THE ROLE OF GEOGRAPHY IN STARTING TEACHER TRAINING FOR INFANT AND PRIMARY EDUCATION IN ITALY

In Italy, in order to practice teaching in pre-school and primary school, it is compulsory to have a specific degree in the Science of primary education. It is a five-year course that qualifies you for teaching in both cases and it is subdivided in three main steps: traditional disciplinary courses, laboratories connected to their corresponding courses (for instance, the course of Geography didactics includes the corresponding laboratory), and training activities. These latter ones are subdivided as well in indirect training that is coordinated by the supervisors of the internship and direct training, which is carried out within schools. The teaching of Geography, even if it is underestimated in terms of hours of class as compared to other disciplinary fields, turns out to be essential, since spatial and geographical education is part of the obligatory educational offer for education in pre-school and in primary school