According to the Study into the Teaching of Geography (2008 report by Erebus commissioned by the Govt), the widespread inclusion of geography under the SOSE (S and E) umbrella is a key concern. According to the Aust Geography Teachers Association, this has resulted in the loss of specific
focus on geographical skills and knowledge that has occurred with the incorporation of
geography, along with history and a number of other areas of learning into broader
curriculum groupings of Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE).
Similar concerns have also been expressed about the teaching of history, and in 2007/08 the Australian Government supported initiatives to strengthen the place and maintain the integrity of Australian history in the school curriculum. These initiatives included the convening of a summit with a number of leading Australian historians and educational specialists, and the commissioning of a number of papers.
SOSE syllabuses are organised into complex structures of essential learnings, values, processes, strands and concepts, which do not adequately allow for a focus on geographical questions and their analysis. A concept-structured syllabus also makes it difficult to examine a geographical question from a variety of perspectives, using a variety of concepts, as is typically done in geographical inquiry. The experience of many teachers
has been that the absorption of geography into SOSE has meant a loss of much of the content, rigour and skills taught when geography was a separate subject.
[A Study into the Teaching of Geography in Years 3-10, Erebus International, February 2008]
focus on geographical skills and knowledge that has occurred with the incorporation of
geography, along with history and a number of other areas of learning into broader
curriculum groupings of Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE).
Similar concerns have also been expressed about the teaching of history, and in 2007/08 the Australian Government supported initiatives to strengthen the place and maintain the integrity of Australian history in the school curriculum. These initiatives included the convening of a summit with a number of leading Australian historians and educational specialists, and the commissioning of a number of papers.
SOSE syllabuses are organised into complex structures of essential learnings, values, processes, strands and concepts, which do not adequately allow for a focus on geographical questions and their analysis. A concept-structured syllabus also makes it difficult to examine a geographical question from a variety of perspectives, using a variety of concepts, as is typically done in geographical inquiry. The experience of many teachers
has been that the absorption of geography into SOSE has meant a loss of much of the content, rigour and skills taught when geography was a separate subject.
[A Study into the Teaching of Geography in Years 3-10, Erebus International, February 2008]
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