Future School Geography Curricula: The Role of National Frameworks

Much recent research and development work in geography education has focused on the work of teachers in designing, planning, and implementing the curriculum in schools, which has produced some valuable insights into the role of teachers and strategies for classroom approaches. There has been less discussion about the role of national-level curriculum requirements, which increasingly govern teachers’ work in many countries. This chapter will draw on experience in the UK to suggest that poorly designed national curricular requirements have been inhibiting the development of high-quality geography experiences over the past 30 years. Responding to this situation, the Geographical Association (GA) has produced a framework for the school geography curriculum (“Curriculum framework”), the principal aim of which is to influence future national curricula and qualification requirements. Although the Curriculum framework was developed in the context of UK schooling in the 2020s, its contents are not directed toward a specific nation or jurisdiction. Rather, its publication is intended to influence national-level curriculum thinking and development as widely as possible and to provide a useful basis for international discussion. This chapter will explain why and how the Curriculum framework was produced and show how this approach might be the basis for ensuring that schools and teachers in the UK and beyond can work within more supportive national systems, in which the distinctiveness of the subject in schools and its relationship to the discipline are fully recognized.