International perspectives on the future of geography education: an analysis of national curricula and standards

Geography as a school subject is expressed in a wide variety of ways across different national jurisdictions. This article explores some of the issues arising from attempts to represent geography as a subject for study in schools through the organisational structures offered by national standards and/or national curricula. It serves as an introduction to this special issue, which primarily concerns itself with the contemporary analysis of geography education in seven national settings across the globe. We stress the importance of considering political, cultural, social and philosophical traditions when analysing the curriculum choices made for geography education. Although it may be assumed that geography as a disciplinary specialism is concerned with a body of knowledge that is common across the globe, the creative tensions generated between the disciplines, educational trends and matters of social or policy concern play out differently, making comparisons across jurisdictions hazardous. Understanding this, we argue, is of great significance to those who plan and shape the geography curriculum. Despite the difficulties we hope to offer something more useful than a series of descriptions of geography teaching in different national settings. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a set of robust and irresistible arguments for the inclusion of the study of geography in schools. We argue that geographical knowledge is a vital component of the education of young people across the globe, even though it may be expressed in different ways in different national settings