School Geography under COVID‐19: Geographical Knowledge in the German Formal Education

• Published in: Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie Vol. 111; no. 3; pp. 224 - 238
• Main Authors: Bagoly‐Simó, Péter, Hartmann, Johanna, Reinke, Verena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, NJ Wiley 01.07.2020; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Competence; COVID-19; Education; Education history; geographical knowledge; Geography; Geography education; Germany; interview; Knowledge; Learning; Mass media; Mass media effects; Original Manuscript; Pandemics; powerful knowledge; Professional identity; Secondary schools; Sociology; Teachers; Teaching; The Production of Knowledge under COVID‐19
• ISSN: 1467-9663; 0040-747X; 1467-9663
• DOI: 10.1111/tesg.12452

This paper aims to explore some of the changes affecting the teaching and learning of secondary geography as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, it sets a focus on geographical knowledge and its alteration in times of extraordinary measures to diagnose its challenges. Against the background of current debates on competence- and standard-based education from the sociology and history of education as well as from geography education, problem-centred interviews served to explore the perspectives of 15 German secondary school teachers on the alterations their Geography teaching suffered since the COVID-19 lockdown. Analytical categories were general challenges, communication with stakeholders, educational media usage, and the role of COVID-19 in geographical knowledge acquisition. The results uncovered, along with systemic challenges, two main areas in need of consideration to redefine subject-specific knowledge in times of competence-based education, namely geography teachers' professional identity and perspectives on the role of geographical competencies.