Last updated January 2024Norman Graves' name will be known to many for his involvement in the authoring of school textbooks over many years. His other significant contribution was in the development of the IGU.
Norman taught in a number of secondary schools in his career.
He was also involved with the University of Liverpool and latterly the Institute of Education, from where he retired 30 years ago.
He is currently in his late 90s.
Norman told me in an e-mail that: "I am conscious that the year of your birth, 1963, was the year I arrived at the Institute of Education to head the Geography Department."
He was also mentioned early on in David Mitchell's PhD thesis:
In 1979 Norman Graves produced a model of ‘curriculum planning’ in
geography which places the responsibility for the ‘curriculum problem’ with the
teacher.
‘Essentially a teacher’s curriculum problem should be that of deciding what he
is going to try to get his students to learn.’
(Graves, 1979: 1)
Norman attended a seminar at the Institute of Education during my time working for the GA, as part of a seminar series organised by the late Duncan Fuller, which also had inputs from Andrew Bonnett and Michael Young. That was a good day of learning for me.
Here are just a small selection of some of the books that Norman authored during his long career:
Geography in Education;
Curriculum Planning in Geography;
Geography in Secondary Schools,
The Education Crisis;
School Textbook Research: the case of geography;
Editor: Teaching Geography
Series; New Movements in the Study and Teaching of Geography;
New Unesco Source Book for Geography Teaching;
Initial Teacher Education;
Learner Managed Learning;
Working for a Doctorate;
Education and the Environment.
Norman Graves was GA President at a time when there were some financial issues for the Association. It had a deficit of around £10 000 and efforts were made to try to reduce expenditure to cope with the situation at the time.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40569009?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
I contacted Norman by e-mail in August 2019, and he passed through the following information to me, along with the image which is included at the top of the blog post. The image shows Norman speaking at the 1976 IGU Conference in Leningrad, Russia.
Thanks to Norman for the following information on this entry, which he provided for me. He is the 2nd 'oldest' GA President to be alive, (and also the oldest as it happens I believe) and therefore able to offer me his own personal perspectives, following Sheila Jones' memories from her time as President in 1975 in an earlier blog post.
Norman was born in Sainte Adresse, Seine Inférieure (now Maritime), France, and lived there briefly before moving to the UK.
Education:
Ecole Communale de Garçons de Sainte Adresse,1931-35
London: Finsbury Park Junior School, 1935-36;
Tollington Park Central School, 1936-38;
Highbury County Secondary School, 1938-41;
The Polytechnic, Regent Street 1945-46 (part-time);
The London School of Economics and Political Science, 1946-49 (2 years part-time, 1 year full-time) - the LSE links with the GA are very strong
The University of London Institute of Education, 1949-50 (full-time). Subsequently, part-time study for higher degrees, 1952-63.
Employment
Norman started working life in 1941as a "Youth in Training" in the Post Office Engineering Department, then as a Technical Officer in the Engineer in Chief's Circuit Laboratory until 1948.
Teacher of Geography and Economics at East Ham Grammar School for Boys, 1950-54; responsible for Geography at Borough Beaufoy Secondary Technical School in Lambeth, 1954-58; Head of Geography and housemaster at Malory Secondary Comprehensive School in Lewisham,
Good to see another GA President who had spent time as a teacher of geography.
1958-60: Lecturer in Education at Department of Education University of Liverpool
1961-63: Senior Lecturer in Education
1963-74: Reader in Education at the Institute of Education.
In an e-mail communication, Norman told me that he
1974-78: Professor of Education
1978-80: Robert Ogilvie Professor of Geography Education
1980-90: Pro-Director Professional Studies
When he became GA President he was working as Professor of Education at the IOE (UCL)
Norman told me:
"I entitled my Presidential Address "Contrasts and contradictions in Geographical Education". In the 1970s, I expressed the tensions which existed between the scientific nomothetic approach manifest in the then conceptual revolution, and the ideographic and humanistic approach epitomised in Yi Fu Tuan's book 'Topophilia'. "
Here's a publication that Norman produced for the GA during this period.
Of his association with the GA Norman said:
"The GA was a professional association of geography teachers whose meetings and publications provided me with in service development, which at that time was not provided by my first employers. I subsequently participated in the "training college" section and contributed occasional lectures, but my main contributions were to the GA's publications. For example: articles in" Geography"; A Tropical Peasant Holding in Ceylon in Asian Sample Studies (169); Geography in Secondary Education (1971); Geography in Education: a Bibliography of British Sources (with Clare Lukehurst, 1972); Geographical Education in Secondary Schools (1980); I also edited the series "Teaching Geography" (1968-72)."
