Biographies of all the Presidents of the Geographical Association since the founding of the Association in 1893. Researched by Alan Parkinson (GA President 2021-22), with contributions from others, including the former Presidents themselves where possible.
They discuss the topic of geography teaching in schools and how to develop, implement and support a high quality geography curriculum. They also talk about how teachers can be supported to create a curriculum that works for their cohort first of all and ways that long term teachers can break out of the cycle of teaching the same topics the same way, year on year.
The deliberate decisions people make are important. What questions are we asking?
The best curriculums are designed so that there is a coherence to them.
Mark unpicks the example of hydrology in KS3, and explains why fieldwork is also critical to the subject.
He talks about the work he did when writing a book about generative learning, using the SOI system, and also the importance of CPD.
The later stage of the talk moves towards the Discover Geography series - this is an International series and there are some issues.
You need to make it very clear what the purpose of the learning is (the intent), the misconceptions that people bring to classrooms, and help explaining complex ideas with analogies.
This is well worth listening to... check out the archive of previous issues as well.
Listen to conversation with Eleanor Rawling, Dr Emma Rawlings Smith and Katie Richardson and find out what makes Teaching Geography such an important publication for teachers and the GA community, with personal stories about getting involved with the GA, their favourite articles, and what's next for the journal.
The latest episode of GeogPod is a special one featuring the current GA President, Past President and Vice President: Hina Robinson, Denise Freeman and Catherine Owen having a conversation about all things geographical and the importance of getting involved with the GA and their own decision to put themselves forward for the Presidency.
In a special episode to celebrate Black History Month we join Professor Pat Noxolo from the University of Birmingham, Professor James Esson from Queen Mary University of London and Francisca Rockey, founding member of Black Geographers.
They discuss the intersections between race, gender and class that affect young people today. Topics include how to navigate complex ideas in a complex world, the importance of recognising different narratives, and the possibilities for change, revealed by the amazing work done by geography teachers.
Anti-racist work has been a means of support, comradeship and helping keep hold of talented people. Here are a few of the groups and resources mentioned in this episode:
June is the final major month of the school year - for me at least - there are others who have to go on for quite a long way into July, or who have perhaps largely finished by then depending on which country they teach in, and the relative importance of the exam season to their timetable.
The first part of the month was during my half term, which included the Jubilee weekend, but it was certainly back with a bang to the final half term of the year.
National Fieldwork Week ran from 6th-10th of June. We hope it may be back next year.
The latest GeogPod was released on the 4th of June, and features Paula Richardson and I talking about the GA's National Research Report and how that fed into the development of the National Fieldwork Week.
Thanks to John Lyon for hosting - see if you can spot the question I wasn't expecting... :)
Day by Day
6th of June
The RGS-IBG AGM, followed by the Awards Ceremony was on my original agenda, but the tube strike led me to have to cancel these plans unfortunately.
And then the weather on Monday morning was torrential rain followed by a lull when I managed to get outside with one group.
Colleagues in other years also got involved.
7th of June
The sun shone and I went outside with all of my groups.
8th of June
The weather changed back to rain, which started to clear by mid morning. This time I was able to get out with a group and explore changes in Ely.
9th of June
Three groups went out today.
I went on a Cambridge GA Branch Walk through the CB1 redevelopment in the evening.
This was organised by the Cambridge GA Branch and led by former GA President Chris Kington - it was very entertaining and informative. Also attended by another former GA President: Keith Grimwade.
Former GA President Chris Kington led a superb @CambGA tour last week giving geography teachers the inside scoop on redevelopment in the CB1 area. Want to be more involved with your local GA? Get in touch. We'd love to hear from you 😊 #geography#geographyteacherpic.twitter.com/hOJvOgdNRE
— Cambridge Geographical Association (@CambGA) June 13, 2022
10th of June
Southwold
Chris Webster has run the Southwold-based Geography Fieldwork Academyfor a number of years, although he returned to the classroom during the lockdown and mothballed the operation. It is now back up and running and offering NEA and other sessions for students.
