The perspectives of geography, and geography teaching, in secondary pre-service teachers in Czechia

Abstract

The position of geography in Czechia at all levels of education has been declining. In order to improve this situation, it is necessary to innovate university pre-service teachers’ training. It is necessary, however, to first examine Czech pre-service geography teachers’ perspectives of geography as a discipline – and their perspectives of geography teaching. The analytical framework of the study is based on Simon Catling’s typology of geography perspectives. The survey was conducted with 183 pre-service geography teachers at nine geography departments in eight Czech universities. In the questionnaire survey the respondents ranked seven statements belonging to the perspectives of geography as a discipline and to geography teaching. In general, the most commonly held perspectives of geography as a discipline were “Interactionist”, “Earthist”, and “Globalist”. The “Globalist” perspective predominantly concerns perspectives of geography teaching. Research findings are used to formulate recommendations for the remedy of the image of geography.