ERIC Number: EJ1263465
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0309-8265
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Available Date: N/A
Czech Secondary Pre-Service Teachers' Conceptions of Geography
Journal of Geography in Higher Education, v44 n3 p458-473 2020
The status of geography as a separate school subject in Czechia is being increasingly questioned as pupils' interest in it is declining. Pre-service teachers (i.e. teacher trainees at universities) are key players in recontextualizing geography education in the future. Therefore, understanding pre-service teachers' conceptions of geography and its teaching are crucial. This article reports on the results of a survey of Czech secondary pre-service teachers' conceptions regarding geography and its teaching. Our contribution to the literature extends existing knowledge by using a latent class analysis providing deep insight into the conceptions of geography and its teaching. The survey was conducted among a group of 114 secondary pre-service geography teachers studying at five universities in Czechia. A classification of conceptions of geography and its teaching developed by Simon Catling served as an analytical framework. The findings indicate that a majority of Czech pre-service geography teachers had a descriptive, information-oriented, and non-relational conception of geography and its teaching. The research results showed two homogenous groups of pre-service geography teachers: knowledge-oriented essentialists and learner-centred progressivists. This paper concludes by suggesting implications for pre-service geography teacher education.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Preservice Teachers, Secondary School Teachers, Knowledge Level, Knowledge Base for Teaching, Geography, Geography Instruction
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Czech Republic
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