Persevering with Geography

John Morgan

doi:10.5565/rev/dag.457

Persevering with Geography

Authors

John Morgan University of Auckland

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Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of the current state of geography education, based on the author’s experience as a geography teacher, teacher educator and researcher. It starts from a concern that recent discussions of ‘teacher quality’ have tended to downplay (or at least simply assume) the importance of subject and disciplinary knowledge in favour of more generic teaching skills. This raises the question of why anyone would persevere as a geography teacher? Using the example of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, the paper suggests the depth and knowledge of geographical concepts that a teacher would need to teach this topic well, before going on to explain how the trajectory of geography teacher education over the past three decades has moved away from a focus on geographical content and the complexities of knowledge. The final section of the paper refers to some recent developments linked to the work of ‘social realist’ perspectives, and suggests what ‘bringing knowledge back in’ might entail in teacher education programmes.

Keywords

geography teacher education, political geography, Brexit, social realism, knowledge

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