ERIC Number: EJ1052278
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2065-1430
EISSN: N/A
On Competencies Characteristic of Geography in High School
Dulama, Maria Eliza; Ilovan, Oana-Ramona
Acta Didactica Napocensia, v1 n2 p86-95 2008
The purpose of our study was that of analysing, starting from literature, the definitions of the following concepts: capacity, skill, and competency, as well as of analysing the competencies they phrased in school curricula and those that teachers phrased. Moreover, we wanted to give appropriate examples. The hypotheses of our study were the following: they had not phrased correctly competencies in school curricula and teachers undergoing a continuous training course or programme phrased correctly the competencies characteristic of a certain field. This study had as a starting basis the concept of competency as a sum of declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and attitudes that were characteristic to an individual and that he or she activated (transformed and integrated) in planning and solving certain tasks (Brien, 1997) in a certain field, in a certain case. Roegiers (1998) underlined that competencies had five essential features: somebody's calling up of a sum of resources (different types of knowledge, experiences, capacities, schemes, automatisms, etc.); finalised character; relation to a sum of situations; frequent subject matter features; it could be assessed. To all these features we added another one, that of the level of competency. In order to reach the above-mentioned purposes and for verifying our hypotheses, we analysed the competencies in the high school curricula and the competencies that 9 Geography teachers phrased, after undergoing a continuous teacher training course on the "Development of Subject Matter Skills and Competencies". We concluded that taking into account the features of the competency that Roegiers identified, they did not phrase correctly those competencies and that hindered high school students' development and assessment. Out of the particular competencies in the curriculum for Geography, in high school, we considered to be phrased correctly or partially correctly only 5 for the 9th grade, 1 for the 10th grade, 4 for the 11th grade, and 8 for the 12th grade. We noticed that: teachers presented lists including different competencies; they included competencies listed in our course, but without inserting all the possible ones and added new competencies; they included both subject matter competencies and non subject matter ones (or general ones); the group of teachers phrased 41 subject matter competencies and 48 general ones and phrased incorrectly 22 competencies, and these demonstrated that this course was an efficient one.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Geography, Geography Instruction, Secondary School Teachers, High School Students, Teacher Competencies, Teacher Education, Secondary School Curriculum, Teacher Effectiveness, Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Babes-Bolyai University. Kogainiceanu 1, Cluj-Napoca, 400084 Romania. e-mail: submit_adn@yahoo.com; Web site: http://adn.teaching.ro
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Romania
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A