COMMUNICATION, CULTURE AND EDUCATION IN EUROPE, pages: 99 - 112, 2016

Content and Educational Conditions of Geography as a Subject Reflecting the Comparision of some Central European Countries

Abstract: Regarding geography teaching in Hungary, significant changes occurred in both content and curricula in recent years. In the world of the Internet the subject lost its unique role in presenting the outside world. As a result, both pupils and teachers demand for the transformation of the content and teaching methods of the subject. The bridge role of geography between social and natural sciences may inspire the development of problem orientated views. This unique character of geography may help to enforce its position in public education. For advance in improving the educational situation of geography it is worth comparing it to that in other countries. As a result, a more realistic image might be obtained on whether the current situation of geography in Hungary is unique or it is part of wider changes of the subject in the region.Primary aim of the present paper is to compare geography teaching in some neighbouring countries in similar geographical and socioeconomic locations: Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania. Data of geography teaching in Finland, widely presented as an etalon due to its success are also included in the study.