Citizenship Education – What Geography Teachers Think on the Subject and How They are Involved?

AbstractThese research aims at knowing how Geography teachers are involved in Citizenship education. Being a school subject related to Social and Environmental issues, Portuguese school geography presents itself as a subject particularly important in developing a world consciousness about many problems that concern societies worldwide. Its importance in the formation of young students in terms of understanding the world around them has been proved by research in different countries. Thus, it was important to understand what Geography teachers believe they are doing when they state their importance and contribution to citizenship education. It was also important to know how they do it. What kind of geographical subjects are prone to giving an important contribution to educating future citizens, as this is a transversal skill in Portuguese educational curriculum. The research involved about 200 teachers of secondary schools, and the data were collected through an open questionnaire. Using content analysis methods it was possible to understand teachers’ views on the subject of citizenship education and how they position geography curriculum in order to develop practices contributing to citizenship education. Finally, some considerations will be presented about the results of this research