Comment on the natural landscapes section sixth form geography syllabus

Abstract

This paper is an invited comment on the Geography prescription: a) Natural Landscapes Students must recognise how particular combinations of natural processes result in distinctive landscapes. The influence of climatic processes should be emphasised. The student should also understand how landscapes change over time, and recognise the impact of human activities in this. These studies should be based on: i) a large-area natural landscape within New Zealand, and ii) a natural landscape of a continental scale. It ought to be emphasised that the paper deals with an isolated section. Above all else the statement of a prescribed course of study must be precise. The intent of the statement quoted above is laudable and in the best traditions of geography. Unfortu- nately some of the words chosen blur its incisiveness. Three words that cause partic- ular difficulty are: "landscape", "natural" and "climatic".