The Making of Geography as a Secondary School Subject

Book excerpt: No work has ever been produced previously that shows how historically geography has been constructed as a subject for the senior years of secondary schooling in Western Australia from 1917 to 1997. In doing so, this book contributes to the existing corpus of international research on the history of curriculum and particularly the history of geography as a senior secondary school subject. Much of it is based on primary sources, including the textbooks and atlases used, along with syllabus manuals and geography examination papers. It also provides a framework for investigating the construction of senior secondary school geography curricula in other constituencies, and could act as a model for engaging in further research in curriculum history for other school subjects state-wide, nationally and internationally. The book also makes an important contribution to the fields of curriculum design, curriculum development and curriculum innovation. It will be of great interest to historians of education, comparative educationists, education leaders, policy makers and librarians.