This article aimed to examine the present situation and tasks of the curriculum of competency-based
geographic education through the analysis of Portuguese cases in which traditional content-based
curriculum was replaced by competency-based curriculum at the beginning of the century.
In Portugal there was an attempt to change direction of geography curriculum to the one that
emphasizes competency centering on National Curriculum in 2001. Yet, National Curriculum failed to
gain a foothold and expired in 2011, then Goal of Curriculum showing the concrete content of learning
was made public in 2013. There are following reasons why this reversal to knowledge-oriented
curriculum occurred: (1) National Curriculum requires geography teachers to create lesson plans with
consideration of requirements of schools and students, but it was difficult for many of them to
understand National Curriculum and create lesson plans because they did not have prior experience on
them; (2) Learning content was downplayed on competency-oriented curriculum, so that it was not
detailed enough. It was clearly written in Goal of Curriculum for remedying it, but it was mainly about
factual knowledge without showing conceptual knowledge leading to the development of competency;
and (3) It was difficult to evaluate students’ competency by relying on written tests, therefore, other
methods for evaluation, such as performance evaluation, was necessary. Yet, there was little description
of it in National Curriculum, making it difficult for geography teachers to understand it. The Ministry of
Education announced Essential Learning in 2018. Its goal is to develop students’ competency of
knowledge, skills, and attitudes although it is not yet evaluated.The New Course of Study in Japan also aims to develop it, but its importance has been less wellunderstood among geography teachers, failing to sufficiently discuss various problems clarified through
the analysis of Portuguese cases. The transition to competency-based curriculum must, however, be an
important turning point for reexamining conventional learning content and learning methods and
breaking away from knowledge-oriented teaching. It is necessary to engage actively in these tasks for
improving geography education.
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