GIS in Victorian secondary schools: A ‘Teachers Eye’ appraisal of current constraints and opportunities
Whilst spatial technologies (including GIS) are diffusing and are now becoming integrated into public and private sectors, the same cannot be said for GIS in Australian school education systems. To date in Victoria, only a very limited number of schools have introduced GIS into secondary geography curriculum. This paper reports the findings of a survey on the use of GIS in Victorian secondary schools, which was administered to secondary teachers of geography at the 40th Geography Teachers Association of Victoria Conference in August 2006. The reasons for slow adoption of GIS for servicing the Victorian geography curriculum range from the ‘bottom-up’ kind (lack of GIS training and knowledge among teachers) to lack of ‘top-down’ curriculum directives. It is argued that GIS-based delivery of key geographic ideas offers much potential for re-vitalising geographical study within the Victorian education system, and for providing increased educational and vocational relevance for both teachers and students.