Sirpa Tani TERRA

1. “...aims to support students' intellectual, physical and social growth and to promote respect
for life, human rights, sustainable development, the environment and cultural diversity."
(Government Decree... 2014)
The above quotation is an excerpt from the Government Decree that defined the general
national objectives for upper secondary education in 2014 and 2018. The same passage
could well be taken from the set of objectives for geography education, as human rights,
sustainable development, the environment, and cultural diversity are central to geography
education. It is therefore inconceivable that, in the same regulation, geography lost its
second compulsory course in upper secondary education. By way of comparison, the other
subjects that are compulsory are physics, chemistry, psychology, and health. Biology and
Philosophy have two compulsory courses, History and Social Studies each have three. These
figures alone give an idea of the unequal status of subjects in our school system. In the last
reform of the upper secondary school curriculum, courses were replaced by modules and
modules of study, the extent of which is measured in credits. However, the scope of the
compulsory subjects I have described above and the relationship between them remained
unchanged.
The distribution of lessons is based on political decisions which directly influence the status
of each subject.
What is the reason for the low status of geography in our schools?
Why have policymakers failed to grasp the importance of geography in our society today?
Geography is a great discipline - we geographers know that, but do others?
I have recently interviewed a number of geographers in universities and listened to their
thoughts on the importance of teaching geography. All of those interviewed have stressed
the unique ability of geography to combine natural and human science perspectives. This
broad understanding is needed in today's world more than perhaps ever before. What
other school subject could offer such a multi-faceted approach to climate change,
globalisation, or regional conflicts than geography?
The interviewees also stressed how the study of geography helps to understand the
interconnectedness of complex issues at different spatial levels. For example, geography
can help us to understand the production chains behind the goods we use every day. For
example, we can look at the countries that produce the raw materials needed to make a
mobile phone and all the factors that need to be in place before the finished mobile phone
is ready for use in the consumer’s hands.
In this example, a wide range of knowledge of natural and human geography is needed. The
magic word is geographical thinking.
In my own work, I teach geography didactics to future classroom teachers, in addition to
those studying to become geography teachers. At the University of Helsinki, class teacher
students take a five-credit course in the didactics of biology and geography. Geography
accounts for half of the course, i.e., 2.5 credits. This is the basis on which future teachers
should be able to convey to primary school pupils in grades 1 to 6 the core content of
geography as part of environmental education. The way in which geography is positioned in

2. the degree structures of different universities varies widely. The University of Turku is
currently probably the only one where the didactics of geography has its own course (3
credits) for class teacher students. The scarcity of credits or the integration of geography
didactics with other subjects in all Finnish universities inevitably means that future teachers
do not have a clear picture of what geography is or what a geographical perspective as part
of environmental studies could be. We teacher educators must therefore be able to decide
what is most central to geography, i.e., what knowledge and ways of thinking future
teachers must master in order to contribute to enabling children and young people to adopt
a geographical way of thinking. Part of the problem is that pupils entering secondary school
have never studied a subject called geography or geography. No wonder, then, that they
have no idea what is at the heart of our subject. This is where geography teachers have an
important role to play: they should outline the essence of the subject in such a way as to get
pupils interested in geography.
The role of geography teaching is also hampered by the existence of so-called 'hard
problems'. Although we geographers understand the important role our discipline plays in
addressing these complex challenges, this does not seem to be communicated outside our
discipline. To ensure that the central role of geography is also understood by non-
geographers, we ourselves need to remember to highlight the importance of geography
when we talk about issues such as climate change, sustainability, regional conflicts or the
importance of environmental and cultural diversity. In the academic world, being a MoN is
valued and the discipline of the researcher is not necessarily the key issue in research
projects. This is understandable, but if we want to improve the teaching of geography in
schools, we should remember to highlight what geographers study at every opportunity. In
this way, we could strengthen the image of geography and gradually overcome the age-old
stereotypes associated with school geography, which do not reflect reality but contribute to
the construction of the images associated with the subject.
This and the next issue of Terra will feature a thematic debate on geography education, in
which the authors open up a wide range of topical issues related to the subject. I hope that
the articles will stimulate reflection on how we could, for our part, strengthen the status of
geography education.
BACKGROUND
Government Decree on the general national objectives and curriculum of education under
the Upper Secondary Schools Act (2014) Decree 942/2014.
https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/smur/2014/20140942
10.10.2022.
SIRPA TANI Member of the Editorial Board
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Source: https://terra.journal.fi/article/view/122219/73018