A picture of Norman Graves still hangs in the office at UCL which is used currently by Alex Standish, previously used by David Lambert and John Morgan. Alex kindly took a photo of it for me some time ago and shared it with me for use on the blog.
And here's the book that perhaps will be most well known to many of a particular age: the classic textbook that was used in schools and which was part of my own 'A' level studies. This is my own personal copy which is part of my growing library of textbooks which I have been collecting as part of this project.
References
Norman Graves (2008) Reflections on a Life in Geographical Education, International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 17:1, 1-5, DOI: 10.2167/irgeeed171.0
https://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/history-of-education/school-textbook-research/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02736948
REF: https://impact.ref.ac.uk/casestudies/CaseStudy.aspx?Id=44328 - mentions how the APG that I worked on, and the work of David Lambert built on Norman's work:
It develops Norman Graves's innovative work at the IOE in the 1970s and 1980s on the theory and application of `rational curriculum planning' in school geography.
Also a mention from Brian Hobbs: https://www.asdan.org.uk/blog/2013/02/19/a-geog-down-memory-lane as part of the GA's work to create an ASDAN course.
IGU:
http://www.igu-cge.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/The-IGU-Commission-on-Geog-Education-modified-0915.pdf
GRAVES, N. (1978). Changes in Attitude towards the Training of Teachers of Geography. Geography, 63(2), 75-84. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40568886
Non-GA book publications may be grouped into three groups:
"I have enjoyed reading your blog on Norman Graves, the inspiration for many of us. When I did my MA in geography education at the Institute in 1971-3 (the 3rd or 4th year it ran, I think) I was one of a group of 4 students. We had superb seminars where one of us would read our essay for that week (we wrote 24 essays over the 3 terms of the year, weekly) and then it would be debated. Alongside Norman, Molly Long, Bertie Roberson and Michael Naish were our tutors. It was a fascinating, invigorating, rigorous and very informative first year of the MA. Mick Naish supervised my MA thesis. I think that was, part-time on a Monday late afternoon, an invaluable course for my geographical education. The reading, thinking and writing was a very real education, demanding but just right.
While a young primary teacher I did two week long courses which were influential. In early 1975 I did a Place, time and Society 8-13 course run by Ray Derricot, Hazel Sumner and Gordon Elliot at an ILEA centre. In early 1978 I did an environmental course at Avery Hill College in Eltham, run by Colin Ward. Both were influential in my thinking.
Norman attended a seminar at the Institute of Education during my time working for the GA, as part of a seminar series organised by the late Duncan Fuller, which also had inputs from Andrew Bonnett and Michael Young. That was a good day of learning for me.
Here are just a small selection of some of the books that Norman authored during his long career:
Geography in Education;
Curriculum Planning in Geography;
Geography in Secondary Schools,
The Education Crisis;
School Textbook Research: the case of geography;
Editor: Teaching Geography Series; New Movements in the Study and Teaching of Geography;
New Unesco Source Book for Geography Teaching;
Initial Teacher Education;
Learner Managed Learning;
Working for a Doctorate;
Education and the Environment.
Norman Graves was GA President at a time when there were some financial issues for the Association. It had a deficit of around £10 000 and efforts were made to try to reduce expenditure to cope with the situation at the time.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40569009?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
I contacted Norman by e-mail in August 2019, and he passed through the following information to me, along with the image which is included at the top of the blog post. The image shows Norman speaking at the 1976 IGU Conference in Leningrad, Russia.
Thanks to Norman for the following information on this entry, which he provided for me. He is the 2nd 'oldest' GA President to be alive, (and also the oldest as it happens I believe) and therefore able to offer me his own personal perspectives, following Sheila Jones' memories from her time as President in 1975 in an earlier blog post.
Norman was born in Sainte Adresse, Seine Inférieure (now Maritime), France, and lived there briefly before moving to the UK.
Education:
Ecole Communale de Garçons de Sainte Adresse,1931-35
London: Finsbury Park Junior School, 1935-36;
Tollington Park Central School, 1936-38;
Highbury County Secondary School, 1938-41;
The Polytechnic, Regent Street 1945-46 (part-time);
The London School of Economics and Political Science, 1946-49 (2 years part-time, 1 year full-time) - the LSE links with the GA are very strong
The University of London Institute of Education, 1949-50 (full-time). Subsequently, part-time study for higher degrees, 1952-63.
