New Zealand school geography 1937-1987: some put-downs, take-overs and challenges

Abstract

Since Dr G Jobberns established the first independent Geography Department in New Zealand 50 years ago, the nature and status of university geography in New Zealand and overseas has altered dramatically. This is especially obvious to someone who has taught and been associated with New Zealand secondary schools for much of that time. paper considers: (1) the changing status of secondary school geography over the past 50 years; (2) the restrictive effect of subject option systems for students wanting to take geography; (3) recent secondary students' opinions of geography and geography teachers; (4) curriculum changes; and (5) some resulting challenges.In the year 1937 while Dr Jobberns was teaching his first Stage II class, senior primary students were still taught history and geography separately, the former with a jingo- istic slant and the latter 'deterministic' in emphasis. A new 'composite' subject, social studies, was introduced in 1945, as part of a new 'core' curriculum, consequent upon the implementation of the Thomas Report. World War II was still being won, so needless to say in-service training was minimal. In fact the 'big deal' was the holding of two one-week refresher courses in late January 1945, each attended by about 120 teachers. During the following decade an increasing number of geography graduates began secondary teaching. They were quite enthusiastic, even evangelical about purging out determinism and replacing it with regionalism, especially as they suspected the School Certificate and University Entrance examiners were just as fervent in their interpretations! However, what had to be contended with was an 'establishment' attitude that geography was only for those who could not cope with Caesar and his declensions or even Pythagoras and his theorems. Regrettably it seems that most students at secondary school in the 1930s and 1940s have retained this opinion right through to the present, despite the writings of Emeritus Professor Cumberland and others over the years.