They have also created the GeogIt app.
I visited them for the day.
This included a quick tour of Southwold with Chris where I ended up seeing a few new developments in the town and talking to the Mayor as well as seeing the classroom spaces which Chris makes use of when he has groups of varying sizes.
At the end of the day, we had a picture taken with the group he was helping that day. It turned out to be the college where my own children went! (although they didn't do Geography...)
In between this I also found time to have a lovely lunch and a pint of Adnams (of course) in the Sole Bay Inn.
There were many other Presidential bits and pieces that happened in the middle part of the month. I'm missing out all the usual tweets
On the 17th of June it was the start of the planning for Conference 2023 with the first Conference Planning Board meeting for 2023. This lasted for two hours, and as President I chaired this particular meeting. The next meeting will be chaired by Alastair Owens as he will have started his Presidential term by then. Next year's conference will take place in Sheffield between the 13th and 15th of April. The theme is 'Collaborative Geographies'.
GA Governing Body meeting was next up.
This took place at Queen Mary University, London
I travelled down to London on the train on the hottest day of the year so far and ended up (after a detour to Hammersmith) at my hotel in Brick Lane. The evening before was a meeting followed by a curry and drinks at Aladin restuarant on Brick Lane itself.
Can I recommend the Premier Inn Hub hotels if you are staying in the area for an evening.
This was followed by a Governing Body meeting with a very full agenda on a very hot day. There are three GB meetings a year. It was the final meeting for several trustees, including Susan Pike, whose term as Past President is also coming to an end at the same time as my Presidency will. I have three more GB meetings to attend in that capacity before ending my term. There are also co-opted and named trustees and I could also put myself forward for election. We heard the results of the recent Trustee election, which will be revealed later in the year.
I also spent an afternoon talking to the PGCE colleagues at Homerton College.
This was a useful taster of my Prince's Teaching Institute session, which also includes my colleague Claire Kyndt. Booking details were here.
Events continued to appear in my calendar:
- GI Pedagogy meeting where we discussed the progress made so far and planned for the next phase of the project - this also culminated in planning for an event next month in Madrid which took a great deal of my time
- Additional meeting at Homerton College for mentors as well as students to look at fieldwork - this was sadly disrupted by the train strike, so I had to do it virtually for an hour which was a little more stilted as a consequence than a face to face event but I'm told by a few people there that it was well received and very useful for their future roles
- Consultancy over a new resource on the theme of disasters, with an educator currently based in Australia - this follows an earlier resource based on Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
- Discussions over a new Primary resource coming in 2024 which I will work on over the summer, along with a new GIS resource
- Edits for an article that is going to appear in the next issue of the British Cartographical Society's magazine Maplines
- Small input to GeogLive!9 on the topic of fieldwork - mostly to thank everyone who had put together some inputs and who had contributed to the Fieldwork Week itself. It's been great to see the support of the EYPPC in particular for this event.
- Reading minutes of the various phase committees and other groups who meet several times a year to discuss how they can support the Association and fellow members - it's important as President to try to keep across all this activity, and there is a lot of it.
I was going to say hello in person, but instead I had to record a hello message to the student presenters.
- Travelled down to London to see Pat Metheny at the Eventim Apollo - the first time I've seen him since a trip to Hull City Hall before lockdown during the city's time as City of Culture - it was a remarkable concert - I also took the opportunity to wander a bit of West London that I hadn't been to before (or at least for a while) It was a superb concert as well.
We also had a whole late flurry of activity:
- discussions on the ongoing work on the GA website
- ideas for further support for members as the year progresses
- planning for further strategy meetings
The final bit of good news for the month arrived on the last day of the month. We had been waiting for the final report from EPOS: the Belgian agency for ERASMUS projects, on our D3 Project.
