Content analysis of the K to 12 Junior High School Geography curriculum in the Philippines

Abstract This study is a content analysis of the K to 12 Junior High School Geography curriculum of the Department of Education in the Philippines. The First Quarter competencies of Grade 7–10 were categorized and coded to determine the orientation of the curriculum in terms of curricular approaches. Then, themes from evidence of curricular approaches were used to align approaches with sub-disciplines and allied disciplines of geography. Findings show that Grade 7 and 8 have traditional orientation due to the domination of anthropocentric, factual, and determinist approaches into the curriculum. Grade 9 and 10, on the other hand, have contemporary orientation as these are dominated by the issues-based approach. This means that students have low-level thinking skills and have probably developed negative attitudes toward human, physical, and environmental geography in Grade 7 and 8. Students are then ill-prepared to appreciate complex concepts in political ecology when they proceed to Grade 9 and 10. This implies the need to have a stand-alone geography subject in the Junior High School that employs an issues-based approach, which emphasizes concepts and processes in political ecology. This is to provide students with extensive knowledge and critical understanding on the dynamics of human–environment relations.