The geographical education in the secondary curriculum in Catalonia: interculturality, sustainability and social justice

Abstract

Main features of the geographical education, both in secondary as well as in the upper secondary curriculum, are studied. In the path that geographical knowledge must follow from the normative framework to the implementation of the learning activity in the classroom, it is being imbued with elements of the school’s education project, just like any other crosscurricular competencies: as learning to learn. The position of Geography in the competencies-based curriculum of the compulsory secondary education is conditioned by the explanation, the application and analysis of key concepts like sustainability and social justice. This view, which intends to provide a better understanding and usefulness of the knowledge, requires an important deployment of teaching resources, following which the departmental level in the high school must take lots of decisions about planification, coordination and assessment. In this confusing context, the geographical associations have a key role in providing disciplinary updates needed to connect the geographical knowledge with a reality conditioned by the environmental emergency.