Professor Sarah Bednarz RIP

Via the IGU Commission on Geographical Education (IGU-CGE) and Professor David Lambert.

It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of Professor Emerita Sarah Witham Bednarz, a distinguished scholar whose work shaped generations of geography educators and researchers.

Renowned for her contributions to spatial thinking, the educational use of geospatial technologies, and teacher education, she helped strengthen the intellectual foundations of our field. Across borders, she led and anchored many of the international projects and collaborations that have come to define geography education.

For many entering the geography education community, she was a trusted mentor whose nurturing spirit helped young scholars build confidence and curiosity.

She will be remembered for her tireless energy and leadership in defending the place of geography in schools, universities, and public life, far beyond any single nation. A past president of the American Association of Geographers, she was also a devoted, long-standing member of the IGU Commission on Geographical Education.
Her contributions will endure in the research she advanced and the people she mentored.
We will miss the roadmap she drew for our field.

2008 - Working for the GA

It was in September 2008 that I started work for the Geographical Association. I worked there for three years, and it was the best time of my professional life and every day was CPD as I travelled across the UK and Europe, learning, writing, teaching and pushing forward the idea of what school geography could be.

I worked with many wonderful geographers, and had the chance to visit hundreds of schools and work with thousands of teachers as we worked to deliver the projects funded by the Action Plan for Geography and meet the KPI targets.

See the recent post on John Lyon for more on the time we worked together at Solly Street.

I kept notebooks all the way through that period of three years, to jot down everything I was doing, and also keep agendas of meetings etc.

Here they are:

When my job was made redundant I was bereft and thanks to many people who offered me some help in the next few years. I thanked them here.

Particular thanks as always to Claire Kyndt for changing that around 8 years ago.

GEReCo

Updated June 30th 2021

Several GA colleagues and former Presidents are members of, or have been connected with the activity of GEReCo: the Geography Education Research Collective. 

A new website is apparently launching soon. Perhaps with a new logo?

GEReCo includes a number of people who you will be familiar with from this blog as they have featured before. There is a strong link between the group and the Association and Education Group in particular.

Geography Education Research Collective / UK Commission on Geographical Education of the International Geographical Union

Professor David Lambert has been a member, alongside Mary Biddulph, Claire Brookes and Graham Butt amongst others in recent times.

Secretary of the group is Dr. Nicola Walshe, who has been working in a number of contexts, and invited me to Homerton many times during her time there leading the PGCE. She will be working at UCL IoE shortly, which is a wonderful new challenge for her. John Morgan is also returning to UCL so that will once again make it a department with many GA connections.

Nicola will join the Institute as Head of Department and Professor of Education in the summer, ahead of the 2021/22 academic year.
GERECO runs a number of research seminars. I have attended a few in the past in person.

We are very excited for our annual @GEReCo_1 seminar #geographyteacher #primarygeography #geographylead #lcgeography Please spread the word! https://t.co/IHDvZhTofV

— Dr Susan Pike | GA President 🌍 (@SusanJPike) June 21, 2021

The next one is next week and you can register for it on Eventbrite.

This is a reminder of the long tradition of the GA and its Presidents of engaging with research.

Updated June 30th 2021

The new GERECO website has now gone live, and describes the earlier years of GERECO and its recent merging.

There is a list of members and their backgrounds here... which includes a former GA President, the current President, a former GA Chief Executive and others heavily involved in the association's work.

And here is a recording of this year's seminar, which I was able to catch most of live while on duty.

Karl Donert

Another person with a long association with the GA is Karl Donert, who worked at Liverpool Hope University for some time.

Here is an interview of Karl by the legendary Joseph Kerski.

He has presented numerous times at the GA Conference, and was also involved in other GA activity over the years.

Karl also wrote books with former GA President Bill Chambers who worked with him at the same university. These were mentioned in Chris Kington's Presidential lecture.

He has been the President of EuroGeo for many years, until recently and worked on numerous projects which have seen him cross-cross Europe for over a decade before the last year's hiatus in his peripatetic lifestyle.

