Geography in Focus: Teaching and Learning in Issues-Based Classsrooms

This book is a comprehensive and stimulating discussion of issues-based geography education in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is an essential read for geography teachers and educators from the wider social sciences. Geography as a subject gets little attention in curriculum and assessment literature. Seeking to address that gap, the authors - teachers and academic practitioners - have thought deeply about the complexities and limitations of issues-based approaches. This book is not intended to offer strategies for teaching but the voices of teachers and the challenges of classroom practice come through strongly. Chapters include an exploration of social inquiry methodology here and internationally; the importance of subject-specific literacy in geography classrooms and the role of NGOs in development education. The case is made for subject knowledge to ensure the big ideas of geography are not lost and there is a critique of futures education discourse. Above all, the writers urge teachers to focus on the core business of teaching and learning and to lift the conversation beyond the constraints of NCEA.