2012: Bob Digby

Bob Digby's name will be known to many from the numerous textbooks and other examination work he has been involved with over the years, and he is still a very active geographer within the subject community offering consultancy, online sessions and continuing to examine, as well as writing numerous textbooks and resources.

He has worked as a teacher, with a career in several schools to give him the grounding that he draws on in his other work. Bob has spent a great deal of time working with Awarding Bodies, and has written and co-written numerous textbooks and worked on other educational resources during that time, as well as leading fieldwork.

He has led many hundreds of days of fieldwork, particularly around the Olympic Park, along with John Widdowson and others, going back to a time before the Olympics.

This was the opening slide from Bob's Presidential lecture, which was themed around the Olympics of course. At the last minute, Bob decided that having taught about it for so long, he couldn't miss out on the once in a lifetime opportunity to see the ceremony that opened the games, and paid an as yet undisclosed sum for a ticket... That also means he saw what was probably Mike Oldfield's last 'live' performance into the bargain...

Bob kindly answered my questionnaire on the Google Form and filled in some additional details as can be seen below:

Bob was born in 1949, in Chelmsford, Essex
His family moved to Cornwall in 1960 shortly before he began his secondary education, which took place at St Austell Grammar School between 1960-67. Like many who have contributed to the Presidents' Blog before him, Bob told me that he owes much of his professional life to one man, Courtney Rice, who taught him geography - a kind and lively man, who was a firm socialist, having grown up in the Welsh valleys. 

Bob went to Keele University (1967-71), where he studied the four-year course; everyone did the same Foundation Year (FY) course cutting across all subject disciplines. He told me:

"I encountered everything from new (to me) disciplines such as astronomy, philosophy and sociology. I didn't make the most of it - who does, aged 18? - but 'FY' gave me a broader appreciation of academic subjects than I could ever have gained by studying a single-subject degree. My degree course consisted of Geography and History (everyone did dual honours at Keele), together with subsidiaries in Geology (which I still love now) and English. My teacher training at Nottingham (1971-2) was unusual at the time, but it determined my career path. I joined a group which trained in Humanities, and did my placement (one, full term at that time) at a new comprehensive school (Toothill, in Bingham) which explored links across the Humanities subjects. It gave me the experience that I needed to get my first job in teaching, which was again in a new school."

He describes his career (so far) as "A mix!"

"My first job was at John Smeaton High School in east Leeds (1972-80), which was a large 13-18 all-ability school drawing from a social cross section from suburban east Leeds to the south of the school, and Europe's largest council estate to the north in Seacroft and Whinmoor. The school was very informal, with no uniform, led by a former Brigadier as Head Teacher, for whom his staff would have walked on water had they the ability. I taught a wide variety of subjects (all in mixed-ability groups to age 16), ranging from integrated Humanities and Social Studies, to Geography to A level and Geology O level. At the time, schools could assess most of their intake through Mode 3 CSEs and O levels, so I was setting exam papers at CSE in my third year of teaching and O level by my fifth year. You wrote the syllabus, you set and marked the exam, all overseen by a Moderator who fed back at all stages. Teachers were trusted and annual meetings took place where teachers cross-marked each others work to moderate standards. It all worked rather well. 

My first Head of Department role was at Morley High School (1980-90), a former West Riding Grammar School in a small town SW of Leeds. Unlike John Smeaton, it was much more formal (staff addressing each other as Mrs or Mr even in the staffroom (that still happens in some schools now - why?) with setted classes. But it was a wonderful time to be a geography teacher. The 14-18 Bristol Project was well-established, and we began teaching that - again, a curriculum which individual schools wrote within the broadest and most basic of frameworks, and an assessment system which was 50% coursework (five items over the two years x 10%) and 50% exam. The Chief Examiner, Keith Orrell , set the most creative exam papers for O level that I've ever seen, then or since. 

See the previous post on this blog on Keith Orrell.

My years at Morley High laid the foundations for the thing which changed my life - the 16-19 Geography Project. Led from the Institute of Education by Mick Naish (a major influence in my career), the project curriculum fired me up like nothing had ever done at school or university. 

It had curriculum depth (fewer topics, taught and assessed in more depth), breadth (a max of core and option topics - there were 23 of the latter and if you didn't like them all you could write your own), and innovation (the first decision-making exercises came from 16-19, together with three coursework assignments which could be designed as you wished based on techniques research and timed essays. I became a Regional Moderator and Regional Co-ordinator for the Project in the Yorkshire region just as the demand and uptake was increasing rapidly. It gave me my first experience in leading CPD and in leading an annual 16-19 conference through Leeds University which lasted over 20 years. 

