2001: Diane Swift

Just before Easter I spent a pleasant hour talking to Diane Swift and asking for her input on some of the projects that she was involved in during her time working for the GA, to help explore some of the connections between them. 

Other former Presidents have previously mentioned Di and the importance of her work for the GA.

From the entry by Jeremy Krause:

"I am proud that I was able to work with others to create the post of Professional Development Coordinator and appoint Di Swift in 2001."

Di was also mentioned by Keith Grimwade and Chris Kington, who were involved in the important decision to 'professionalise the GA'.

She has worked in a number of roles within the GA, and more recently has worked in Initial Teacher Education in Staffordshire.

Di was involved in a number of key projects.

These included the Young People's Geographies project (see separate blog posts) which I was involved in.

The Valuing Places project was a catalyst for many of the others. being one of the early projects when the GA was finding its way in such work. Funded projects have remained important, and the GA has a track record of very successful completion of such projects.

GeoVisions has previously been mentioned, led by Roger Carter. In many ways, this was at the heart of a lot of GA activity during the days of the first Chief Executive and the move towards funded staff at Solly Street.

The OCR Pilot GCSE Geography, which has been mentioned in a number of other posts was also important, and changed the course of my career because of my involvement.

Argumentation - Why argue (in Geography and Science)

I remember a session in Norwich at our PDC - they were good visits during the Rob Lodge era, when Di came to lead a session for us.

She also told me other snippets which will feed into other blog posts in time.

Di still works in teacher education, for a SCITT in Staffordshire.

Di has extensive experience in schools as a teacher, senior leader and a governor. She regularly contributes articles to professional journals and has authored a variety of materials that support teachers to develop both their curriculum and pedagogic thinking. She has worked extensively with teacher-colleagues on a variety of projects in relation to Philosophy for Children, History and Geography. Diane is an advocate for the Chartered College of Teaching. She also works at a national level in relation to ITE, particularly in connection with inclusion. Diane is undertaking an EdD, her research is considering the ways in which beginning teachers develop a professional language to share their developing pedagogic expertise.

She has worked on a number of publications.

I had a copy of this one when it was first published in 2005 and it still sits on my shelf and I find it useful.

She also mentioned the importance of Chris Durbin and Kate Russell and the development of the Staffordshire Learning Network - something I very much agree with.

Image source and copyright: https://www.shaw-education.org.uk/listit2people/diane-swift/61.html

References

Martin, Fred, and Diane Swift. “What Can CD-ROMs Do for Us?” Teaching Geography, vol. 21, no. 1, 1996, pp. 20–23. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23753746. Accessed 26 June 2021.

Thanks to Di for all she did for the Association while working there. 

Update - June 2025

Congratulations to Di for being awarded an OBE in the King's Birthday Honours List.

2006-11: Young People's Geographies

"Childhood has always been a disputed territory, its true geography quickly forgotten as we grow older, replaced by an adult-imagined universe." 

Libby Brooks, 2006

I've mentioned the Young People's Geographies project before, but this is a more detailed post as we enter the period of the GA's history when funded project work became more significant.

I wrote about it at the time in my GeographyPages website.

YPG was about making school geography more exciting and relevant to students by involving them in curriculum making and by focusing on their own lived geographies. 

Young people have their own distinct geographies, often very different to those of adults, and the YPG team investigated whether the learning process was richer for students if these geographies were taken into account.

At the heart of the project was the idea of conversation. These changes required teachers and students talk to each other. A big part of the first phase of the project was about establishing those conversations, and the was a key ingredient for keeping those conversations going throughout the next phase.

A key element of the YPG project was the way it crossed boundaries between academic and school geography. By working together, academics, teacher trainers, school teachers and students explored ways in which academic ideas can effectively develop the school geography curriculum and students' geographical learning.

I remember the first project meeting very well. The second one took place on a very windy day and we nearly cancelled the travelling because of it. We had a school minibus which we parked at Peterborough Railway Station to pick up the train to Leicester and on the way the train hit a fallen tree. By the time we finished for the day, the trains were all cancelled. Luckily we were a small enough group to just grab a taxi from outside Leicester train station and ask it to take us to Peterborough station. 

The project was also the first time that I met people who I have since met several times and been involved with in projects and other work.

We all met a few more times with the students. and had a final presentation event in Leicester.

