How is geography taught in Irish primary schools? A large scale nationwide study

Abstract

Abstract There is limited research pertaining to primary teachers’ practices in geography education in the Republic of Ireland (RoI). Geography is one of only primary curriculum subjects which has never been reviewed since its enactment in 1999. This study addresses this research gap, establishing clarity on current teaching practices by presenting a large-scale nationwide survey of Irish primary teachers’ teaching methods for geography and their confidence in teaching the subject. This survey (with 1,013 respondents, a confidence level of 99% and a 5% margin for error) found Irish primary teachers’ use of child-centred experiential learning methods in their teaching of geography to be limited and inconsistent. Moreover, while teachers recognised the importance of the local area to the Irish curriculum, they were found to devote a small number of lessons to it, thus not reflecting the emphasis placed on it within the curriculum. The main reasons given for this included a lack of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and resources pertaining to the local area. Furthermore, while the respondents self-reported as being between somewhat confident and fairly confident in their teaching of geography, results pertaining to use of fieldwork indicate that many have limited perceptions of geography.