2016
International
Charter on
Geographical
Education
IGU
UGI CGE
Commission on
Geographical Educaton
Contents
1 The Proclamation
4 Affirmations
4 The Contribution of Geography to Education
5 Research in Geographical Education
7 International Co-operation
10 An International Action Plan
1
The Proclamation
In 1992, the International Charter on Geographical Education was
endorsed by the General Assembly of the International Geographical
Union at the 27th International Geographical Congress
in Washington D.C., U.S.A. (www.igu-cge.org). The proclamation
in the 1992 Charter is still a very important basis for Geography
Education in the 21st century.
The 1992 Charter proclaims that the Commission on Geographical
Education of the International Geographical Union is:
Convinced that geographical education is indispensable to the
development of responsible and active citizens in the present
and future world,
Conscious that geography can be an informing, enabling and
stimulating subject at all levels in education, and contributes
to a lifelong enjoyment and understanding of our world,
Aware that students require increasing international competence
in order to ensure effective cooperation on a broad range of
economic, political, cultural and environmental issues in a
shrinking world,
Concerned that geographical education is neglected in some parts
of the world, and lacks structure and coherence in others,
Ready to assist colleagues in counteracting geographical illiteracy
in all countries of the world, and
Supportive of the principles set out in:
• the Charter of the United Nations;
• the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
• the Constitution of UNESCO;
• the UNESCO Recommendation concerning Education for
International Understanding, Cooperation and Peace;
• the Declaration on the Rights of the Child;
• the UN Sustainable Development Goals; and
• many national curricula and statements on geographical
education.
The Commission commends the International Charter on
Geographical Education to all people of the world.
2
In subsequent years, the Commission on Geographical Education,
on behalf of the International Geographical Union, published
further Declarations as follows:
The International Declaration on Geographical Education for
Cultural Diversity, which was proclaimed at the 29th
Geographical Congress held in Seoul, South Korea in August
2000.
The Lucerne Declaration on Geography Education for
Sustainable Development, which was proclaimed at the
IGU-CGE Regional Symposium in Lucerne Switzerland in July
2007.
The International Declaration on Research in Geography
Education, which was proclaimed at the IGU Regional
Conference held in Moscow, Russia in August 2015.
Since 1992 the world has continued to change and with it the
discipline of geography and geographical education have continued
to develop. Therefore the Commission on Geographical
Education of the International Geographical Union has drafted a
new Charter. Compared with 1992 this new Charter is more
concise and now includes an Action Plan. Geography educators
seeking more detail are advised to consult the 1992 Charter and
the Declarations and literature identified on the website of the
Commission on Geographical education (www.igu-cge.org).
Caption?Girls school in Tunisia
3
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Affirmations
The 2016 Charter affirms the proclamations of its antecedents
and asserts that:
• Geography is the study of Earth and its natural and human
environments. Geography enables the study of human
activities and their interrelationships and interactions with
environments from local to global scales;
• While geography often bridges natural and social sciences,
it is pre-eminently the discipline that deals with spatial
variability, i.e. that phenomena, events and processes vary
within and between places and therefore should be regarded
as an essential part of the education of all citizens in all
societies;
• Geographical education is neglected in some parts of the
world, and lacks structure and support in others.
This 2016 Charter specifically addresses policy makers, education
leaders, curriculum planners, and geography educators in all
nations and jurisdictions of the world to help to ensure that all
people receive an effective and worthwhile geographical education,
and to help geography educators everywhere to counteract
geographical illiteracy.
The Contribution of Geography
to Education
When taught effectively, the study of geography can fascinate
and inspire people. Ensuring the quality of geography in schools
is, consequently, an essential duty of policy makers and education
leaders internationally. Whether it is through appreciating the
beauty of Earth, the immense power of Earth-shaping forces or
the often ingenious ways in which people create their living in
different environments and circumstances, studying geography
helps people to understand and appreciate how places and landscapes
are formed, how people and environments interact, the
consequences that arise from our everyday spatial decisions, and
Earth’s diverse and interconnected mosaic of cultures and societies.
Geography is therefore a vital subject and resource for 21st
century
citizens living in a tightly interconnected world. It enables us to
face questions of what it means to live sustainably in this world.
Geographically educated individuals understand human relationships
and their responsibilities to both the natural environment
and to others. Geographical education helps people to learn how
to exist harmoniously with all living species.
Geographical investigation both satisfies and nourishes curiosity.
