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GA Conference 2008

GA Conference 2008. Presidential Address Sustaining Geography John Westaway, GA President. Sustaining geography. Geography – past, present and future Who are geographers and where do they come from? Where is geography now and how did it get there? What next for geography?.

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GA Conference 2008

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  1. GA Conference 2008 Presidential Address Sustaining Geography John Westaway, GA President

  2. Sustaining geography • Geography – past, present and future • Who are geographers and where do they come from? • Where is geography now and how did it get there? • What next for geography? • Geography for sustainable development and the sustainable development of geography

  3. Who are geographers and where do they come from? Geography – past, present and future

  4. The invisibility of geographers • Who and where are all the geographers? • GA as Geographers Anonymous?

  5. Guess the subject! It was his love of maps, of globes and atlases, which had years ago led him, in a roundabout way, into the world of _______. So many maps had he pored over in his time that he dressed, without fully realizing, in the pastels of cartography: yellow corduroy trousers (6000-9000 feet above sea level), the jacket of darkly woven maroon (Antarctic Tundra), shirt of Viyella peach (less than 1 inch of rainfall per annum), and the red fleck on his woollen tie looked like International Boundaries or population over 500 persons per square mile.’ From: Homesickness by Murray Ball and the missing word is …. zoology

  6. Where do geographers come from? • Some are born geographers • Some achieve geography • Some have geography thrust upon them

  7. Some are born geographers Daydreams in the classroom • Football (Bristol City) • Cricket (Gloucestershire) • Pop music (Rolling Stones et al)

  8. Some have geography thrust upon them

  9. Some achieve geography What attracts young people to geography? • Attractions of the subject? • Charismatic teachers and/or good teaching? • Leads to a particular career? • Being good at it?

  10. Attractions of geography? • Exotic places? • Issues? • Physical environment? • Fieldwork?

  11. Charismatic teachers or good teaching?

  12. Good at geography?

  13. Bristol – a GA President hotspot Pat Cleverley (1984-85); Vic Dennison (1980-81); Sheila Jones (1975-76)

  14. Bristol – a GA President hotspot John Hopkin 2010-11 Jeremy Krause 2001-02 Margaret Roberts 2008-09 Chris Kington 2002-03

  15. The quantitative approach GAPi /GAP __________ Popi/Pop Where: GAPi is the number of GA presidents who were born, live or lived, teach or taught in city i GAP is the number of GA presidents in the nation Popi is the population of city i Pop is the population of the nation Source: Walter Isard. Methods of Regional Analysis. MIT Press, 1960

  16. And the results are … 1975-2011 Location quotient – 20.2

  17. How to make more young people achieve geography • Ensure young people continue to experience geography • Ensure that what they experience is high quality geography

  18. Geography – past, present and future Where is geography now and how did it get there?

  19. Where is geography now? • Marginalisation of geography in primary (and secondary?) schools • Declining numbers at GCSE & A level • Lots of satisfactory or worse geography teaching (Ofsted) • Poor public image – pub quizzes; boring • Invisibility of geographers

  20. … and how did it get there? • The Halcyon Days of Geography(?): the whole of geography until 1991 • Post-National Curriculum – the Dark Ages(?): 1991-2008 A brief history of geography

  21. The Halcyon Days? 1960s

  22. The Halcyon Days? 1970s & 1980s ‘…(there is) the need for a close and critical look at all tasks requiring straight copying, an exercise with more custodial than educational usefulness. Copying is not as rife at Hampstead as elsewhere … ’ ‘… too much time is spent in transferring quite complex maps and diagrams from printed page or blackboard …’ Notes based on an Inspectorate Study visit, 1981 • GYSL • Bristol Project • Geography 16-19 But …..

