David Örbring

Geographical and Spatial Thinking in the Swedish Curriculum

This chapter concerns the views of knowledge adopted in the Swedish curriculum for state schools in an international context. It addresses how geographical and spatial thinking are expressed with regard to the subject specific abilities expected of students who learn geography. The introductory section highlights the current view of knowledge in the Swedish curriculum, explains how subject specific abilities for geography have been defined and used in the Swedish context, and describes their application in state schools. Importantly, these subject abilities are considered in relation to thinking both geographically and spatially. The research that underpins this chapter was conducted using a variety of qualitative methods: specifically, interviews with key people involved in the process of drafting education policy documents and analysis of such documents used in the making of the state curriculum. Interviews have been conducted with one of the authors of the curriculum, and with others responsible for curriculum development at the National Agency for Education. Policy documents from the Swedish Ministry of Education, from the National Agency for Education, and from curriculum developers have also been analysed. This chapter includes research findings based on the analysis of such material and reflections about how these sources of evidence can increase our knowledge of thinking geographically and spatially.