Joop Van der Schee

Abstract

‘Geography education is indispensable to the development of responsible and active citizens in the present and future world’ is one of the main statements in the International Charter on Geographical Education. This charter was edited in 1992 by Haubrich, chair of the Commission on Geographical Education of the International Geographical Union (IGU). Twenty years later this statement is still true. Geography educators all over the world are looking for ways to talk with young people about their image of their world and to help them to develop their knowledge, skills and ideas about the complex world we live in. However, different ideas exist about what geography we should learn and teach and how. The Commission on Geographical Education of the International Geographical Union tries to help to improve the quality and position of geography education worldwide, promoting the dissemination of good practices and research results in the field of geography education.

Keywords: geography education, children´s geographies, Rome declaration, research in geographical education, international co-operation

Joop Van der Schee, Faculty of Geosciences University of Utrecht Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht: The Netherlands
John Lidstone, Cultural and Language Studies in Education Queensland University of Technology Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, Queensland 4059: Australia
Clare Brooks, Institute of Education University of London 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL: United Kingdom