The social perception of Geography in Spain. The role of university entrance exams
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Abstract
Geography is often socially perceived as an encyclopaedic knowledge, descriptive in nature and, consequently, not very scientific and applicable. School Geography plays an important role in the creation of this social image of the discipline. The University Entrance Exams (UEE) are one of the main instruments that Geography at the university level has to influence the teaching of Geography at pre-university levels and, consequently, the social perception that students have of the discipline. In this article, we analyse the UEE of Geography for the academic year 2020/21 in the different Spanish Autonomous Communities to check the idea of the discipline that they transmit. The results reveal how the UEE of Geography include low-cognitive exercises of a memorising and descriptive nature that can promote a traditional view of Geography, making it difficult to change the social perception of this discipline.