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The Challenge of ‘Recontextualisation’ and Future 3 Curriculum Scenarios: An Overview

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Recontextualising Geography in Education

Part of the book series: International Perspectives on Geographical Education ((IPGE))

Abstract

The GeoCapabilities project (www.geocapabilities.org) was motivated by the need to develop and strengthen the educational principles that we believe underpin healthy, open democratic societies. The chapter looks to Jerome Bruner’s curriculum thinking to launch the discussion and his explicit position on the benefits of formal educational processes, which include nurturing in young people ‘general understanding’ and their ability to use a ‘well-disciplined, well stocked mind’. Thus, what to teach and how to do this ‘effectively’ (in the Brunerian sense) are the questions GeoCapabilities focusses on – but only after due consideration of who we are teaching and especially why we think geographical knowledge is of significance in their education.

The chapter argues that what we teach children – and why we make the selections we do – is an important matter, not to be treated lightly. The GeoCapabilities approach asks us to deliberate over the ambitious principles of Future 3 curriculum thinking based upon the idea of developing with young people geographical knowledge which is ‘powerful knowledge’. Being interested in powerful knowledge is not just a matter of teaching effectively or efficiently. It is primarily concerned with the quality of what is being taught and for what educational purposes. It requires teachers who are confident in their own agency and who are engage fruitfully in the dialogic practice of ‘curriculum making’.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The ‘new’ sociology of education at the beginning of the 1970s in England introduced concepts such as ‘knowledge and control’. The school curriculum was organised, it was argued, to serve the interests of the elite and was alienating to the many. This was, and remains, an influential position against ‘traditional subjects’. However, Young now argues that although there may well be truth in this analysis, the fact remains that the knowledge derived from sciences, the arts and humanities is powerful knowledge, and it is the denial of access to such knowledge, such as through curricula based on generic skills or ‘learning to learn’ that entrenches educational disadvantage.

  2. 2.

    ‘Engagement with Knowledge Power in Schools and the Development of Capabilities for the Human Epoch’ (EPoCH). A proposal for an Innovative Training Network, submitted January 2020 (Innovative Training Networks (ITN) Call: H2020-MSCA-ITN-2020).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UCL Institute of Education, London, UK

    David Lambert

  2. Faculty of Geosciences, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands

    Tine Béneker

  3. Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

    Gabriel Bladh

Authors
  1. David Lambert
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  2. Tine Béneker
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  3. Gabriel Bladh
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Correspondence to David Lambert .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK

    Mary Fargher

  2. Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK

    David Mitchell

  3. University of Winchester, Winchester, UK

    Emma Till

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Lambert, D., Béneker, T., Bladh, G. (2021). The Challenge of ‘Recontextualisation’ and Future 3 Curriculum Scenarios: An Overview. In: Fargher, M., Mitchell, D., Till, E. (eds) Recontextualising Geography in Education. International Perspectives on Geographical Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73722-1_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73722-1_2

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