Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

ments in academic geography, could develop pupils’ geographical imaginations byencouraging them to investigate and become critically aware of how the world isrepresented in the media (Morgan, 2003) and in the textbooks they use.Fourth, there is the issue of who should control the curriculum. GNC 1991 wascriticised for being centrally controlled and prescriptive. Although the legacy of GNC1991 is still significant, GNC 2000 is neither prescriptive nor controlling. Its flexibilitygives apparent control to teachers, but when choices are influenced so muchby resources it seems that it is the authors of best selling textbooks who are shapingthe world. Pupils could be given more control by giving them the choice of places tobe studied. In this study, only a few departments allowed such choices.Lastly, there is the issue of difference. Whatever we do in schools, pupils willconstruct different worlds and develop different geographical imaginations throughthe interplay between what they learn inside and outside of the classroom. Thereis scope for greater acknowledgement of the different worlds pupils bring into theclassroom, worlds shaped by their own direct experiences, through their contactswith other people, through their cultures and through the media. In this study, onlya minority of schools justified choices in terms of pupils’ interests, experiences,family connections or existing knowledge.ConclusionsThe worlds created through the geography curriculum are influenced by the requirementsof the GNC, by availability of resources and by ways of thinking about thegeography and the curriculum. This study revealed peculiar curriculum worldswith strange patterns of attention and neglect. It is inevitable that any world createdthrough the curriculum is simply a partial representation. In the same way as it isimpossible to produce an accurate map projection, so it is impossible to produce acurriculum that represents the world accurately. The findings of this small piece ofresearch, however, has implications for initial teacher education and for the continuousprofessional development of teachers. It is worth considering ways in whichteachers can become more critically aware of the peculiar yet taken-for-grantedworlds they are constructing through the curriculum. It is worth endeavouring tomake these curriculum worlds more extensive and more balanced and more relatedto the worlds that 11−14 year olds experience. This can be done through giving moretime to the study of topical issues and of enabling pupils to make use of their ownpersonal geographies gained directly through experience and indirectly through themedia and through other people.References1. DES 1991. Geography in the National Curriculum (England). London: HMSO.2. DFE 1995. Geography in the National Curriculum. London: HMSO.3. DfEE 1999. Geography: The National Curriculum for England. London: HMSO.4. HOPKINS J. 2001. ‘The world according to geography textbooks: interpretations of theEnglish National Curriculum’, International Research in Geographical and EnvironmentalEducation. 10, 1, pp. 46−67.63