Some more details below taken from documents and my own GeographyPages website (which ran from 2001 to 2013)

The Young People’s Geographies Project 

Further Information 

Phase One 

Phase One of the YPG project was split into two years, covering September 2006 – July 2008 

Year One: September 2006 - July 2007 

 Four key groups of collaborators: school students, teachers, professional geographers with research interests in young people’s geographies and teacher educators 

 Seven schools from East Midlands, Kings Lynn, London, Reading and Bedford 

 One or more teachers from each school 

 Four students from each school (Years 9, 10 & 12) variously selected 

 Open-ended approach 

 Four project days and school-based work 

 Project days (November, January, March, July) involving all groups coming together to share ideas and support the development of the project in individual schools 

 School-based work: ‘taking ideas back’, students and teachers in conversation about young people’s lived geographies and how their experiences can be used to develop the geography curriculum and ways of learning. Developing new aspects of the geography curriculum. 

Year Two: September 2007 - July 2008 

 Individual schools continue to develop YPG project 

 Development of YPG project website 

 Evaluation of Year Two and Phase One of the project Key Activities Year One: September 2006 - July 2007 

 Young People’s Geographies Project developed by project co-ordinators: Mary Biddulph and Dr Roger Firth, University of Nottingham; David Balderstone, Sharnbrook Upper School; Di Swift, Geographical Association 

 Professional geographers recruited with research interests in young people’s geographies: Dr Ian Cook, University of Exeter; Dr Tracey Skelton, then at the University of Loughborough; Helen Griffiths, a PhD student, University of Exeter 

 External evaluator appointed: Dr Nick Hopwood, University of Oxford 

 Consultant appointed: Dr John Morgan, Institute of Education, University of London 

 Seven partner schools recruited: 

King Edward VII School, King’s Lynn - my school at the time

Archbishop Tenison’s C of E School, London; 

Langtree School, Reading - where Dan Raven Ellison was teaching at the time

Sharnbrook Upper School, Bedfordshire - including Dee Saran and David Balderstone

Nottingham Emmanuel School, Nottingham 

Arnold Hill School, Nottingham 

Bramcote Hills Sports and Community College, Nottingham 

 Four project days organised (November 2006, January, March, July 2007) to bring the four participating groups together to work on activities in order to: 

• create a context for perspective and ideas sharing 
• support the ongoing development of the project within individual schools
• showcase and share the work of each school 

 Individual schools develop their own YPG project

Year Two: September 2007 - July 2008

Seven schools continue to develop the geography curriculum 

 Two project days (November 2007, July 2008) to support the ongoing development of the project within individual schools, share a framework for curriculum development and showcase the work of each school and evaluate Phase One 

 Project coordinators visit individual schools 

 Development of YPG website 

 Evaluation of Year Two and Phase One of YPG project

We ended with the presentation event which was in a room at Leicester City Hall.

I also have DVDs showing the footage of the day, and will hunt them out and snip some little elements from that.

More to come on this project in future posts as we get nearer the present day.

Images from the teacher evaluation day and exhibition in 2008 at Solly Street, while I was working for the GA - images by Alan Parkinson

Valuing Places

I spoke to Di Swift recently about the origins of the Valuing Places project which she said was one of the most influential of all the GA's projects and also marked a change in the nature of the Association. The project ran from 2003-2006.

As mentioned in recent posts, it was Chris Kington who made a bold decision to take the GA into deficit by appointing several full time officers, including a CEO.

Valuing Places was a CPD-led curriculum development project (2003-06) which explored how teaching about places within key stages 2 and 3 developed students' understanding of global interconnections. It paving the way for the GA's later work on 'Living Geography'.

Key Aims

• Increase public understanding of our global mutual dependence and the need for international development by valuing the uniqueness of places at a variety of scales and exploring how these are interconnected.
• Educate every pupil in the country about development issues so that they can understand the key global considerations that will shape their lives.
• Establish a real understanding of our interdependence and of the relevance of development issues to people's everyday lives.

By exploring localities familiar to us and linking these at a variety of scales, Valuing Places was about valuing ourselves in those places, revealing our roles and responsibilities towards both the people and environment and all the other places that our place is linked to.

Another key focus of the project was inclusivity. Through the involvement of an extremely large number of teachers and pupils a wide range of teaching and learning styles was used both in terms of professional development and in terms of the resources produced.

Valuing Places also aimed to promote opportunities to raise standards of achievement. Teachers were engaged and motivated by their involvement in some sophisticated debates about the global dimension in their teaching about place. Pupils were equally valued, since they were the starting point of the work - their views, their places and their connections with the wider world.

The project had a number of regional officers.

A special edition of 'Teaching Geography' in 2005 looked back at the project and its outcomes.

References

Valuing Places: https://www.geography.org.uk/Valuing-Places

Teaching Geography, Spring 2005 - special edition,