  23. The Dark Ages? • 1991-95: the 1991 National Curriculum • 1995-2000: the 1995 National Curriculum • 2000-08: the 2000 National Curriculum

  24. The 1991 National Curriculum

  25. 1991-1995 • Compulsory geography 5-16 • Overloaded & overprescriptive curriculum • 5 Attainment targets • 183 Statements of Attainment • 10 levels of attainment • ‘Double page spread’ textbooks making sense of the NC • Testing & school performance tables • Standard Attainment Tasks (SATs) developed for key stage 1-3 geography

  26. Geography SATs

  27. The 1995 National Curriculum

  28. 1995-2000 • Dearing Review – revised NC for Geography • Reduced content • Single attainment target • 8 levels of attainment plus EP; level descriptions • Geography optional in key stage 4 • No statutory testing of geography in key stages 1-3 – Teacher Assessment instead • Optional Tests and Tasks for Key Stage 3 • Relaxation of PoS in key stages 1 & 2 • Schemes of Work for key stages 1 and 2

  29. The 2000 National Curriculum

  30. 2000-08 • RevisedNC for geography • Further content reduction • Increased flexibility through reorganisation • Return to full National Curriculum in primary schools • Scheme of Work for key stage 3

  31. So why is geography faring so badly? • Are things that much worse than in 1990? • Quality of teaching? • Non-specialist teachers/less subject support? • Tests, league tables and subject priorities? • Curriculum non-development? • More competition?

  32. Geography – past, present and future What next for geography?

  33. At the crossroads: 2008 ‘Geography is at a crucial period in its development. More needs to be done to make the subject relevant and more engaging for pupils, particularly at Key Stage 3’. Christine Gilbert, HMCI • Primary review • New secondary (ie key stage 3) curriculum • 14-19 • New GCSEs (2009) and A levels • Diplomas, including one for Humanities

  34. Opportunities & Challenges: Primary Review • New improved geography curriculum? • But: • Aims of primary review – more time for literacy & numeracy; arts & music? PE & sport? compulsory MFL?

  35. Opportunities & Challenges: Key stage 3 • New, improved programme of study – key concepts; flexibility • But: • Place of geography (& subjects generally) in whole curriculum – two year key stage 3? Move to more integrated curriculum?

  36. Opportunities & Challenges: 14-19 • New GCSE & AS/A level specifications – scope for improving quality of geography teaching & learning • But: • Diplomas – new humanities diploma - squeeze on geography GCSE & A level?

  37. Opportunities & Challenges • Opportunitiesprovided by the new geography curriculum frameworks • Challenges come from the wider curriculum framework in all key stages & phases. Why should curriculum managers give geography any sort of priority? • We need to argue the case for geography (again)

  38. A case for geography • A case for geography 1987 • A case for geography 2008 • Different curriculum context - geography still a statutory subject 5-14, but subjects no longer king • Audience for the case for geography not primarily the government, but more curriculum managers in schools

  39. A case for geography Choices • Stick to our knitting? And become an intrinsic, pure, minority pursuit • Go for legislation? Because ‘geography is essential’ • Emphasise vocational utility – maps, GIS? • Argue for extrinsic educational purpose and the contribution geography can make to the educated person? David Lambert. Paper to GA Governing Body 8 Mar 2008

  40. Geography for sustainable development and the sustainable development of geography

  41. A focus on sustainable development? • Geography has a real opportunity to establish itself more securely in the school curriculum through a more explicit focus on sustainable development • Sustainable development is near the top of society’s agenda. Government launched Sustainable Schools strategy two years ago - schools will be expected to become more sustainable

  42. The case for a sustainable development focus • Sustainable development could be to geography what literacy and numeracy are to English and mathematics

  43. Sustainable development and geography • The central place of English in the school curriculum owes much to the fact that it includes literacy • The central place of mathematics in the school curriculum owes much to the fact that it includes numeracy • Why can’t geography occupy a more central place in the school curriculum because it includes sustainable development?

  44. The case for a sustainable development focus • We’re already doing it – and have been for many years • Sustainable development could be to geography what literacy and numeracy are to English and mathematics

  45. GYSL People Place & Work 1975

  46. Geography National Curriculum 1991

  47. Geography National Curriculum 1995

  48. Geography National Curriculum 2000

  49. Geography National Curriculum 2008 • Environmental interaction & sustainable developmentis one of the seven key concepts identified for geography

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