Thanks to that experience, I was approached to author materials for a new GCSE book (it never got off the ground but it got me noticed) and then a new 16-19 topic book 'The Geography of Health'. From that came Heinemann's "Physical Environment' and its human companion, with others following. I loved - and continue to love - writing, especially on things I'd taught and about places I'd been to 

(I once had a discussion with Margaret Roberts where we agreed that no author should ever write about places they don't know). I've had a few discussions with Margaret on a similar theme of authenticity.

In 1990, my career changed when I was appointed as Lecturer in Education / Geography at Sheffield University (1990-2) to work with Margaret Roberts. 

"I brought experience to the role, but working with Margaret made me raise my game. Her capacity for using frameworks for thinking - about what we teach, how we teach, about writing in geography, as well as her research into enquiry in geography - turned my 18 years almost on its head. I realised I had been planning and teaching almost intuitively without consciously being aware of WHY I was doing things. It was like having to re-learn. I loved it but my goodness it was challenging."

"I realised just how much I'd learnt from working with Margaret when I was appointed to what was West London Institute of Higher Ed (later to become part of Brunel University) to run my own course (1993-2001). 

I invited Margaret to come and run a day one year, and one of the students said to Margaret 'I've wanted to meet you because Bob talks about you all the time'. I did - and if you've read this far and read Margaret's work, you'll know why, and just how unimaginably lucky I had been to work with her."

There were a few other interesting experiences:

"There was a gap in 1992-3 - when I worked at Manchester University as Project Leader for National Curriculum, working with a team to develop what were to be (but were later abandoned) tests for children at 7, 11 and 14. All I'll say is that I should never have taken the job. I wasn't cut out for it, nor it for me; my fault, no-one else's. Don't ever take a job when your heart is shouting 'Walk away'. "

Of his time at Brunel:

"The Brunel years were enjoyable, fun and challenging - just what a job should be. I worked with Fran Martin and Graham Yates, each of whom I love dearly, across a range of primary and secondary courses: undergraduate as well as post-graduate. I worked with school colleagues from a range of school types which were as varied and as interesting as our students. I observed PE lessons (anyone who knows me will splutter at this point) as well as lessons in Geography, English, RE ... whatever teachers taught, I observed. The School of Education was like a school in that it was a real community. PGCE students spend nine months with you and they're gone; with four-year undergraduates you get to know them and how they think just as you would with students in a school. It was rich, exciting, and fun."

"Why did I not stay then? 

Brunel appointed a Vice-Chancellor who could not understand why a third of the Education budget had to be paid to schools, and why as a consequence the School of Education made a deficit. I don't believe in being the last one at a party so began job searching. I'd also had enough of Ofsted by then - 29 inspections across the courses we taught within six years. 

A job was advertised at University College School in north London. Its liberal ethos appealed together with the education freedom that goes with independent schools. I didn't then, and I don't now, support the existence of independent schools in theory, but nor do I support the idea of academy trusts without any democratic accountability. I believe passionately in academic freedom, and the professionalism of teachers to do their jobs without being micro-managed, either by an authoritarian academy management or by the State. I'm not against school inspections at all, but monitoring is very different from feeling that your every move is being watched - and judged. So I took the job at UCS (2001-07) and loved every minute.

When Bob became the GA President he was working as a freelance consultant and author

Bob's Presidential Theme was 'Looking to the Future'. He told me:

"I picked it because it seems to me that this is what we should be thinking about all the time - our students and the world they face, and the responsibilities and challenges they'll face as we hand over to them. I remember Mick Naish saying at the first 16-19 conference that I ever attended, that the purpose of a geographical education was political - that students should be in a position to vote when they are eighteen as informed and thinking citizens. That's our responsibility. 

It seemed that the theme would sit well with keynotes about climate change (a keynote given by Prof Terry Callaghan - I remember it well), teaching about controversial issues (given by Margaret Roberts - I remember that well too) and peace (given by David Hicks) would fit well with this. 

One of the features I was keen to introduce - and which has become a regular feature, I'm delighted to say - was the 'Future Geographers' parallel conference for sixth form students. I owe that thought to Sue Bermingham who brought along some school students to Manchester in 2012. 

