Developing Key Competencies through Geography

Learning in Geography provides meaningful contexts for developing Key Competencies from The New Zealand Curriculum. These Key Competencies are woven through, and embedded in, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning. Each discipline has its own processes, practices, and ways of knowing and interpreting meaning.

Geography provides learners with opportunities to develop critical and relational thinking, and temporal and spatial awareness. Students of Geography will develop understanding of geographic skills and will explore different perspectives and worldviews.

Thinking

Students of Geography will:

• use critical thinking to make informed decisions and judgements about land use
• think about possible, probable, and preferred outcomes from a geographic perspective
• find connections within and between natural and cultural environments
• explore te taiao using a tikanga lens
• understand the relationship between geography and Indigenous knowledges
• use understanding of global geographic practices to explore how te taiao shapes people and people shape te taiao
• use relational thinking to analyse how places are shaped, including the effect of power differences
• consider differences in decision-making due to perspectives and viewpoints
• understand differences in development and progress, and in how people interact with natural environments
• practise thinking collaboratively
• use creativity to predict the future of environments
• consider different approaches to solve geographic challenges.

Using language, symbols, and texts

Students of Geography will:

• use language, symbols, and text to make and understand maps, graphs, visuals, tables, and texts
• develop spatial and temporal awareness
• communicate ideas using geographic terminology
• use maps to process information
• use data to draw conclusions about how natural and cultural processes shape te taiao.

Relating to others

Students of Geography will:

• use inquiry approaches and collect data in groups
• work with others to identify geographic solutions and possibilities
• follow and work with communities at the frontline of climate change
• understand and respect relationships of tangata whenua with place and space as fundamental to the discipline of geography in Aotearoa New Zealand
• develop awareness of different understandings of place and environment
• understand their own and biases and those of other people
• expand their worldview through knowledge of local to global geography
• question geographic perspectives and decision-making and how these impact people, place, and environments.

Managing self

Students of Geography will:

• manage themselves effectively while doing fieldwork and research
• reflect on skills and knowledge systems to add to their Geography kete
• collect primary data through group work to learn from other ākonga and engage with a range of worldviews
• understand that individuals and groups have differing views of land management, sustainability, and regeneration.

Participating and contributing

Students of Geography will:

• engage in debate and discussion about geographic questions and challenges
• grow partnerships, relationships, and connections to explore differing geographic understandings
• acknowledge climate and environmental advocacy movements
• raise awareness of natural and cultural geographic changes through different ways of communicating
• understand how kaitiakitanga is being embedded in the geography discipline within Aotearoa New Zealand.

Key Competencies

This section of The New Zealand Curriculum Online offers specific guidance to school leaders and teachers on integrating the Key Competencies into the daily activities of the school and its Teaching and Learning Programmes.