Three decades ago, Stephen Kemmis (1990) argued that curricula provide insights into how nations and states interpret themselves and how they want to be interpreted. He also noted that 'debates about curriculum reveal fundamental concerns, uncertainties and tensions which preoccupy nations and states as they struggle to adapt to changing…

Sustainability is an important cross-curriculum priority in Australian education that is not commonly realised in schools and classrooms. In this article, we discuss the challenges and opportunities to enacting sustainability, suggesting that both top-down (systemic schoolwide leadership and support) and bottom-up (individual educator's…

Digital technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be innovative tools for learning when used in purposeful ways and embedded in sound pedagogical frameworks. The predominant skills stimulated through the use of GIS are querying, collecting, analysing and manipulating spatial data. In recent years, the financial, technological…

One of the questions being asked in schools is the extent to which Geography can be considered a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subject. While such a question might be driven by those strategic opportunists seeking to elevate the status of the subject within the school's curriculum, or as a means of leveraging an increase…

The word "test" comes to mind when a person, who is unacquainted with education discourses, reads about assessment issues. Beyond issues of reliability and validity in designing measurement constructs, assessment for school geography must result in better geographical learning. In other words, there must be "consequential…

Australia's major state capitals are surrounded by highly productive food bowls, which are an important source of fresh foods for their growing populations. These food producing biomes are a rich resource for investigating key themes related to Biomes and food security, one of two Year 9 units of study in the Australian Curriculum: Geography. This…

This paper arises from the Keynote we co-delivered at the 2017 AGTA Conference in Melbourne. In the paper, we outline the main theoretical resources that underpin the GeoCapabilities project (www.geocapabilities.org). This project has sought to engage teachers and teacher educators in geography with the principles of "curriculum…

This article explores the role that corporations can play in the creation or failure of a sustainable society. A review of the concept of sustainability in the Australian Curriculum: Geography is made and then linked to a comparison of the legal framework guiding business activities of traditional corporations and those of B Corporations, which…

This article examines various meanings of the term landscape. It advocates a deep engagement with the concept to enable high school students to carry out a range of thought-provoking geographical inquiries. Each aspect of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority's definition of landscape, shown below, is examined by reference…

The idea for this paper emerged from a recent qualitative investigation which examined the ways in which six Australian primary teachers conceptualised geography and geography teaching (Preston, 2014b). A finding of this research was a strong correlation between the breadth of geographical understandings and the years of experience and age of…

The Australian Geography Competition (AGC) was established in 1995 by the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland (RGSQ) and the Australian Geography Teachers' Association to promote the study of geography in Australian secondary schools and to reward student excellence in geographical studies. Initially focusing on students at the lower…

The concept of powerful knowledge was introduced into educational debates nearly a decade ago by Michael Young, a British sociologist of education. Young describes powerful knowledge as knowledge that enables young people to go beyond the limits of their own experience; better explain and understand the world; think about alternative futures and…

Geography textbooks are evaluated to determine the relationship between the subject matter of geography and the changing concerns of society. Suggests that teachers should deal openly with values, which are inherent in geography content and methods. Journal available from Business Manager, Geographical Education, Sydney Teachers College, P.O. Box…

Examines how values are included in the geography curriculum as modes of conduct acceptable in a classroom, methodologies of the subject, canons for validity and truth of information, and as part of the hidden curriculum. Concludes that teachers are responsible for helping learners develop their own value positions. Journal availability: see SO…

Suggests that geography be offered as part of the primary school curriculum. Outlines types of geographic concepts which are appropriate for primary school courses and suggests teaching techniques. Journal availability: see SO 507 226. (Author/DB)