Employment
Norman started working life in 1941as a "Youth in Training" in the Post Office Engineering Department, then as a Technical Officer in the Engineer in Chief's Circuit Laboratory until 1948.
Teacher of Geography and Economics at East Ham Grammar School for Boys, 1950-54; responsible for Geography at Borough Beaufoy Secondary Technical School in Lambeth, 1954-58; Head of Geography and housemaster at Malory Secondary Comprehensive School in Lewisham,
Good to see another GA President who had spent time as a teacher of geography.
1958-60: Lecturer in Education at Department of Education University of Liverpool
1961-63: Senior Lecturer in Education
1963-74: Reader in Education at the Institute of Education.
In an e-mail communication, Norman told me that he
1974-78: Professor of Education
1978-80: Robert Ogilvie Professor of Geography Education
1980-90: Pro-Director Professional Studies
When he became GA President he was working as Professor of Education at the IOE (UCL)
Norman told me:
"I entitled my Presidential Address "Contrasts and contradictions in Geographical Education". In the 1970s, I expressed the tensions which existed between the scientific nomothetic approach manifest in the then conceptual revolution, and the ideographic and humanistic approach epitomised in Yi Fu Tuan's book 'Topophilia'. "
He also said:
"Contradictions were evident in the attitudes of teachers who had difficulty in reconciling the instrumental aims of education, for example, coaching students to pass examinations, and the intrinsic mind-opening aims of guiding students to question the validity of certain theories, for example the Davisian view of landscape evolution."
This is an ongoing issue for many - dealing with the question of "is this on the test?" and making time for those additional discussions and criticality which helps build geographical thinking.
Norman told me: "I joined the GA as a student and maintained my membership throughout my career. I found it useful to read its publications and attend its meetings and Annual Conferences where I could discuss with other teachers our teaching problems."
"Contradictions were evident in the attitudes of teachers who had difficulty in reconciling the instrumental aims of education, for example, coaching students to pass examinations, and the intrinsic mind-opening aims of guiding students to question the validity of certain theories, for example the Davisian view of landscape evolution."
This is an ongoing issue for many - dealing with the question of "is this on the test?" and making time for those additional discussions and criticality which helps build geographical thinking.
Norman told me: "I joined the GA as a student and maintained my membership throughout my career. I found it useful to read its publications and attend its meetings and Annual Conferences where I could discuss with other teachers our teaching problems."
Here's Norman's Curriculum Planning Model, which has stood the test of time as far as I can see.
Here's a publication that Norman produced for the GA during this period.Of his association with the GA Norman said:
"The GA was a professional association of geography teachers whose meetings and publications provided me with in service development, which at that time was not provided by my first employers. I subsequently participated in the "training college" section and contributed occasional lectures, but my main contributions were to the GA's publications. For example: articles in" Geography"; A Tropical Peasant Holding in Ceylon in Asian Sample Studies (169); Geography in Secondary Education (1971); Geography in Education: a Bibliography of British Sources (with Clare Lukehurst, 1972); Geographical Education in Secondary Schools (1980); I also edited the series "Teaching Geography" (1968-72)."
Norman told me of his wider work in the field of Geographical Education which included his chairmanship of the Commission on Geographical Education of the International Geographical Union, his membership of the Schools Council Geography Committee and its Geography 16-19 Project led by his colleague, Michael Naish.
A report on the work of the Commission on Geographical Education was written by Norman as Chairman and published in 'Geography' in 1980
A report on the work of the Commission on Geographical Education was written by Norman as Chairman and published in 'Geography' in 1980
Graves, N. (1980). THE COMMISSION ON GEOGRAPHICAL EDUCATION. Geography, 65(3), 230-231. Retrieved August 26, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40569278
He also recalls being asked to lecture to various GA local branches in Oxford, Bristol and Leicester, and attending the Scottish Geography Teachers Association conference in Edinburgh - something I've done many times myself, and now with a reciprocal arrangement with the SAGT for our conferences.
He also sent some memories recently about his links with the previous GA President Stan Gregory:
He also recalls being asked to lecture to various GA local branches in Oxford, Bristol and Leicester, and attending the Scottish Geography Teachers Association conference in Edinburgh - something I've done many times myself, and now with a reciprocal arrangement with the SAGT for our conferences.
