A futures time perspective in geography education in the

NetherlandsTine Béneker, Hans Palings, Iris Pauw

GTE Winchester 25 January 2014

Presentation

Context research Outcomes Interpretation Q: compare UK? Research ‘agenda’ Q: comments, ideas, priorities?

Futures dimension in GE

David Hicks (2001, 2002, 2006, 2012):‘If all education is for the future where is the future explored in education?’

David Lambert (2011, p 138; 2010, p 65):Geography in education (in a capability approach) evokes a subject that can contribute to young people’s:deep descriptive ‘world knowledge’theoretically informed relational understanding of people and places in the worldpropensity and disposition to think about alternative social, economic and environmental futures.

Futures perspectives in education: only limited progress (England, Australia…)

Hicks (2012), Bateman (2004), Slaughter (2008) (Hierarchical) school and education systems:

not concerned (with human and social needs) Lack of visible urgency: issues are ‘elsewhere’

and ‘later’ Lack of confidence / willingness (teachers)…

and still missing experience and professional development opportunities

Research questions

I To what extent and in what ways can we recognize a futures time perspective (FTP) in the curriculum, textbooks and exams?

II How can we understand this result in the context of a. the educational system and policies in the

Netherlands and, b. the characteristics of the subject (geographic

education) community?

Looking at the curriculum Intended Ideal

FormalWritten

Vision

CurriculumTextbook series

Implemented Perceived

Operational

Interpretation by users (especially teachers)

Curriculum in action, actual teaching process

Attained Experiential

Learned

Learning experiences by learners

Resulting learning outcomesKuiper & Nieveen (2012), Balancing curriculum freedom and regulation in the Netherlands

→ Innovation

Research material

}

Q1: results for vocational education (14-16)

Vision for a new national curriculum (2008)

Implementation in 2013 ‘Views on a

changing world’

Q1: results for vocational educationVocational Intended Ideal

curriculum

Vision

Intended Formal curriculum

Law + elaborations

Intended Written curriculum

Extent:Presence of futures time perspective?

Key items: Finding solutions for problems and predicting

‘The case of the disappearing future’

Explicit in two (of eight) themes:-sources of energy-water (in relation to climate change)

Ways: Scenarios?

Preferable futures

- Probable developments - Sustainability

Ways: Images

Personal (professional) future

- -

Q1: results for university preparatory education (15-18) (a-levels)

Scheme for a new national curriculum (2003)

Implementation in 2007 ‘Regions in

perspective’

Q1: results for upper secondary school Selected items:-Climate change-Water issues NL →

Intended Ideal curriculum

Vision

Intended Formal curriculum

Law + elaborations

Intended Written curriculum

Textbook series

Extent:Presence of futures time perspective in document?

- in subject choice- debate issues

- few future references

-15 % of text- 21% of assignments

Ways: Scenarios?

pledge for more beyond probable

-refer to thinking in scenarios- fore & back casting

- fixed, probable future(s) dominate- only 18 of 433 assignments: open

Ways: Images?

intended impulse for open, creative, personal FE

- concept of sustainability - policy evaluation

- future as décor - negative connotation‘edge of disaster’

Document Examples from the issues of climate change

Vision The student can critically review current discussion on climate change, involving (a.o.) the role of societal and natural factors in future climate change, on short term as well as long term.

Curriculum • The student can review climate policy focused on a solution on macro regional scale.

• Formulating a future expectation (forecasting) is of no use if you’re not willing to draw conclusions from it for the present (backcasting)

Textbook In the paragraph ‘the climate in the future’; Ouch, that was a lot of trouble! It is just like geography, sometimes it is complicated and seems like a problem, but it actually is a tremendous fascinating challenge.

Assignments 1. What will this glacier look like in 10 years time?2. Fill in the blanks: formulating a future expectation

(……………) is of no use if you’re not willing to draw conclusions from it for the present (…………..)

3. How do you think you should deal with the certainty of climate change, but the uncertainty of causes, extent and the enormous risks?

4. What scenario and policy do you favor? Who would be your biggest opponent?

Research question 2:Interpreting the results

Factors influencing the innovation process (Bednarz, 2003; Nine years on)1. Authority (law, leadership)2. Power (norm, test)3. Prescriptiveness (‘recipe’)4. Consistency (within teachers

context)

Focus group (GE community)1. Authority (law, leadership)

No support (national educational policy, geography community)

2. Power (norm, test) Strong output testing. Focus on economic performance.

3. Prescriptiveness (‘recipe’) Lack of clarity on the pedagogy, methods

4. Consistency (within teachers context) Ambivalance! Teacher’s question: ‘is this geography’s (core)

business?”

Conclusion & comparisonFTP in GE in the UK? Conclusion (exploration) From our perspective more attention for a futures dimension in

British Geography Education (at least in literature on function and form: DavidHicks, Alun Morgan, Margaret Roberts (a.o.))

Questions:

1. Are our ‘outcomes’ different from UK practices? What is comparable and what is different?

2. What is the state of the art in the UK at present?a. Is a FTP in GE recognized by teacher educators and teachers?b. Do ‘they’ use / are they aware of related pedagogies?c. Is FTP part of Geography Curriculum (A-levels?)? Is it used

in final exams?d. What is the lesson to be learnt for the Netherlands from the

UK experience so far?

Your ideas on our ‘beautiful’ struggle? Starting point: Role of the teacher crucial for any innovation…

A. Teachers / teacher students and teacher educators:

*How do teachers/teacher students/teacher educators think of FTP in GE?

*How does it relate to their vision on GE and their own views of the future?

*What practices of FTP can we find in classrooms / courses?

B.Pedagogies for FTP in GE (attained curriculum):

*What knowledge (in geography content and pedagogical) do we need for (good) practice in FTP in GE?

*How do students experience FTP in GE and what are the learning outcomes (attained, experiential and learned curriculum)?

Q: Are this important questions? Priorities? Is there already such research?

Dutch education system