Assessment of future teachers’ geographic knowledge of the territorial organization of Spain using mental maps

Abstract This study analyzes the knowledge of the Spanish State’s administrative structure (provinces and autonomous communities) of future primary education teachers in Spain. The purpose is to analyze the relationship between the results yielded by a geographic knowledge test and students’ socioeconomic, educational and geographic context. The methodology chosen is based on the analysis of mental maps drawn up by the participants in the study, which included 627 students taking the Undergraduate Degree in Primary Education Teaching at four Spanish universities. A synthetic index supported by a principal component analysis and Cloke’s rurality index has been developed. The results show that students’ origin, their parents’ occupational status, their age and, to a lesser degree, their gender, are variables that contribute to drawing an explanation of the geographic literacy of the participants in the study. Only the indexes of 38% of the total scored above average.