2008-11: The APG

I posted my 12 000th post over on LivingGeography a month or so ago: a blog I started when I heard that I had been appointed as the Secondary Curriculum Development Leader, working for the Geographical Association at Solly Street and around the country. 

The job lasted for just three years until funding issues meant my post was made redundant and I moved on to other things - such as unemployment, AKA freelance consultant.

In September it was 15 years since I originally left teaching and started work for the Geographical Association at Solly Street. And I've now been at my school for ten years, which seems crazy.

2008 was a time when the Action Plan's work was underway, and I recently revisited that time when I came across a few pieces on the state of school geography at the time, with the advent of a new curriculum, government intervention and a lack of support for what came to be called 'curriculum making'.

I feel very proud to have been part of the team, along with others, to deliver on the Action Plan for Geography.

In January 2008, Marina Hyde wrote in 'The Guardian'

John Lyon responded to the criticism in a letter which was published in January 2008. I later had the great pleasure of working with him when he was the Programme Director of the Geographical Association.

My arrival at the GA coincided with the 2nd phase of the Action Plan. We worked closely with the Royal Geographical Society. The Director of the RGS at the time, Rita Gardner wrote about the new national curriculum. She had previously (in November 2007) talked about the subject's great value.