The forgotten rural geography in the curriculum and textbooks of secondary education

Abstract

The presence of rural geography in the curriculum and textbooks of Compulsory Secondary Education and Baccalaureate is scarce and references to rural areas imply an association with the primary sector in general and with agriculture in particular. The contents gathered in the curriculum for the different courses of secondary education include the study of the Spanish population, its distribution and dynamics, the migratory movements, and the process of urbanization. No reference is found to the aging and economic decline of many Spanish rural areas in the last decades of the twentieth century due intense migration towards cities. Nevertheless, contents do emphasize a complex issue: the elements of differentiation between urban and rural areas in Europe. Textbooks follow the guidelines set in the curriculum, thus ignoring anything related to the rural dynamics and transformations of the last decades. The intense process of urbanization that has taken place at the regional, national and European levels cannot be explained without taking into account the changes that have taken place in these areas. The study of rural areas should not to go unnoticed in secondary school, especially its new dynamics resulting from the dissemination of information and communication technologies.