The new stage of restructuring of school geography in the USSR

Reforms are not new to school geography in the Soviet Union, having occurred in the 1930s, 1960s, and two times during the 1980s. During each reform there were two dominant concerns. First, there was the relationship of school geography to the social order and second, the relationship between school geography and the scientific discipline of geography as it was developing. The most recent reform, that of the late 1980s, promises to have far reaching implications for the teaching of geography. This is partly the result of perestroika, but also the recognition that geography is a significant field of scientific study in developing the student's fundamental knowledge of the world and related global issues. The combination of scientific approaches with the examination of social, environmental and other problem issues is recognized as a major objective of geography in the pre-collegiate education of Soviet students.