1992: Professor Simon Catling

Updated December 2020

Professor Simon Catling is a true gentleman, and a giant in the field of geography education, with a particular interest in Primary Geography and outdoor education, as well as the education of Primary teachers.

Here he is in his study in a recent image sent by Simon himself. 
For many years he has been involved in steering the development of the Charney Manor Conference - one of the key events in the Primary calendar for teacher educators.

I'm proud to have a chapter in this book which Simon Catling edited and collated for the 20th Charney Primary Conference, which took place in 2017, which I attended.

He is also someone who has always been receptive to new ideas, particularly in the field of outdoor education. Here he is chatting to Daniel Raven Ellison: an innovator himself, at a previous GA Conference.


Get your copy of the Charney book pictured below here.

One additional reason to get a copy (in addition to getting my piece) is a auto(geo)biography written by Simon in the introduction to the book.



Simon has been involved in and with the GA from the 1970s onwards.

I came across a contribution that Simon made to the GA Conference all the way back in 1980, when he was working at a Junior School in London, as he mentioned in his CV.



https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/50126/page/53

I'm grateful to Simon for passing me through a whole range of information on his career and contributions to geography, which have been immense. 

Here is what Simon told me:

Simon was born in Leicester, UK on September 3rd, 1947.

Where did you go to school/

university?
Town Close Preparatory School, Norwich, Norfolk. September 1954 to April 1956.
Melbourne Lodge Preparatory School, Claygate, Surrey. April 1956 to December 1960.
Tonbridge School, Tonbridge, Kent. January 1961 to July 1965. Gained O levels and A
levels (including geography at both levels).
St. Mark and St. John College of Education, Chelsea, London. September 1967 to June
1971. 

Gained a BEd degree in geography and education, qualifying as a primary teacher.

University of London Institute of Education. September 1971 to September 1973. Part-time.
Gained an MA in Geography Education.

The image here was provided by Simon, and shows him aged 21.

What has your career been?
1965-67: Teacher at Daneshill Preparatory School, Oxshott, Surrey. I taught geography
through the school, as well as mathematics and English to some younger classes. 

[This was to check that I wanted to teach. I was unqualified and a teenager (18 and 19 years old).]
1971-72: Full-time Sabbatical President of the University of London Institute of Education
Students’ Association (ULIESA). ULIESA was the federation of all the Colleges and
Departments of Education which were accredited by the Institute of Education, University of
London (about 35 all told). [I got involved in student politics from 1969, which led to being
elected to this post and becoming involved a little in NUS politics.]
1972-1975: Class 3 and 4 teacher at Melcombe Junior School, Fulham, London. Also
promoted to be responsible for humanities and boys’ games: 1973-75.
1975-1980: Class 5 and 6 teacher at Sheringdale Primary School, Southfields, Wandsworth,
London. Appointed to this promoted post with responsibility for boys’ games and humanities,
then later school journeys.
1980-1984: Deputy Head teacher at Southmead Junior School, Southfields, Wandsworth,
London. Also responsible for humanities and school journeys. [From where I moved into HE
and ITE.]
1984-2012: Variety of posts and roles in the School of Education, Oxford Brookes University
(Oxford Polytechnic to 1992), Oxford, including senior lecturer in education (1984-1990),
lead for primary geography (across the whole period), lead for primary humanities (1984-
2000), principal lecturer responsible for initial teacher education (1990-1995), 

Deputy Head of the School (1995-1998)

Acting Head of the School (1998-2000), 

Deputy Head of the (retitled) Institute of Education (2000-2008). 

From 2001 I was appointed Professor of Education, which in 2008 became Professor of Primary Education, and Emeritus Professor in 2012.

Simon has contributed to, or written hundreds of books, chapters, papers and articles, including many articles of GA journals.

e.g.

Geographer and the Child in 1992.

Catling, Simon. “Guest Editorial: The Geographer and the Child: A Fragment in the Story of Geography.” Geography, vol. 77, no. 4, 1992, pp. 289–291. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40572250. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Simon told me about his long association with the Geographical Association:

"I have been a member of The Geographical Association since 1967 and first became involved with

its committees in 1975. In 1984 I was privileged to be invited to chair its Education Committee,

during a period of considerable upheaval, change and decision making in relation to geography in

the school curriculum, in which I was centrally involved. We emerged from this successfully. This

included leading and writing the GA’s response to the proposals for a national curriculum and in

relation to the proposals for the first geography national curriculum, including initiating and

contributing to a book submitted to the Geography Working Group in 1989.