Geographical perspectives help deepen understanding of many
contemporary challenges such as climate change, water management,
food security, energy choices, overexploitation of natural
resources and urbanization. Teaching geography serves several
vital educational goals. Building on people’s own experiences, 5
learning geographyhelps them to formulate questions, develop
their intellectual skills and respond to issues affecting their lives.
It introduces them not only to key 21st
century skills but also to
distinctive investigative tools such as maps, fieldwork and the use
of powerful digital communication technologies such as
Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Research in Geographical Education
Geographical education is vital to equip the next generation of
people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and practices to value,
care, and make reasoned decisions for the planet. How best to
teach geography to a range of learners is a deep concern and will
require significant and ongoing research. We encourage policy
makers and geography educators to build capacity to conduct
both theoretical and applied research. Specifically we encourage
policy makers and geography educators to:
6
• invest time and resources to both research and its
application to the classroom and beyond;
• value current research and knowledge building in the field of
geographical education; and
• seek constantly to identify appropriate and relevant research
priorities in the field.
Those who teach geography in primary and secondary schools,
as well in further and higher education, must be supported by
research intelligence. They need the best critical insights into,
for example, the use of new technologies, problem based learning
strategies and futures education. This is because teachers are the
key to improvement in education, and good teachers need the
best tools to work with.
Important research questions include:
• What geography do students need to know? What are their
misperceptions and preconceptions? How can we enhance
their geographical knowledge, understanding and skills?
• How do we understand students’ learning progressions in
geography? How are these best calibrated and assessed?
• Which are the characteristics of effective teaching and
learning materials and resources in improving the quality of
geographical education?
• What teaching methods are efficient and effective in improving
the quality of geographical education?
• How can the education of geography teachers be improved
to raise the quality of teaching and the levels of achievement
in geography in schools?
As a result of such research, curriculum developers and geography
educators at all levels will be able to
• refine curriculum, pedagogic and assessment practices used
in the teaching and learning of geography;
• develop a ‘research orientation’ amongst geography teachers
and educators that enables reflective and critical engagement
with educational practices, and professional ‘habits of mind’
that demand improvement in the quality of geographical
education; and
• clarify the purposes and goals of geographical education, no
matter how the geography curriculum is expressed locally.
International Co-operation
Geographical education, at its best, makes a unique contribution
to the emergence of critical global perspectives in people.
However, the status of geographical education varies between
countries around the world: some people have less access to a
quality geographical education than others. One way to support
the global development and awareness of quality within
geographical education is to promote and encourage
international co-operation by sharing limited resources and
assisting educators in different countries to learn from each other.
International co-operation amongst geography educators
should be promoted and developed in the form of bilateral or
multilateral exchanges of experience and research. This should
include the exchange of students, teachers, teacher educators,
and geographers. Such exchanges may usefully focus on teaching
materials, and research-led developments in curriculum,
pedagogy and assessment.
Geography educators and teachers in all countries are
encouraged to promote such exchanges through the work of the
Commission on Geographical Education of the International
Geographical Union and through many other geographical
societies and associations.
Policy makers are encouraged to stimulate and facilitate
international co-operation.
7
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View on Fuerteventura from Lanzarote, Spain
9
An International Action Plan
In order that all people can benefit from a high quality
geographical education as explained above, the International
Geographical Union proposes the following action plan for policy
makers, curriculum developers and geography educators to
improve the quality of geographical education and geography
education research internationally.
1
National and local education policy makers, as well as
geography teachers at all levels, should make the focus and
contribution of geographical education for society more
explicit to encourage higher levels of public support for its
place in the curriculum.
Strong arguments for geographical education are:
• As location is a key factor in life, especially in an era of
globalization and the internet, geography with its focus on
spatial variability provides a very practical and useful
perspective on everyday life.
• Geography is the discipline where knowledge about
locations and regions has its base. The appreciation of
unique contexts and circumstances in an interconnected
world helps deepen our understanding of human diversity.
• Geography is concerned with both the local and the global
and the interconnections between these scales of human
experience.
• Geography is concerned with human-environment interactions
in the context of specific places and locations and
with issues that have a strong geographical dimension like
natural hazards, climate change, energy supplies, migration,
land use, urbanization, poverty and identity. Geography is a
bridge between natural and social sciences and encourages
the ‘holistic’ study of such issues.
• Geography helps people to think critically about sustainable
living locally and globally and how to act accordingly.
10
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Geography is much more than learning many facts and
concepts. Its focus is on the patterns and processes that help
us to understand an ever-changing planet.