He also sent some memories recently about his links with the previous GA President Stan Gregory:
Stan Gregory and I were students in the Joint School of Geography which was then shared by Kings College and the LSE, though he did a straight Geography degree while I did a BSc (Econ) which actually included a course in statistics which proved useful during the quantitative revolution.
Our paths crossed again in Liverpool when I joined the Education Department, while he was in the Geography Department headed by Professor Steele at that time.
Along with Michael Naish, he wrote an important publication for the GA called 'Profiling in Geography', which was published in 1986.
Norman was awarded the RGS's Victoria Medal in 1993.
And here's the book that perhaps will be most well known to many of a particular age: the classic textbook that was used in schools and which was part of my own 'A' level studies. This is my own personal copy which is part of my growing library of textbooks which I have been collecting as part of this project.References
Norman Graves (2008) Reflections on a Life in Geographical Education, International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 17:1, 1-5, DOI: 10.2167/irgeeed171.0
https://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/history-of-education/school-textbook-research/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02736948
REF: https://impact.ref.ac.uk/casestudies/CaseStudy.aspx?Id=44328 - mentions how the APG that I worked on, and the work of David Lambert built on Norman's work:
It develops Norman Graves's innovative work at the IOE in the 1970s and 1980s on the theory and application of `rational curriculum planning' in school geography.
Also a mention from Brian Hobbs: https://www.asdan.org.uk/blog/2013/02/19/a-geog-down-memory-lane as part of the GA's work to create an ASDAN course.
IGU:
http://www.igu-cge.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/The-IGU-Commission-on-Geog-Education-modified-0915.pdf
GRAVES, N. (1978). Changes in Attitude towards the Training of Teachers of Geography. Geography, 63(2), 75-84. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40568886
Non-GA book publications may be grouped into three groups:
1 Text books:
North America and Asia 1966 (with R C Honeybone), Geography of The British Isles 1971 (with John White), People and Environment 1987 (with John Lidstone and Michael Naish)
2 Academic books on geographical education:
eg Geography in Education (1975), Curriculum Planning in Geography (1979), School Textbook Research: The case of geography (2001); New Movements in the Study and Teaching of Geography (Editor, 1972); New Unesco Source book for Geography Teaching (Editor 1982)
3 Academic books on education:
eg The Education Crisis: Which way now, (1988); Initial Teacher Education: policies and progress (Editor 1990); Working for a Doctorate (Editor 1997); Education and Environment (Editor 1998)
Image: top image supplied by Norman Graves, office photo by Alex Standish, textbook image by Alan Parkinson
Please pass through any other memories of Norman Graves influence on your own practice.
Image: top image supplied by Norman Graves, office photo by Alex Standish, textbook image by Alan Parkinson
Please pass through any other memories of Norman Graves influence on your own practice.
Update September 2020
Norman kindly sent me a range of items to help this (and other) posts, including a copy of his article Reflexions on his career and on geography education, which was published in IRGEE journal in 2008. It contains further thoughts which has its own blog post in October 2020.
Additional details added in November 2020.
Simon Catling sent me the following memory:
While a young primary teacher I did two week long courses which were influential. In early 1975 I did a Place, time and Society 8-13 course run by Ray Derricot, Hazel Sumner and Gordon Elliot at an ILEA centre. In early 1978 I did an environmental course at Avery Hill College in Eltham, run by Colin Ward. Both were influential in my thinking.
Gordon Elliott introduced me to a producer at the BBC which led from the autumn of 1975 to me being an adviser, alongside Michael Storm (who had just become the geography adviser in the ILEA), to a new series of primary geography programmes."
Check out Michael Storm's entry on the blog as well.
Updated July 2022
I prepared a paper for the IGU 2022 in Paris - the centenary event and was invited to chair a session. A link back to the work of Norman.
Archive material is also available apparently at the IoE - I wonder whether I might be able to get access to this material in the new academic year.
It includes handwritten notes by Elisie Beaver (the wife of Stanley?) and also mention of James Fairgrieve and also Robert Ogilvie Buchanan in these papers. They include handwritten notes on lectures related to curriculum development.
Updated August 2023
A family photo on Facebook showed Norman is still around and enjoying another French summer with family. Good news.
Updated January 2024
Again via Facebook, January 28th was Norman's 99th birthday. The oldest living GA President. Coincidentally I started a presentation at the Geography Teacher Educators' Conference with a messsage Norman sent me when I started writing this blog.
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