Identifying powerful geographical knowledge in integrated curricula in Dutch schools

Abstract

This article explores the usefulness of Maude’s translation of Young’s idea of powerful knowledge into geography education. Maude’s classification of five types of powerful knowledge in geography education was used to analyse the written curriculum of the ‘human and society’ interdisciplinary domain in four schools in the Netherlands. The characterization appears to be useful in terms of painting a picture of what an integrated curriculum looks like from the perspective of powerful knowledge. The emphasis in the curricula is on learning geographical concepts that students might use to analyse phenomena (Type 2 knowledge). Remarkably little attention is paid to learning about places (Type 5), as a result of which the integrated curricula hardly contribute to a central aim of school geography, namely to build an extensive geographical world view.