• Geographical knowledge and skills, especially when mediated
through geospatial technologies offer unique opportunities
to make sense of the modern world. Together they form an
invaluable 21 century skill set for today and tomorrow.
2
National and local education policy makers should set
minimum requirements for geography teaching and the
geographical literacy of those who teach geography.
This requirement is based on the convictions that:
• All students at all levels in primary and secondary school
need access to high quality geographical education as an
important part of their curriculum.
• As teachers are the key to innovation and quality in education,
highly qualified geography teachers should be present in all
schools to ensure effective curriculum leadership and
implementation. Initial teacher training regulations should
specify a minimum requirement for teachers of geography at
both primary and secondary schools.
• Geography teachers should be qualified in both physical and
human aspects of geography in order that they may integrate
both aspects of the discipline as appropriate for primary and
secondary levels.
3
National and local education policy makers and geography
teacher associations should develop processes to encourage
(inter)national exchanges of meaningful geography teaching
and learning practices.
Enhanced co-operation and exchanges between geography
teachers in local jurisdictions, nations and internationally have
the potential to:
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Training geography teachers
in the Netherlands
• strengthen the position of geography in schools and
institutions of higher education;
• clarify the purpose of geographical education for all
students; and
• develop innovative and effective pedagogic practices in
geographical education.
Comparison of geography standards and curricula from different
countries and opportunities for international teacher exchanges
should be encouraged in order to disseminate the knowledge,
skills and values that are basic to all geographical education.
4
National and local education policy makers and the
geographical education community should develop a relevant
research agenda for geographical education and facilitate this
research for the development of geographical education.
Geography teaching in all jurisdictions may be enhanced by ensuring
that all aspects of the geographical education enterprise
are guided by evidence based on strong, peer-reviewed and relevant
research findings. In order to achieve this:
• Policy makers, curriculum developers and geography
educators should review internationally published research
in geographical education in order to determine identified
best practice and where further research may be necessary.
• Where current research in geographical education appears
to be lacking, policy makers and geography educators should
develop supportive mechanisms.
• Policy makers, curriculum developers and geography
educators should develop mechanisms whereby teachers in
their schools can access international geographical
education research in their own languages.
• Teachers should be encouraged to undertake quality
research in geographical education as part of in-service
higher degree study and such research may be enhanced
through the work of international research groups that
13
enable researchers to draw upon the resources, intelligence
and expertise which may be unavailable locally.
5
National and local education policy makers and geography
teacher associations and teachers should create and maintain a
strong professional network structure.
National and international professional network structures are
necessary to open new horizons for geographical education.
These networks need support from a large range of educational
policy makers, geographical organizations and other stakeholders.
In particular,
• Continued professional development in geographical
education within and across networks needs to be
encouraged and facilitated for all teachers; and
• The visibility of the discipline and appreciation of the
significance of geography in education requires a higher
media profile. Professional networks locally, regionally,
nationally and internationally should be encouraged to
engage the public in their work.
The geographical education of all people should be designed to
address local and/or national priorities but be based firmly on the
five points outlined above. While it is acknowledged that school
curricula around the world will differ in significant ways, it is important
that all geography curricula are recognizable around the
world as reflecting the best of contemporary geographical
scholarship.
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15
This International Charter on Geographical Education, drafted by
the International Geographical Union Commission on Geographical
Education, was endorsed by the General Assembly of the International
Geographical Union at the International Geographical
Union Congress in Beijing, August 2016.
The International Geographical Union commends the
principles and practices presented here as an International Action
Plan whereby people in all jurisdictions around the world may
receive the geographical education to which they are entitled.
The International Geographical Union, at its Congress in Beijing
in 2016, affirms and proclaims this Charter to all governments and
peoples of the world and commends these principles and practices
as the basis on which sound geographical education in all
countries should be maintained.
Signed,
Beijing, August 24th, 2016
Prof. Vladimir Kolosov
President of the International Geographical Union
16
This 2016 Charter on
Geographical Education
has been prepared by
prof. Joop van der Schee
and prof. John Lidstone
(co-chairs) on behalf of
the IGU Commission on
Geographical Education.
Draft versions of the 2016
Charter have been discussed
with representatives of
EUROGEO, EUGEO, AAG,
SEAGA and others.
Copyright text
IGU Commission on
Geographical Education
Photographs
Joop van der Schee
Design
Usecue Amsterdam /
Joseph Plateau, Amsterdam
International
Geographical
Union
Union
Géographique
Internationale
Commission
on Geographical
Education