The Role of School Geography Curricula in Forming Students’ Geopolitical Awareness

Geopolitical awareness of high school students plays a key role in developing their critical thinking, patriotism, and understanding of global and regional processes. The school geography curriculum of Kazakhstan includes a section on geopolitics, which reflects the importance of studying this topic in the country's educational system. The purpose of this study is to analyze the content of school geography programs in the context of their influence on the formation of geopolitical awareness of students. For the study, a survey was conducted among 203 high school students in the Almaty region of Kazakhstan. The results show that the inclusion of geopolitics in the school curriculum contributes to a better understanding of international relations, the strategic position of Kazakhstan and its role in the world arena. However, the analysis revealed certain problems, including limited use of interactive methods, poor relevance of the material to current events, and significant differences in the level of geopolitical awareness between students in urban and rural schools. The article offers recommendations for the further development and improvement of educational approaches within the framework of the topic "Geopolitics". This study is original in that it represents one of the first systematic examinations of how Kazakhstan’s secondary education system integrates geopolitics into the curriculum and how this affects students’ geopolitical understanding. By addressing the existing research gap in geopolitics education in Kazakhstan an area rarely explored in comparative educational research it provides empirical evidence on curriculum effectiveness and student awareness. The findings not only inform local educational reforms but also offer valuable insights for the global academic community, illustrating how geopolitics education can shape youth perspectives on national identity and global interdependence. This study fills a research gap in geopolitics education by examining how Kazakhstan’s school curriculum develops students’ geopolitical awareness. Using textbook analysis and a survey of 203 students, it identifies key strengths and challenges in teaching practices. The results offer practical insights for improving geography education and inform policy development in Kazakhstan and beyond.