GA Presidency Month 12: August 2022

OK, the final month of the GA Presidency arrives, and with it comes the annual meetings and work on the moderation for the Primary and Secondary Geography Quality Marks.

I started this month during the summer holidays, enjoying the break from the classroom down in Devon. 

Topsham is a place we return to each summer. During the week I caught up with some old friends - Dan Raven Ellison and Noel Jenkins. 

With Dan, I walked one of the Slow Ways routes.

I'd previously worked with Claire Kyndt and Kate Stockings to create some ideas for geography teachers to engage with the Slow Ways project. Perhaps you have walked one of the routes this summer?

SGQM is the Secondary Geography Quality Mark. I have been involved in the moderation of this since the beginning of the award. Moderation meetings were done online this time round. I had nine  schools to moderate in the first round of moderation and then took another look at several others in the second round of moderation. There were some excellent applications this year. Those who have applied will find out the results at the start of the academic year.

I spent quite a lot of the month reading - a mixture of books for future teaching and others on topics of personal interest. I also spent quite a lot of days at home rather than out and about because of the climate change induced heat we experienced this August - which will hopefully trigger some sort of policy response amongst politicians. I won't hold my breath though.

Sheffield is where the GA's HQ is located. I haven't been up there as regularly as almost all GA Presidents due to the advent of Zoom. Previously, regular visits to Solly Street were part of the Presidential year, but this is no longer the case, which potentially broadens the range of people who may be able to apply.

I was able to get involved with some early conference planning decisions.

I also helped with the plans for some new features for the GA website - an updated version of which is coming at the end of the year all being well. There are thousands of pages on the website.

I also looked at applications to join the GA's register of consultants. This is a list of people who can be approached to potentially work on projects with you if you are business or school and need help with writing resources, or some other sort of staff development. I've completed quite a lot of consultancy work over the years on behalf of the GA.

I also wrote some text for a new GA Blog, which is going to be launched soon to help share what the Association is up to.

A GI Pedagogy meeting was also planned to take place towards the end of the month and was pushed to the very end of the month, when I started to prepare for the return to school for the start of yet another academic year. I had been due to go to Iasi in Romania this month as part of the project but that has now been postponed and we may end up going later in the year, or perhaps to another location closer to home.

I have several things already in the pipeline for the next year to fill the gap:

- mentoring a new GA Trustee as well as supporting other members of the Presidential team as Past President.

- going back to writing my Everyday Geographies book which I had made a start on before it got overtaken with other projects this year. It's taking shape quite nicely.

- I've joined the GeographySouthWest team. I had a meeting with Simon Ross and John Davidson who started the website and are now developing it a little more. I am going to be working with Emma Espley to create some resources and also 

- I will be completing my Fawcett Fellowship which I have received funding for - there are six other Fawcett Fellows and I look forward to working with them and Alex Standish over the year ahead, researching Everyday Geographies and the curriculum.

- I have some final work to do on the GI Pedagogy project.

- I also have some writing projects to complete

Best of luck to the new President for 2022-23.

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Later on, I shall post a biography of Professor Alastair Owens.

I will move on to a year as Past President.

Also welcome to Denise Freeman as the new Vice President of the Geographical Association - possibly the first serving female state school President I believe... we have had a few other female teacher Presidents including Pat Cleverley, Sheila Jones and Wendy Atkins (Morgan) but they were either working in Independent schools or had retired when they became President I think from my research.

It's important that we have teacher Presidents and it would be lovely for them to be more diverse than previously.