This document summarizes a project funded by the European Commission that aims to promote a capabilities approach to geography education. It discusses initial findings from a teacher survey across Europe that show variability in understanding geography. It also outlines plans for future modules to help teachers develop geographical knowledge and thinking in students in order to empower them as global citizens.

1. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
Geo-Capabilities
Teachers as Curriculum Leaders
Duncan Hawley & Alan Parkinson
www.geocapabilities.org

2. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
This session aims to:
1.Briefly review the capabilities approach to
(geography) education.
2. Present preliminary findings from a teacher/teacher
educator survey across several European countries.
3. ‘Showcase’ the approaches devised to ‘connect
with teachers’.
4. Discuss the merits and potential use of activities
designed to engage teachers in the geocapabilities
approach.

3. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
• Why would we use this image in geography teaching?
• What would we want students to learn from it?
• What would be the benefits for your students of
learning this?
• How might students be deprived by looking at this
image without geographical knowledge?

4. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
In a highly complex and interdependent
world…..
GeoCapabilities argues that human capability is
diminished without access to the powerful
disciplinary knowledge that enables individuals to
extend and deepen their thinking beyond their
immediate ‘everyday’ experiences.
We think that the absence of geographical
knowledge in formal education deprives young
people of some vital perspectives, ultimately
undermining their capabilities as global citizens

5. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
• What sort of school geography develops knowledge that empowers
individuals to identify, select and make informed, defensible choices about
how to live (for the best) in the ever changing world based on worthwhile
distinctions with regard to their citizenship and to sustainability?
• What sort of school geography promotes individual autonomy and the
ability to think and reason? ?
• What sort of school geography contributes to understanding self-
potential as a creative and productive citizen in the context of the global
economy and culture?
Life itself; bodily health; bodily integrity (including the freedom from assault from
others); the freedom to use and develop the senses, imagination and thought;
emotional health; to engage in practical reason; affiliation; respect for other species
and nature; play (including enjoyment and laughter); control over one’s material and
political environment. (Nussbaum 2000)

6. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
What is the ‘Geo’ in Geo-capabilities?
A framework for thinking about the value of geography?
• A deep descriptive ‘world knowledge’.
• A theoretically-informed relational
understanding of people and places in the
world.
• A propensity and disposition to think about
alternative social, economic and environmental
futures.

7. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
Connecting Geocapabilities with teachers…we seek to:
 Enable critical reflection on the teaching of geography at
the level of goals and purposes.
 Develop ideas of disciplinary rigour in geography
education and to link this effectively with enquiry
pedagogies.
 Empower in teachers with new understandings of the
significance of their role in ‘enacting’ the curriculum.
 Inspire teachers of geography internationally to take
responsibility for ‘curriculum making’ and to learn from
each other.
 Provide examples of curriculum leadership

8. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
Aim = to explore geography teachers’ and teacher
educators’ initial ideas of ‘capabilities’ and to investigate
the status of capabilities in their thinking about
geography teaching.
28 respondents
England: 10 respondents (4 teacher educators, 6 teachers)
Finland: 6 respondents (1 teacher educator, 5 teachers)
Germany: 5 respondents (4 teacher educators, 1 teacher)
Greece: 2 respondents (2 teachers)
Netherlands: 6 respondents (6 teacher educators)
Phase 1 - A small-scale survey

9. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
1. Meaning of
human well-being

10. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
2. Meaning of
‘human potential’

11. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
3. Role of
education in
helping young
people achieve
potential and well-
being in life.
Survey Results – Teacher and Teacher Educator Views

12. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
4. What does
geography
education enable
individuals to
know, understand
and do?

13. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
5. Consequences - for
well-being and human
potential - of NOT
being educated in
geography.

14. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
6. Educational
goals (for students)
as a geography
teacher?

15. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
7. Educational
goals and
approaches to
teaching geography

16. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
8. External controls
on teaching
geography and
impact on the
geography
curriculum

17. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
Findings
• Variability in understanding what geography is.
• Variability in articulation of and connection with the
value of geography in education.
One important outcome……
…….will be for teachers to develop the means to
communicate effectively how the development of
geographical knowledge and understanding in young
people contributes to the fully educated person.

18. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
Module 1.
Defining and Developing Disciplinary Capabilities
……participants are encouraged to demonstrate the
outcomes of Module 1 by providing instances of
developing geo-capabilities in their teaching….
……shared via StoryMap vignettes

19. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
We are seeking short ‘vignettes’ illustrating the geo in GeoCapabilities.
One of the ideas that underpins GeoCapabilities is the need for teachers
(and students) to understand and value geographical knowledge as ‘powerful
disciplinary knowledge’ (PDK).
PDK means more than the possession or acquisition of ‘facts’.
Having PDK means understanding and interpreting the world in ways that are
distinctive.
Specialist teachers provide students with opportunities to access PDK, and
the ability to think in distinctive and disciplined ways. Geography teachers
support the development of geographical thinking.
We invite you to provide an example to convey what you think is the PDK
that underpins thinking geographically. We ask you to describe a specific
example of something you teach in geography that demonstrates what is
special and distinctive about thinking geographically.

20. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
Vignette - Description and Discussion
Specialist teachers provide students with opportunities to
access PDK, and the ability to think in distinctive and
disciplined ways. Geography teachers support the
development of geographical thinking.
 What is geographically theoretical or conceptual about
the example?
 How does the example support geographical thinking in a
way that is systematic (i.e., has value for interpreting the
example in a way that expresses the intellectual
significance of geographical and spatial concepts such as
location, place, region, pattern, spatial hierarchy, regional
identity, etc.) ?

21. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
Vignettes –
Example 1: Boulder clay
Example 2: Conservation and National Parks

22. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
Using a capabilities approach with trainees:
 Can you contribute a vignette?
 Would you use the approach for exploring the role
of geography in the curriculum?
 How could you use Storymap vignettes?

23. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
www.geocapabilities.org
What next?
Module 2 = Curriculum-making
Module 3 = Video Case Studies (powerful
(knowledge and powerful pedagogies)
Module 4 = Curriculum Leadership &
advocacy

24. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
WEBSITE
www.geocapabilities.org
EMAIL
geocapabilities@gmail.com
TWITTER
twitter.com/geocapabilities
FACEBOOK
tinyurl.com/geocap-fb