Development of the GeoCapabilities project in Japan: furthering international debate on the GeoCapabilities approach

In this paper, in the interests of international debate, we introduce a Japan version of the GeoCapabilities project. In Japan, the current revision of the National Curriculum indicates that Geography will again become a compulsory subject in senior high schools. However, some unfavourable situations for the new compulsory subject still remain: such as the continuing shortage of geography specialist teachers. The GeoCapabilities approach can respond in new way to the situations facing Japanese geography education. The Japanese GeoCapabilities team was established in 2016, including teacher educators and teachers. Teachers themselves cooperate with teacher educators to create vignettes that involve “powerful disciplinary knowledge” (PDK). The project encourages teachers to embrace their role as the curriculum makers.