Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

a series of intellectual as well as practical activities. Its proper organisation is oneof the main tasks of the teacher. The principle of activism has also been reflected inschool textbooks. Their important elements are sets of didactic tasks that guide theprocess of reception and interpretation of the contents contained in various sourcesof information.Thus, in less than two decades, the Polish school has undergone substantial changes.The methodological bases of education have been thoroughly re-constructed. Amongthe goals, paramount role was ascribed to those belonging to the spheres of attitudesand skills. New types of classes appeared, both in respect of the contents andtheir organisation. On the school market there are now many alternative teachingcurricula/syllabuses, and even more textbooks for pupils/students. The effects ofeducation are measured through a system of external exams after each stage ofeducation has been finished. Teachers are morally responsible for the results achievedby pupils/students.Contemporary geographical education at school levelIn the reformed school, geography as a separate subject is present at both levels ofsecondary school. In the primary school, its contents constitute part of the subjectcalled “science”. Alongside those organisational changes, the reform has beenfollowed by major changes in the selection and layout of geographical content. Theycan be formulated as follows:1. The emphasis has been shifted from physical geography to socio-economicgeography. In the middle school, issues connected with human activity arereflected in more than half the entries of Basic curricular requirements (Ministryof Education and Sport, 2002). At the secondary school level traditional physicalgeography is even less important. It is primarily the presentation and explanationof economic and social mechanisms of the contemporary world that has becomethe essence of geography. In this way the postulate of preparing the young generationfor participation in social and professional life is realised.2. The layout of geographical contents has changed. A systematic geography course,that would present successively the elements of geographical environment, hasbeen abandoned. The “problem” approach is preferred, where the contents ofdifferent areas of geography concentrate around specific issues. There is alsoa tendency to integrate geographical contents with the contents of other relatedsubjects.3. Problems are examined in different scales. At primary school level, as part ofthe “science” subject, geographical phenomena are analysed chiefly in local,regional, and Poland-wide scales. At the levels of middle and secondary schools,it is recommended to approach most of the problems at the global scale, referringto corresponding examples from each continent, and from Poland.4. The geography of Poland is no longer a separate thematic block. The pupil/studentlearns about the characteristic features of Poland’s geographical space againstthe background of other regions of the world, with close reference to the globalprocesses.67