A model of lived experiences and geographical consciousness based on Namibian secondary school learners’ perspectives

Abstract

Teachers in Namibian government schools have to cope with a lack of textbooks and must teach content-rich subjects, specifically geography, with limited resources. The literature makes it clear that fieldwork and outdoor learning play essential roles in understanding and conceptualising geography. The challenge is that such beneficial and planned fieldwork opportunities are neither accessible to all learners nor equally distributed within Namibian schools. Most Namibian learners do, however, have many lived experiences outside school and they are exposed to a wide range of different everyday contexts and environments to varying degrees. Unfortunately, everyday lived experiences are not always recognised as potential and relevant geographical resources for teaching and learning. The research involved 28 learners from five Namibian secondary schools. Open-ended, in-depth, semi-structured individual interviews were conducted and participants were asked to make a drawing illustrating how they experience geography in their daily lives. Based on the themes which were identified from the interpretative phenomenological analysis, we critically discuss how lived experiences can influence geographical consciousness. To conclude, we propose a model of the relationship between lived experiences and geographical consciousness, as well as the barriers and enablers at play.