He has worked on a great many ERASMUS projects with me, including some where the GA or GA personnel were involved. These include the I-USE project, which I was involved with for several years, along with John Lyon and Iain Palot.

Another project which is ongoing and included Professor David Lambert, Duncan Hawley and myself amonst others was the 2nd phase of the GeoCapabilities project, which explored ideas around powerful knowledge.

Karl has done a great deal to inform my own practice and provide me with professional opportunities which have enriched me in many ways, and I am very grateful to him for support over the last decade in particular.

Image: Karl walking on the frozen Wothersee in Klagenfurt - image by Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license.

As always, memories of working with Karl welcome.

2010: Solly Street - official opening

The GA has been based at Solly Street since 1997, when it moved into the premises and had an official opening by Wendy Morgan (GA President of the time)

In 2010, it purchased Solly Street, as this made financial sense compared with continuing to rent.

I was working for the GA during this time, and as staff we were all invited to the official opening on the 5th of November, where we were joined by many former GA Presidents.

By now, regular readers of the blog should be able to identify most of these people.

We were visited by David Blunkett, MP, Clive Betts MP and Meg Munn, MP, along with Alan Law, the Lord Mayor of Sheffield. Rita Gardner: the Director of the Royal Geographical Society was also in attendance.
The office space was cleared as people arrived from mid afternoon and had coffee and biscuits and took the chance to catch up with friends and colleagues. There was a formal presentation and speeches, followed by canapes and wine.

Plenty of names familiar from the spines of books in my office, or in piles in cupboards when I was teaching.

As always Bryan Ledgard took the official images of the opening. I managed to avoid being on any it seems. I was lurking by the door.

Image copyright: Bryan Ledgard / Geographical Association

Don Garman

Don Garman was featured in a photo I shared a couple of weeks ago called the Presidents XI, taken at the time of John Westaway's Presidency one assumes, given his position in the 'team photo'.

Don was a Member of GA Council.

Frances Soar speculated about the reason for his inclusion in the photo:

Don was present at the 'Past Presidents and Officers' shindig at the Annual Conference which offered this photo opportunity - and it could very well be that as there were only nine Past Presidents around to join the 'team Captain' for the shot they hauled in Don to make up the number to eleven!

Don wrote a book on Primary Geography, with David Lambert.

He was also part of a twin-town link between Cryodon and Arnhem and wrote a resource for that too:

"Investigating Arnhem - Croydon's Twin Town: A Primary and Secondary Resource Pack for History and Geography Spiral-bound – 1 April 1996"

Don is a keen sailor. He inspired the sailor Richard Burchell who sailed in the Clipper Race.

The intrepid crew member puts his desire to sail around the world down to his high school experience. “My sailing experience started at Riddlesdown High School where my geography teacher, Don Garman, wanted to take people out on a sailing course in the ‘70’s - it sparked my interest in sailing. I am so pleased to have been able to tell him recently that what he started all those years ago has resulted in me doing this. I want him to know that one small thing has resulted in me taking part in the Clipper Race”.

Don is also on the Consultative Committee to the Falmouth Harbour Commissioners. This site also provided a more up to date picture and more details on Don's career in education as a teacher, local adviser and consultant. It sounds like he has his retirement well sorted and, like Derek Spooner, has retired to Cornwall where he works as a Coastwatch volunteer and training officer at Nare Point - sounds like a perfect role for a retired geographer.

Thanks to Frances Soar for the additional information on Don Garman.

Challenging Times - Charney Papers

In 1993, the Charney Manor Conference focussed on the National Curriculum. A book was published with a series of papers. It included pieces by many former GA Presidents, including Rex Walford, Eleanor Rawling, Chris Kington and Michael Morrish.

There was an analysis by David Lambert where he talked about Hirsch and his ideas - someone he would return to several times over the next 2 decades in his work. Rex contributed an excellent piece on games in Geography.