Two new papers that engage with the pedagogy of teaching financial and regional geographies.
The first, by Michiel van Meeteren, takes the example of two modules developed as part of the MSc International and Financial Political Relations at Loughborough University (and including key GaWC contributors in their various iterations), to argue for a broader inclusion of financial literacy into geography curricula.
The second, by Stefania Fiorentino et al., including GaWC’s John Harrison, provides the first-ever debate about pedagogies and curricula in regional studies.
Both papers are important interventions that encourage critical reflection on how to translate urban/regional/economic research into meaningful and inspirational educational experiences.
Van Meeteren, M. (2026) ‘Teaching financial geoliteracy’, Journal of Geography in Higher Education.
As financial geography has grown into a mature thematic geographic subdiscipline, it is not only time to discuss how to teach financial geography but also to debate its potential contribution to human geography’s wider curriculum, pedagogy and training requirements. This intervention argues that all geographers would benefit from becoming critically financially literate, to obtain Financial Geoliteracy. It will then, drawing on the curriculum design experience of a postgraduate programme in financial geography at Loughborough University, flesh out questions of “what to learn” (curriculum), “how to learn” (pedagogy) and “why we learn” (training) in financial geography. The contribution concludes by reflecting on the required institutional work to make financial geography a mainstay in broader geography curricula.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2026.2655292
Fiorentino, S., Harrison, J., van Meeteren, M., Béneker, T., Whittall, D. and Schaefer, K. (2026) ‘Teaching regions: do we need a regional pedagogy or a pedagogy of regions?’, Regional Studies, 60 (1).
This paper opens the first-ever debate about pedagogies and curricula in regional studies. It does this from four perspectives: how regional studies creates powerful knowledge; how regional thinking can be embedded within school education and curriculum design; the provision training to the next generation of regional scholars; and the potential impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) in teaching and assessing regional studies. We conclude with a reflection on whether we need a regional pedagogy or a pedagogy of regions, and inviting others to engage in debate about pedagogies and curricula in regional studies.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2026.2622453