Professional body addresses 'decline' in school geography

April 24, 2007

The President of the Institute of Australian Geographers (IAG), Professor Jim Walmsley, says the teaching of "core geographical skills" is being neglected because school subjects that incorporate a very broad range of topics have tended to squeeze geography from the curriculum.

Professor Walmsley (pictured here), from the University of New England, said the IAG and the Australian Geography Teachers' Association had joined forces to voice their concern to the Australian Government about "the decline in Higher School Certificate geography". "Core geographical skills and training are being lost as traditional geography studies are replaced by subjects like 'Studies of Society and Environment'," he said.

He explained that the organisations were concerned about the position of geography in tertiary as well as secondary curricula, but that "enhancing the position of geography in secondary education should flow through to more enrolments in tertiary institutions".

"Some of the most important issues facing us in the twenty-first century are geographical issues," Professor Walmsley said. "We need people who, through training in traditional geographical skills, understand at least the rudiments of processes such as climate change, the water cycle, and the global movements of people.

"We're losing pace in comparison with other countries, and we need to lift our game a bit."

"If, as a result of Australian Government initiatives, history is taught as a separate subject in Years 9 and 10," he said, "the place of geography in the school curriculum needs to be considered, as geography is currently combined with history as 'Studies of Society and Environment' in most States and Territories. The IAG is urging the Government to work with the States and Territories to develop a common core to the geography curriculum, but one that allows scope for local and regional variations between and within States and Territories."

Professor Walmsley became President of the IAG – the peak professional body for Australian geographers – in the second half of last year. He believes his perspective from a regional university could help to foster an enhanced awareness of the "profound changes" occurring in rural and regional Australia. ("The changing nature of our rural heartlands" is the subject of one of the large-scale, collaborative research projects – funded by the Australian Research Council – that he and other UNE geographers are engaged in.)

He said that, under his leadership, one goal of the IAG was to keep the Government informed about the positive impact of geographical research in regional areas.

Professor Walmsley is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and a Member of the Planning Institute of Australia. A former Editor of Australian Geographical Studies, he is currently on the editorial board of The Australian Geographer.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at April 24, 2007 03:46 PM