In 1990 I was invited to become President of the Association for 1992/93. This involved chairing

and leading the planning of the Annual Conference in 1993, the Centenary Year of the

Association, which involved entertaining the Princess Royal and other dignitaries as well as giving

my Presidential address. 

I was the first primary specialist to hold this role. 

I have always been involved with the Primary Committee since 1975, rejoining it after a period away from it in 2005.

1975-90 Member of Primary and Middle Schools Section Committee

1983-87 Chair of Primary and Middle Schools Section Committee

1984-90 Chair of Education Standing Committee

1985-88 GA representative on the Education Committee of the Historical Association

1985-88 Geographical Association Representative on the Ordnance Survey/Royal Geographical Society Education Committee

1990-91 Junior Vice President of The Geographical Association

1991-92 Senior Vice President of The Geographical Association

1992-93 PRESIDENT of The Geographical Association

1993-94 Past President of The Geographical Association

1994-95 Member of the Teacher Education Working Group

1994-2002 Chair, Geographical Association's New Initiatives Fund

2002-05 Honorary Vice-President of The Geographical Association

2005-present Member of Early Years and Primary Schools Committee

2010-15 Member of the Independent Schools Special Interest Group

2017 Appointed an Honorary Member of the Geographical Association (for services to geographical education)"

When Simon was the GA President, he was Principal Lecturer for Initial Teacher Education at the School of Education, Oxford Brookes University, tutor for geography education and primary humanities lead. 

Simon's Presidential theme was The Whole World in Our Hands, which was the 1993 Conference title, and also the title of his Presidential lecture. Simon decided on this theme because he felt that it encapsulated the nature and role of geography in education, in school geography and in higher education. 

He told me:

"It was a busy year, as the new National Curriculum Geography requirements began to be implemented (from 1991-92), which the GA encouraged members and many more teachers to take seriously. There was much follow up work, particularly in developing support and in-service activities. I was involved in inviting the Princess Royal to open the GA Conference in Sheffield in 1993; she spoke very supportively of the Association and about the value of geography and was very well received (her second husband and her nephew both hold geography degrees). I engaged well-known speakers for the Conference from in and beyond the geography education world, including a government education minister, and the UK’s past UN representative, Sir Crispin Tickell. My Presidential Lecture reminded its large audience of the reasons for setting up the GA and its purpose, about what children are able to bring to geographical learning, significant aspects of geography education, and its links with development education. It concluded in setting some goals for the future for the Association (see Geography Autumn, 1993) This seemed to go down well!

Simon is an Honorary Member of the Geographical Association (appointed 2017). He told me a great deal more and I will perhaps add those to a supplementary post. He continues to work hard, and has some papers and other publishing outputs to come in 2021.

Thanks must also go to Simon for subsantive contributions made to some of the other entries on the blog, particularly those of Michael Storm and Norman Graves.

References

There are too many books and articles to mention here, so there is no bibliography here as with some previous Presidents.

Charney Book: https://www.geography.org.uk/Shop/Key-stage/Key-stage-2/Reflections-on-Primary-Geography/9780953815456

Endless contributions to Primary Geography and Primary Geographer journals.

Simon also wrote modules for the Open University's PGCE Course in Primary Geography

Sample module:

https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/pluginfile.php/20904/mod_resource/content/1/e880_7_section1.pdf(PDF download)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03098265.2017.1331422?journalCode=cjgh20

Some tweets:

.@RowanMoore's work for @ObserverUK @guardian cited by Prof Simon Catling as an important case study that primary geography should consider. Geography should 'tell it for real'. Its for them. It matters in an imbalanced primary curriculum. #PrimaryRocks #PlacesMatter #GAConf19 pic.twitter.com/UMbiXbXbgm

— Geography Primary / Early Years Committee @The_GA (@EYPPC_GA) April 10, 2019

Professor Simon Catling about to strut his stuff with one of his many geography themed items of clothing #Charney17 pic.twitter.com/HXbGmqPJbk

— Dr Paula Owens FRGS (@Primageographer) February 25, 2017

Here's Simon talking about the importance of geography quite recently:

Recent papers:

Catling, S (2020) Primary Geography: Onwards and Upwards. Primary Geography, 101, Spring. Catling, S (2020) Feedback to feedforward: An Author's perspective. Primary Geography, 101, Spring. Catling, S (2019) Key concepts, In Willy, T (Ed) Leading Primary Geography. Sheffield: Geographical Association. 

