Developing an International
Declaration on Research in
Geography Education
Professor Simon Catling
IGU CGE UK Committee
International Geographical Union Regional Conference
Commission on Geographical Education
Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
August 18th – 22nd, 2014
IGU CGE Charters & Declarations
There are three Charters/Declarations by the
International Geographical Union Commission on
Geographical Education [IGU CGE].
• The International Charter on Geographical
Education (1992).
• International Declaration on Geographical
Education for Cultural Diversity (2000)
• The Lucerne Declaration for Geographical
Education for Sustainable Development (2008).
It is proposed to add a fourth: a Declaration
concerning research in geography education.
Research in geography education
There is good evidence of increasing research and review in geography
education.
• See the range of papers in geography education journals such as:
International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education
[IRGEE], Journal of Geography, Review of Geographical Education Online [RIGEO], Research in Geographic Education, Geography, and
Journal of Geography in Higher Education. This is healthy.
• BUT much research relevant to geography education is done elsewhere,
by geography researchers, and researchers in environmental education
and science education, for instance. It is published in journals such as
Children’s Geographies, Environmental Education Research, and the
International Journal of Science Education. This is informative and
helpful research.
• ONLY occasionally do research articles in geography education appear
in key international and national education research journals. Geography
education research needs wider circulation. For this to happen
geography educators need to undertake or write up their research for
wider audiences.
• FIRST, though, we need more geography education research to be done.
Research promotion in geography
education
• National geography and geography education organisations encourage
research in geography education and publish it through their journals.
• These organisations disseminate geography education research through
their conferences.
• Conferences are held internationally by the IGU Commission on
Geographical Education at least annually to disseminate research
projects, approaches and findings, review research needs, and foster
networks and collaboration in geography education research.
• Efforts are underway to increase postgraduate studies (MA/MSc and
PhD) in geography education, but the balance between nations and
universities is uneven. Encouragement is needed.
• More cross-national and cross-university research is needed.
Why another Declaration?
Research in geography education nationally and
internationally has been critically reviewed:
• Research tends to be individual, small scale, and under-funded.
• It is not viewed by policy makers and educators as particularly
significant, and seems to have limited impact.
• There is a need to promote larger scale studies, with national and
international team research, and to offer support and encouragement
to potential researchers.
• Geography education research is stronger in Western nations and in
relation to western-oriented education systems and young people,
though there is some increase in studies, for instance, in Turkey and
Singapore.
• It is important to widen the nature, scope, learning, cultural and
national contexts of geography education research.
• Geography education research is vital to support the learning and
teaching of children, young people and teachers in schools, as well as
of adults in higher education and in the community.
See: Bednarz, S., Heffron, S. & Huynh, N. (Eds.) (2013) A road map for 21st century
geography education: Geography education research (A report from the Geography
Education Research Committee of the Road Map for the 21st century Geography
Education Project). Washington, DC: Association of American Geographers.
What is being drafted is a proposed
International Declaration on
Research in Geography Education
Promoting an International Declaration
• The aim of the International Declaration on Research in Geography
Education is to promote geography education research nationally and
internationally by making the case for research, and to encourage
those who find it challenging to gain support for research in
geography education.
• It has been developed and drafted by The UK Committee of the
International Geographical Union Commission on Geographical
Education (IGU CGE).
• The current draft has been discussed and further work encouraged by
the IGU CGE Steering Group.
• It is being outlined at this conference in Krakow to generate interest
and obtain feedback. It will be considered further by the IGU CGE
Steering Group. It is planned to discuss it at the Symposium in
London in April 2015.
• If and when the Declaration is agreed in the CGE it will be taken to the
IGU Executive Committee for consideration and, if acceptable,
adopted, possibly at a General Assembly.
International Declaration on Research in
Geography Education
It is planned that there are two documents:
• The Executive Statement
• The main document
The Executive statement is given in full on the next four slides.
The Contents and some key points are then outlined on the
next three slides.
Copies of both documents are on the IGU CGE website.
Draft Declaration Executive Statement – 1
International Declaration on Research in Geography
Education
Executive Statement
Geography in education is the study of the Earth, its natural
and physical environments, human activities, the
interrelationships and interactions of these and their
effects, from local to global scales; and, among many
skills, it uses mapping and fieldwork. When taught well
geography makes a fundamental contribution to the
education of all children and young people. Ensuring the
quality of geography education is, consequently, of great
significance to policy makers and education leaders
internationally.
