{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.010752688172043012, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0032258064516129032, 'mean_word_length': 5.333333333333333, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
English primary trainee teachers’ perceptions of geography

This paper summarises the findings of research conducted with one cohort of English undergraduate primary teacher trainees on point of entry to a 4-year course. The research examines the perceptions held of geography as a subject discipline and the purposes of teaching the subject. Two hundred and eleven trainees were asked to define geography and provide information about their pre-course qualifications as well as their perceptions of the current primary geography curriculum. A volunteer sample of 12 students then completed a nominal group exercise which explored trainees’ understanding of the purposes of teaching geography and the skills that they considered they brought to the teaching of the subject. The findings indicate that trainees had an information-orientated perception of geography and did not appear to fully appreciate the breadth of the subject.