PUBLIC IMAGE OF GEOGRAPHY IN THE CONTEXT OF BASIC SECONDARY EDUCATION STANDARDS TRANSFORMATION: UKRAINIAN AND WORLD EXPERIENCE

Abstract

This paper aims at the analysis of basic geographical education standards transformation in Ukraine and foreign countries in the XXI century, and their influence on the public image of geography. The volume and duration of compulsory geography education in Ukraine have gradually reduced. Moreover, in the standards of basic secondary education it was partly included into integrated courses and broad academic fields. It have caused significant transformations of public perception and awareness of geography as a science, academic field, and sphere of career opportunities, led to a decline of public demand for geographers. However, world experience shows that geographical literacy is recognized as an essential condition that increase territorial competitiveness and quality of life, contributes to environment protection, and ensure national security through the development of unique cognitive skills, as spatial thinking, spatial culture, and spatial citizenship. It is argued that transformation and renovation of geography teaching methods and content should include: a) implementation of learning approaches that stimulate interest to study local, regional and international issues and support decision making based on understanding of space and spatial relationships; b) development of educational strategies using innovations and practices of geomedia resources implementation as a digital learning environment; c) regular cartographic support of academic process in geography on the principle of “teaching with GIS, not about GIS”; d) use of active learning techniques for the development of spatial thinking/literacy/ citizenship; e) implementation of projects on landscape structure and perception analysis, based on both traditional techniques (fieldworks, observations, reading and interpreting maps), and new technologies of geomedia resources; f) strengthening the emphasis on understanding of human-environmental interactions in school geography program as a particularly important topic in terms of education for sustainable development.