Draft Declaration Executive Statement – 2
It follows that those who teach geography in primary and
secondary schools and in further and higher education need
to be supported by research intelligence in at least five
priority areas, in order to:
 clarify the purposes and goals of geography education, no matter
how the geography curriculum is expressed locally;
 refine curriculum, pedagogic and assessment practices used in the
teaching and learning of geography;
 deepen collective understanding of learning progressions in
geography;
 improve ways in which high quality materials and resources for
geography teaching and learning can be developed and provided;
 develop understanding of learners’ geographical knowledge and
experience, including their misperceptions, to enhance geography’s
teaching and learning.
Draft Declaration Executive Statement – 3
The outcomes of research in and relevant to geography
education are to:
 provide and distribute evidence and/or conceptually robust
arguments and practices that will improve the quality of
geography education in national settings and internationally;
 encourage a ‘research orientation’ among geography teachers
and educators that enables reflective and critical engagement
with habitual practices and a professional habit of mind that
demands improvement in the quality of geography education.
Draft Declaration Executive Statement – 4
The International Geographical Union Commission on
Geographical Education supports and promotes
research in geography education in all nations and
cross-nationally. It aspires to developing an international
culture of research in geography education to enable the
development of policy and practices that enhance the
quality of geography teaching and learning for all in
formal and informal education. It encourages policy
makers and geography educators to build capacity in
research and its application to the classroom and wider
learning contexts through understanding the current
state of research and by elucidating current knowledge,
needs and trends in order to identify future research
intentions, priorities and practices and the means to
bring these to fruition.
[A link will be provided to the full Declaration document on the IGU
CGE website.]
The International Declaration on Research
in Geography Education Contents
• Main document:
 Executive Summary.
 Preamble.
 The Nature, Value and Focus of Geography Education
Research.
 Context of Research in Geography Education.
 The Development of Researchers.
 Strategic Development for Research.
 Methodology.
 Dissemination.
 Impact.
Annex: The suggested dimensions of and some examples of
topics for research in geography education.
Key points in the International Declaration
on Research in Geography Education
• To commend geography education research, and its role in
informing and underpinning high quality learning, teaching,
assessment, curriculum and resources.
• To recognise the potential for research in many forms, at a
range of scales and in different contexts.
• To develop an international culture of research for conduct
and dissemination.
• To disseminate geography education research.
• To recognise the resource and contextual constraints, but to
encourage cross-institutional collaboration, nationally and
internationally, in varied political and socio-economic
contexts.
• To encourage investment in the development of geography
education professionals and researchers.
• To embed research practices in geography teacher
education and accreditation programmes.
Four priorities for geography education
research
• To encourage co-ordination within geography education
research by facilitating the network of researchers and the
dissemination of methods and findings;
• To create overviews of research in geography education in
order to identify progress, key understandings, gaps, future
needs and possible approaches;
• To establish mutually agreed lines of research in geography
education through the clarification of current gaps and the
prioritisation of future needs;
• To invest in capacity building within current teams of
geography researchers and through identifying and fostering
future members of such teams.
A Request for your help
Please would you:
• read the draft International Declaration on
Research in Geography Education.
The drafts are available on the IGU CGE
website at: http://www.igu-cge.org/
• send your comments to Professor Simon
Catling at: sjcatling@brookes.ac.uk by
March 1st, 2015
Thank you, in advance, for your
comments and ideas.
• Your feedback will be considered by the IGU CGE
UK Committee.
• This may lead to:
 further revisions to the Declaration (it has been
through 7 drafts already!);
 providing the next draft to the IGU CGE Steering
Group for their consideration.
informing corresponding members further through
the IGU CGE Newsletter.
Some key references
• Bednarz, S.W., Heffron, S. & Huynh, N.T. (eds.) (2013) A Road Map for
21st Century Geography Education: Geography Education Research (A
Report from the Geography Education Research Committee of the Road
Map for 21st Century Geography Education Project). Washington, DC:
Association of American Geographers. http://natgeoed.org/roadmap.
• Butt, G (ed) (2010) Special Forum on Perspectives on Research in
Geography Education, Research in Geographical and Environmental
Education, 19, 2, 79-125.
• Kidman, G. & Papadimitriou, F. (2012) Content analysis of international
research in geographical and environmental education: 18 years of
academic publishing, International Research in Geographical and
Environmental Education, 21, 1, 3-10
• Papadimitriou, F. & Kidman, G. (2012) Statistical and scientometric
analysis of international research in geographical and environmental
education, International Research in Geographical and Environmental
Education, 21, 1, 11-20.
• See also: Research in Geographic Education, 2013, Vol. 15, No.2 (All).