Learning to construct school knowledge in lower secondary school geography: what are the challenges for teacher training in the Swiss context ?

Abstract

This paper presents an action research project on a teacher training module aimed at building lower-secondary school knowledge in geography in the context of French-speaking Switzerland. The theoretical framework focuses on the hybridisation of geographical knowledge, a multi-stage transposition process and the development of critical and complex competences. The analysis results show that the eithty-four student teachers in our sample are processing the construction of geographical knowledge for teaching purposes. They are thus starting to put themselves in a teacher’s shoes, thereby acquiring a didactic posture. This posture will enable them to further improve their knowledge in geography in the second year. They will address geographical knowledge centred on the academic discipline and its epistemology, but from the perspective of school geography. Ultimately, this knowledge will be cross-referenced to teaching competences taught during education science modules.