Geography general education programme: towards competence development

Abstract

The article summarizes the most important stages of the change of educational content and the work carried out during the 20th anniversary of the education reform, with an exclusive emphasis on the change in the content of geography education. The most important strategic education documents on the basis of which the Framework Programmes were developed and updated are discussed. After the adoption of the State Progress Strategy “Lithuania 2030” (2012), “Let‘s change our world. The National Education Strategy 2013-2022 (2013), the Curriculum Framework for Primary, Primary and Secondary Education (2015)”, the Good School Concept (2015) and the Guidelines for the Renewal of the General Curriculum (2019). One of the most important documents is the Guidelines for the Renewal of the General Curricula, which aims to guide the renewal of the General Curricula for primary, basic and secondary education in order to ensure a higher quality of general education. Based on the modern concept of educational content, which is already well established in Lithuania, modern educational programmes aim to develop students‘ competences, i.e. their ability to act in a particular field and to base their actions on values. It presents the most recent documents in the geography curriculum that focus on the development of pupils‘ competences, and examines the challenges for teachers and schools in the development and implementation of the new learning content and the change in the assessment of pupils‘ achievements. Keywords: education, general curriculum, geography, competences