Geocapabilities developed during team project-based fieldwork add value to Tourism Geography service modules in professional Tourism and Hospitality Management curricula. This article is based on a case-study in Turkish Higher Education. Here, variations on the Prisoner’s Dilemma were used to confront learners with some ‘wicked problems’ they may face in their professional careers. Comments on their decision processes are compared with those in individual reflective essays. Responses to the Prisoner’s Dilemma exercises demonstrate optimism and idealism toward: team cooperation, prioritising sustainability, and investing in people. Reflective essay comments were less optimistic and more coloured by personal experience. Evaluation returns suggest most found these decision-making games helpful in clarifying personal priorities, concerns and values. This heightened self-awareness may be key to helping them to tackle the wicked problems they will face in their future careers.

This study brings in a comparative approach regarding pictures involved in secondary school (14–17 ages) textbooks taught in Turkey. In this respect, following the classification of pictures (line drawings and photographs) included in secondary school education geography textbooks, evaluation of the photographs in books in question in terms of quality measures has been made. In addition, after listing the problems experienced regarding the illustration works in secondary school education geography textbooks, suggestions will be made regarding illustration sufficiencies in geography textbooks.

This study aims at introducing, explaining and evaluating the revised secondary school (high school) geography lesson curriculum in Turkey. Preliminary studies on the new curriculum started in 2002, and it was implemented in 2005. In this context, the article will focus on the programme development process and approaches, principle components of the programme, and its learning and assessment areas. The new geography teaching programme is based on the constructivist approach. It is dependent on active learning and enquiry and is student-centred. In this respect, the new programme is aimed at educating students towards critical thinking and constructed knowledge as well as equipping them with geographical and spatial analysis skills.

Although higher education in Turkey does not have especially well-advanced systems and resources for addressing graduate employability, two developments are making it particularly important for Turkish geography departments to give increased priority to this agenda. One is the country’s new Higher Education Qualifications Framework and the other is a major increase in geography student numbers, which means that geographers seeking school teaching posts (traditionally seen as the natural career pathway) now hugely outnumber the posts available. Against this background, this paper proceeds to explore the potential of geographic information systems (GIS) to contribute to geographers’ employability in Turkey through a study involving the views and experiences of academic staff, students and employers. The paper reveals a mixed picture of both opportunities and challenges. It ends with a series of employability recommendations for geography and GIS in Turkey, a number of which could also be of wider relevance elsewhere.