The Use of Planning in English and German (NRW) Geography School Textbooks

Although it is not possible to predict the future, at least some ideas can be developed through planning. Geography focuses on current social, environmental and spatial problems; however, it should, at the same time, teach us to plan its future handling. At school, this is a responsible role for the subject geography. This article compares how nineteen different English and German (North Rhine-Westphalian) geography textbooks deal with planning through various tasks. These tasks are identified with a definition, based on a multidisciplinary literature review, and are examined by qualitative content analysis. It appears that planning skills for shaping the future are dealt with differently in both countries, with respect to branches of geography, topic of concern, planning method, time frame and perspectivity. Implications and limitations of the findings for geography teachers, international researchers in science education, publishing houses and other persons responsible for geography education programs are discussed.