exists, to cons
Page 248 and 249: 248taught in the foreign language e
Page 250 and 251: as K. De Bot calls it, is a variety
Page 252 and 253: Do you speak European? or: Why even
Page 254 and 255: Years’ Religious War in the 17 th
Page 256 and 257: Why geographers should be able to s
Page 258 and 259: Intercultural education in Italian
Page 260 and 261: of geography in the process of inte
Page 262 and 263: 9. BRUSA C., ed. 2002. Processi di
Page 264 and 265: Nowadays, according to the literatu
Page 266 and 267: In the gymnasium and in high school
Page 268 and 269: 3. Dziennik Ustaw nr 61 z dnia 19 c
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Page 272 and 273: dropping litter. There is circle ti
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Field lessons can engage the pupil
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to explore regional issues when tea
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Some backgroundFor a number of year
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issues that will shape the future g
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Geography and Environmental Science
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(2000) cautioned an awareness of cu
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Geography and Languages in Intercul
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Table 1. The most widely taught for
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the whole world will, according to
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References1. CALVET L. J. 2002. Le
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Sustainable development: let geogra
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predecessor “green,” or the pre
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8. GUNN A. S., “Professional Ethi
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Much research in Environmental Educ
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Sustainability, Development and Sec
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includes geography. The context is,
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• protected areas8. Landscape sec
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Developing geographical professiona
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tion contributes to the growth of e
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cooperative learning using as theor
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Studyng climate and water resources
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By signing and ratifying the Kyoto
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and political implications of plann
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8. UNITED NATIONS 1997. Kyoto Proto
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Conference Changing Horizons in Geo
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