Eaude, T and Catling S (2019) The role of the humanities in a balanced and broadly-based primary curriculum. Impact, 6, Summer, 59-61. 

Willy, T and Catling, S (2018) Geography at the heart of the primary curriculum. Impact, 4, Autumn, 52-55 

Catling, S (2018) To know maps: Primary school children and contextualised map learning, Boletim Paulista de Geografia, 99, 268-290. 

Recent books: 

Catling, S (2020) Everyday Guide to Primary Geography: Locational Knowledge. Sheffield: Geographical Association. 

Catling, S & Willy, T (2018) Understanding and Teaching Primary Geography. London: Sage. 

Catling, S. (Ed.) (2017). Reflections on Primary Geography. Sheffield: The Register of Research in Primary Geography (via The Geographical Association).

Society Memberships:

1965-68 Associate of The Royal Geographical Society

1968-present Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society

1967-present Member of The Geographical Association

1984-93 Member of The Historical Association

1984-1992 Member of the Historical Association’s Education Committee

1986-94 Member of The Curriculum Association

1995-2013 Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts

1997-2013 Member of the Field Studies Council

1997-2003 Member of the Executive Council of the Field Studies Council

Important committees:

1979-84 Member of Schools Council Geography Committee

1980-82 Member of Schools Council Graphicacy Working Party

1990-91 Member of National Curriculum Council (NCC) Committee B (covering Science,

Mathematics, Geography and Technology)

1990-91 Member of the National Curriculum Council (NCC) Task Group on Geography

1992-93 Member of the Geography Committee of the School Examinations and Assessment Council (SEAC)

1998 Member of Key Stages 1 and 2 Geography Schemes of Work Working Group of Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)

2005 Member of QCA Futures Project National Geography Forum

2005 Member of the GA/RGS-IBG Power of Geography Forum

2013 Member and Vice-Chair of the Expert Group for Geography in ITE of the

DfE/National College of Teaching and Leadership

2013-14 Co-Chair of the Geography Expert Advisory Group of the DfE

2014-16 Member of the Geography Expert Advisory Group

Simon has also been the Governor of Primary Schools for over 25 years, completing the 'set' of school involvement.

To end Simon's entry, here's a characteristically important statement that he thought to make with regards to the value of the Solly Street staff:

".... the most important thing as a past President of the GA is to honour and thank the staff of the GA Headquarters office, who have provided invaluable, exemplary and ever-present support over the past few decades that I have been involved in the GA. During my Presidential year they were superb. Much has changed in the way the GA works since I became involved in 1975 and particularly since I began chairing committees in the 1980s. I have contributed to some of these developments, in small part, from time to time. The staff have always been there for us all, have provided the service we needed and ensured in the kindest ways that we followed up on what we committed ourselves and the Association to do. During my involvement I have seen the publications of the GA burnished and prosper hugely to the Associations’ benefit. The publications staff do an amazing job getting out three journals and the members’ magazine three times a year, and a wide variety of topical and significant publications to support and enable primary and secondary teachers to keep improving and developing geography teaching, as well as now keeping us up-to-date digitally. The publications are of the highest quality and are envied by other subject associations and many national publishers. Through good and rough times the GA staff have been and remain our mainstay."

Full results from Simon's questionnaire can be viewed here.

If anyone has any further memories of Simon please pass them through. 

If you go to Solly Street and go through the door immediately to the right of the entrance, you will be in his Primary archive room.

Update - December 2020

I was reminded that Simon was also involved in the development of this article: on the idea of geographical significance.

There is also a personal connection here. When Liz Taylor was writing the book and trialling the ideas in it, she was leading the PGCE course at Homerton College, University of Cambridge. We always had colleagues from Homerton in the school where I taught - in fact I worked closely with two of them when working as Head of Department, who we employed when they finished their placements with us. We got a mention at the end of the article:

Reference

Taylor, Liz, and Simon Catling. “Geographical Significance a Useful Concept?” Teaching Geography, vol. 31, no. 3, 2006, pp. 122–125. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44633462. Accessed 23 Dec. 2020.