What is the Geographical Association?

The Geographical Association is the subject association for geography in England and Wales.
It is the leading subject association for all teachers of geography

As a registered charity its mission is to ‘further geographical knowledge and understanding through education’. 

The Association is a lively community of practice with over a century of innovation behind it and an unrivalled understanding of geography teaching.
From the biography of the Association.
The Geographical Association (GA) was established through the enthusiasm of public schools (especially that of B. Bentham Dickinson of Rugby) and by the opposition of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) to the use of ‘The Lantern’ and to women members.
Oxford served as the GA's operational headquarters for the first part of its history, but it is now based at Solly Street in Sheffield.


The GA supports geography education by providing a specialist community of practice for teachers to share ideas with one another. We support teachers’ professional needs through our journals, publications, training courses, Annual Conference, Quality Marks, teaching resources, social media activity and a variety of local and national network activities, including face-to-face and virtual networking.

The GA also represents the views of geography teachers and demonstrates the value of geographical education more widely, for example through our Manifesto for geography. We advocate for geography teachers with government and others, and our strategic vision is to be ‘the trusted voice for geography in education’.

The GA was founded 20 May, 1893 at a meeting in the New Common Room, Christ Church College, University of Oxford, led by Halford Mackinder (later Sir), Douglas Freshfield (Honorary Secretary of the RGS) and ten others (mainly Masters from public schools). There was a feeling that teaching needed some new methods.

Douglas Freshfield described the events of the meeting several years later:

Various important points in connection with the 'pictorial' method of teaching were raised, and finally a substantive motion was passed unanimously 'that an Association for the promotion of Geographical Teaching be instituted'.
Dickinson (the Honorary Secretary), Robinson of Dulwich and Fenning of Haileybury formed the committee and started to prepare sets of slides for the use of schools joining before September 1893.

35 individuals and 6 schools were first to join (the schools were Rugby, Haileybury, Marlborough, University College School, Shrewsbury and High School Nottingham)

A subscription of five shillings was set.
On 3 August a committee chaired by Dr. Hugh Robert Mill (Librarian at the RGS) was set up to run the GA.
GA members enjoyed reduced subscription rates to the Geographical Journal. The Colonial Institute joined as a corporate member with a three guinea subscription. GA membership stood at 35 by the end of the year.

Fast forward to 2019, and the Association has grown to well over 5000 members around the globe, and many thousands more who make use of GA publications, and resources. It is also involved in a range of curriculum and teacher-development projects.

Our vision for 2020 is to 'provide a trusted voice for geography in education.'

In an increasingly complex and fast-changing world, the GA is a source of trustworthy and authoritative advice and guidance on all matters relating to geography in education. We provide support to teachers and advice to government and other organisations so that the benefits of a quality geographical education are made clear.

Image: copyright Geographical Association / Bryan Ledgard

References
Description of meeting by Douglas Freshfield: www.jstor.org/stable/40554086

Update (June 2019)

Perhaps the definitive account of this period of the GA was written by H. J. Fleure, and can be read on the JSTOR by subscribers to 'Geography'

Access it here.