Developing geography further
Geography has a contribution to make to the citizenship, futures and sustainability aspects of the global dimension. Geography is an element of supporting an individual's understanding of these issues. Geography, however, does not stand in isolation. Other curriculum areas have a contribution to make, as do different educations. Development education has much to offer to geography teachers who are considering a futures dimension to their work. If justification is needed for such an approach it can be found in the section covering the values, purposes and aims of education in the National Curriculum for England (DfEE/QCA, 1999b, pp. 10-13).
Here it is recognised that 'education is ... a route to equality of opportunity for all, a healthy and just democracy, a productive economy, and sustainable development' (DfEE/QCA, 1999b, p. 10).
As part of this it states that the school curriculum should:
develop [pupils'] awareness and understanding of, and respect for, the environments in which they live, and secure their commitment to sustainable development at a personal, local, national and global level. It should also equip pupils ... to make informed judgements.
(DfEE/QCA, 1999b, p. 11)
Activity Resources:
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Activity
- Click on the Text icon and consider the ideas presented in 'Core development ideas underpinning development education' (Regan, 2002, p. 47).
- Compare and contrast these ideas with those in two extracts from 'The International Charter on Geographical Education' (CGE IGU, 1992). Click on the Text icon to view these extracts.
- Make notes on up to five areas of commonality and then answer these questions.
- Do any of these areas currently feature in your teaching programmes?
- If not, should they? Would they improve learning?
- Could your programmes be amended to incorporate these ideas?