I'd been a member of the GA since 1990. I'd attended conferences before that, for example at LSE. I attended conferences and ran sessions for the 16-19 Project during the 1990s, and then on curriculum change in both 2000 and 2006-7. When, in 2005, London won the bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, I'd continued writing materials as I had on Sydney's and Athens' Games in 2000 and 2004. I took the voluntary post of Community Geographer with the GA in 2007 to develop materials on Beijing in 2008, and then on London. I started working with Pumpkin TV and obtained funding from the Learning Skills Council to place a free copy of a DVD 'Aiming for Gold' in every secondary school in the UK.

Bob is a huge supporter of the GA:

"I love the GA. I don't mean that to sound cheesy, but I love the fact that this is a thriving community of people who love geography and love education. It matters because it's a strong voice for the subject when we need it within the community of teachers, within the wider public and (especially now) in a political forum. My roles have been Community Geographer as a volunteer, and then since 2010 when I began my four-year Presidential cycle as a member of Governing Body (2010-14). I continued as a Named Trustee 2014-17 and Honorary Treasurer since 2017."

Of his time as President: Bob said:
"I loved it, and especially annual conference at Derby in April 2013. 

Conference is a wonderful occasion by any standards, and the feeling that you have helped create the theme and the list of speakers is powerful. I was touched by how many people that I valued and admired wanted to accept invitations to speak. It felt 'successful', whatever that means; a large attendance, including the first sixth form students and their teachers, real quality sessions as judged by the evaluations afterwards, and it was also a much younger conference - a trend which has continued since.

It's a great feeling to see PGCE and NQT students attending in large numbers. Then there was the Presidential Lecture. 

I guess every President will tell you that it's the thing that kept them awake at night the most. Good to know. I'd better get started on it soon. I decided to play to strengths with a reflection of the 2012 London Games. I wanted to speak about something geographical. It seemed to me (and still seems) that London's Games were groundbreaking, and I wanted to show why geographers would want to study them. I loved being there at that conference in that lecture room, and looking at the audience. It was and remains the honour of my life to be there, no question."

My Presidents blog project has certainly revealed lots of stories around Presidential lectures, which will form part of my own...

He has some good memories from that time, and of other Presidents as well:

"Above all, I remember Margaret's Roberts' year as the only Presidential lecture I never made it to. I reached the (huge) hall in Manchester at the right time only to find everyone had a far better idea and had used their coffee break to get a seat. So - no seats left. Margaret's lecture is to my knowledge the only Presidential lecture that had to be held twice, the second time on the Saturday morning! 

I was about to make this a firm appointment in the diary when I received a text from BMI with whom I was flying home to Newquay on Saturday evening to say that my flight had been cancelled and I could only get home by taking the morning flight instead. It took off as Margaret would have been starting to speak ..... 

Another lecture that stands out is Eleanor Rawling's at Southampton (I think) in 1992, where she spoke quietly and powerfully about how the geography National Curriculum had been framed in the later 80s / early 90s. It was a devastating insight into the political process. 

Every President brings something special. 

The GA has been fortunate to have had an array of talent from which to draw for its Presidents - teachers, primary and secondary educators, local authority geography advisers, university-based teacher educators, academic geographers, a head of field centre .. we are lucky indeed."

Generations of students have benefitted from Bob's advice and he remains a popular speaker in all sorts of circumstances including online of course over the last year or so.

Until the pandemic, Bob was regularly travelling up to London and other locations from his home in rural Cornwall where he lives with his husband Mike and several dogs. As the GA's Honorary Treasurer. he has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors and continues to hold a very important position in the GA. The last year has shown the value of his financial 'nous' and prudence, backed up by Richard Gill and Alex Forsyth.

This image was produced at the same time as his GA Presidential lecture, and presented to Bob.

References

Far too many books and digital resources to mention, but a few notable items include:

Digby, Bob. “This Changing World: The London 2012 Olympics.” Geography, vol. 93, no. 1, 2008, pp. 40–47. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40574215. Accessed 15 May 2021.

There was also a special issue of 'Teaching Geography' on the London Olympics:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/i23753901

https://www.rgs.org/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?nodeguid=ad1c557f-1158-4fdf-a4b4-084da2d72a69&lang=en-GB - a piece on the Olympics for the RGS

https://www.rgs.org/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?nodeguid=bc40d439-8a25-4761-ad2c-74fda48cd525&lang=en-GB

Bob has co-written, written and edited for the GA's 'Top Spec' series.

He has written materials to accompany Pumpkin Videos.

Check out these textbooks:

https://www.waterstones.com/author/bob-digby/27415

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bob-Digby

Image at the top: copyright GA / Bryan Ledgard.

As always, if anyone has further memories of Bob please pass them through or add a comment.