Geography in national basic education curriculums in Brazil and Italy : similarities and differences

Abstract

To what extent are there similarities and differences between national Geography curricula prescribed by different countries ? With the aim of understanding how the guidelines for teaching Geography are organized in a context beyond that of Brazil, this article compares the Brazilian guidelines inherent to the discipline of Geography contained in its national curriculum for basic education with the guidelines prescribed in Italy. In order to meet this objective, we present, at the outset, the current school division in Brazil and Italy, as well as the general norms for teacher training in these countries in the quest to provide information on their school systems. Then, we deal with the structure of curricular norms and guidelines for the Geography component in both countries. The national curriculum norms analyzed here reveal similarities and differences, although they prescribe guidelines for the same area of school knowledge. In general, the two national curricula analyzed here converge on the idea that Geography must overcome the simplistic and merely descriptive condition and move towards a meaningful Geography that deals with the problematization of contemporary issues. On the other hand, the differences are present in the structure of the document, in the content to be treated by Geography at school and in the indications of how to achieve the expected results.