Today sees the launch of the OFSTED Subject specific report for Geography.
It's called Geography: Learning to make a world of difference
The GA has produced an official response to the release of the report.
This coincides with the approaching end of the Action Plan for Geography 2006-11
For the last 2 and a half years, I have been working with teachers across the country, and visiting schools, universities, PGCE courses and other events where young people have been showing how the curriculum and pedagogy has been changing in response to a rapidly changing world.
A few quotes from the official press release:
Some comments from Professor David Lambert: the Chief Executive of the Geographical Association.
I am preparing for some forthcoming conferences where I will be linking some of the findings in the report to the work that we have been doing at the GA.There is, more than ever, a role for the GA in modelling the importance of creative "curriculum making".
What is clear is that subject specific support is essential, and that there needs to be more debate over what is meant by core knowledge in Geography.
The picture that is painted in the report, and the interpretation chosen by some of the news reports is not reflective of what I have seen on my travels.
Thanks also to Tony Cassidy for his thoughts on his website / blog.
On the 16th of February, in Sheffield, we have the 5th birthday celebrations for the Primary Geography Quality Mark... That will be one occasion where quality geography is celebrated, and will act as a useful counter-balance to some of the comments that are being used today.
As always, comments here are my personal thoughts... GA official response is on the website...
It's called Geography: Learning to make a world of difference
The GA has produced an official response to the release of the report.
This coincides with the approaching end of the Action Plan for Geography 2006-11
For the last 2 and a half years, I have been working with teachers across the country, and visiting schools, universities, PGCE courses and other events where young people have been showing how the curriculum and pedagogy has been changing in response to a rapidly changing world.
A few quotes from the official press release:
Geography provision was outstanding in over a quarter of all the schools we visited but just over half were not using geography to good effect to support pupils in understanding their role in their locality, their country and the wider world.
‘Where geography was flourishing, students had a strong understanding of place. They also cared about their environment and had an awareness of social, political, economic and environmental issues. Good fieldwork played an important part in deepening student’s knowledge and understanding.
‘Where provision is weaker, schools should focus on developing pupils’ core knowledge in geography, particularly their sense of place. Where geography is taught thematically or within a humanities programme, the subject elements should be identified clearly, and taught properly and covered fully.’
The report recommends that secondary schools in particular should focus on improving the quality of their provision in Key Stage 3, so that more pupils will be able to continue to study geography successfully at GCSE and post 16.
Schools should also provide subject-specific support and professional development for teachers to improve their confidence and expertise, enabling them to teach geography more effectively.
Opportunities for fieldwork to enhance learning and improve motivation should be improved, but fieldwork also needs to be of good quality.
The report showcases much best practice too. In one secondary school studying how Olympic regeneration would benefit East London, lessons were well planned and stimulating, using an array of activities to engage students who enjoyed their lessons. ‘No two are the same,’ said one. There was a sense of anticipation wondering what each geography lesson would contain.
In another secondary school a wide range of activities, games and competitions were available on the school’s website under the heading ‘Mission Geography’, much of it written in-house. Many GCSE students downloaded material from the blog onto their iPods for revision, helping them fit extra learning into their schedules.
Some comments from Professor David Lambert: the Chief Executive of the Geographical Association.
The GA agrees with Ofsted that geography “is more important than ever in today’s world” We also agree that although it is for teachers, individually and in teams, to make geography engaging, interesting and enjoyable, both in the ‘field’ and in the classroom, they are often hampered by insufficient training and support, which undermines confidence and what we call curriculum making capability.
This Report therefore sends a strong message to senior leaders in primary and secondary schools: it is unacceptable to tolerate geography that is weak, because this impoverishes the curriculum. If geography is weak it “is a key issue to be addressed by the leadership teams in these schools”
The Report links poor teaching to school contexts in which geography has been marginalized – in terms of curriculum time, curriculum organization or in terms of curriculum specific training and support.
The Report shows many examples of schools in which geography has been encouraged and is flourishing. These are schools where the geography is driven by challenging questions about the contemporary world, where pupils knowledge of people, places and environments is extensive and where the teaching is lively, topical and well informed. One reason for good geography was found to be where “subject specific professional support had been sought out and utilized”
A strong theme is the polarized pattern of provision in terms of the quality of teaching and learning and the curriculum between schools. This is linked to the lack of subject specialist teachers and/or lack of subject specialist training. It is therefore a worry that training numbers are being cut in geography. This is doubly so in the context of the introduction of the EBacc: in many schools specialist teachers will be deployed in KS4, further undermining quality at KS3
The Report provides evidence to suggest that an emphasis on core knowledge in the primary and secondary curriculum, such as is provided in the 2010 White Paper The Importance of Teaching, should be welcomed. The GA certainly does. However, there is little in the way of definition in the Report, or in the White Paper, as to what is meant by core knowledge – beyond a notion of being “able to locate countries, key mountain ranges or other features” and developing “mapwork skills”.
The GA looks forward to working with teachers in the context of the curriculum review to refine and develop geographical knowledge development through the primary and secondary years (including, but not limited to, ‘core knowledge’)
I am preparing for some forthcoming conferences where I will be linking some of the findings in the report to the work that we have been doing at the GA.There is, more than ever, a role for the GA in modelling the importance of creative "curriculum making".
What is clear is that subject specific support is essential, and that there needs to be more debate over what is meant by core knowledge in Geography.
The picture that is painted in the report, and the interpretation chosen by some of the news reports is not reflective of what I have seen on my travels.
Thanks also to Tony Cassidy for his thoughts on his website / blog.
On the 16th of February, in Sheffield, we have the 5th birthday celebrations for the Primary Geography Quality Mark... That will be one occasion where quality geography is celebrated, and will act as a useful counter-balance to some of the comments that are being used today.
As always, comments here are my personal thoughts... GA official response is on the website...
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