Australian primary in-service teachers’ conceptions of geography

Abstract

This paper reports on the second part of a two pronged qualitative investigation that examines the ways in which Australian primary teachers conceptualise geography and geography teaching. In the first part of the project, 47 pre-service primary teachers were surveyed. In this paper, I draw on interviews with six in-service primary teachers to explore their experiences, conceptions and perceptions of geography. The findings indicate a noticeable difference between the conceptions of geography held by experienced teachers and those of early career, in-service teachers. Similar to the pre-service teachers studied in part one of this study, the early career teachers had a narrow, information-oriented conception of geography and geography education. Conversely, the experienced teachers portrayed more complex, relational and process-oriented perspectives. The paper concludes by exploring some of the implications for the implementation of the new National geography curriculum in Australia.

Keywords:

• geography education
• subject conceptions
• in-service primary teachers
• primary education

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful for the time participants set aside to participate in interviews and their willingness to share their views. I would also like to thank Fiona Topolcsanyi for the research assistance she provided.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.