ABSTRACT
In our working lives as geography teachers we should never forget or abandon those ideals which draw so many of us to the job in the first place. School Geography has the potential to develop young people’s understanding of their ‘place’ in the world and so help form their identity. It can enable them to perceive the structures and processes which help and hinder their development, and can also foster the commitment to social justice and democracy, and the conserving, participatory and critical forms of citizenship, whereby they can seek to conserve or change those structures and processes and thereby help to create a better world. The International Charter on Geographical Education (IGU 1995) provides a comprehensive statement of such ideals and they are reflected in the aims, for Geography in the National Curriculum for England and Wales (DES 1990).
