Geography in education

An Inaugural Professorial Lecture Some say we live in postmodern times. In addition, many schools now seem to be embracing a post-disciplinary approach to the curriculum. And geography itself has fragmented, struggling for its identity and arguably lost - in the 'post'. But this lecture does not dwell for long on this argument. On the contrary, it argues that contemporary geography is a school subject of great significance and has a lot to offer children and young people growing up in a confusing, rapidly changing and dangerous world. Well prepared teachers can use this subject in a way that contributes to both their own and their students' 'capabilities'. Geography is re-emerging as a subject discipline for its times, both in academia and in the public realm. In the context of our collective need more fully to understand the human occupancy of the Earth, geography in schools has a new role to play. Geography in education explores this, and the importance of a 'capability' approach. It draws critically on the Geographical Association's recently published 'manifesto' for school geography: A Different View.