Exploring different 'perspectives' in secondary geography: Professional development options

Abstract

Significant changes have occurred in the worlds of geography since 1973, and a substantial literature has emerged about these changes and their effects on the 'divide' between secondary and tertiary geographers. We suggest that while the divide has not had much effect on the content taught in secondary geography in New Zealand and Britain, exposure to a range of perspectives on this content is a neglected area of professional development. Post-Fordism and deep ecology are described as perspectives that are not widely used in delivering secondary geography content. We argue firstly that effective use of different perspectives needs to be based on professional, personal and social change, and secondly that the Internet is a powerful tool in the engineering of such change.