The objectives of the D3 project were to: 1. Promote the use digital technologies and open data tools in learning and teaching. 2. Increase the capacity of learning and teaching to integrate democratic engagement considerations into educational plans and strategies. 3. Establish suitable styles of learning to access and integrate open data into schools and 4. Improve educational stakeholders’ response to the need for data and information literacy in schools and teacher training.
We had a very positive final report on the project, and I was particularly pleased to have written a series of lesson blueprints which were featured here, and animated by Greg Donert.
Ending with the usual Twitter stats for the month - a lot of National Fieldwork Week tweeting has upped the number again, and also the impressions - I had almost 100 000 impressions of my tweets during that week alone.
Looking at my stats in the last ten months, it's clear that being President of the GA increases your followers. Since I opened up my tweets from their previous private status at the start of my Presidential year, I've added over 2000 new followers.
I'll be closing my tweets again on August the 31st and weeding out any accounts that aren't authentic.
Just two months to go now. Next month looks just as busy as this one to be fair.
The latest GeogPod has been released and it features Paula Richardson and I talking about the GA's National Research Report and how that fed into the development of the National Fieldwork Week.
Alongside the Presidents, this blog also features other notable figures from the GA.
One of my best professional experiences was working with John Lyon for three years at Solly Street in Sheffield when I was the GA's Secondary Curriculum Development Leader during the 2nd half of the Action Plan for Geography.
John had a long career as a teacher in the Rotherham and Sheffield area, eventually becoming a Deputy Head in Anston, a place I visited regularly when I was at school as I had friends who lived there, and used to cycle over from my home in Wickersley.
He worked as the GA's Programme Director, which meant he had oversight of many of the GA's activity strands, with an eye on the bigger picture. I was more the 'ideas man'... some of which were good :)
John was involved in a great many GA projects, whether coordinating them, or contributing to them. He has served on the moderating team for the GA's Quality Marks for many years as well. He was involved in a BECTa funded ICT project and the Making my Place in the World project - working with young people in Sheffield. He and I presented a number of times at GA Conference, including a session with Michael Solem from the AAG. He was also involved in the early stages of the I-USE project which was Erasmus funded.
He is one of the authors of the 'Progress in Geography' textbook published by Hodder.
He has contributed to GA journals over the years, and worked to write resources for a whole range of areas of the GA's work.
John is also the host of the GA's Podcast series, which has to date interviewed around 40 people and produced an hour long-ish discussion each time with supporting resources. Hunt out GeogPod, particularly the episodes where he interviews people such as Margaret Roberts.
Here he is on a Worldwise Weekend with Nick Lapthorn - another former GA President. He has been involved with Worldwise and the Worldwise Challenge for some time, and this led to involvement in the International Geography Olympiad eveents - iGEO.John is a keen cyclist and runner, and lives high up in the Peak District in a perfect place to carry out these hobbies. He also acts as quiz master on the GA Conference quizzes which are very popular.
As mentioned, John was also one of the writers who worked on this textbook, of which I have a few copies in my classroom.
It's well worth catching up with the latest GA GeogPod where Rachel Kay, a former colleague on the GA's Secondary Phase Committee for much of my time serving on the committee, talks about her experience of going through an OFSTED Deep Dive - with host John Lyon - which is part of the new approach to school inspection. Instead of spending a lot of time with the senior management, inspectors follow a three stage process of interviews, lesson observations, student chats, book scrutiny and other tools to explore specific departments and the extent to which they have thought through their Intent, Implementation and Impact.
Along with the podcast, check out Rachel's article in 'Teaching Geogaphy' that goes along with the chat. A very useful resource for all subject leads.
The latest GeogPod podcast, and the last for a few weeks, is an interview with Alan Kinder who talks about his journey to becoming the GA's Chief Executive, and the work of the Geographical Association. He says lots which are of relevance to this blog, and mentions some former GA Presidents who have featured here, such as Rex Walford and Douglas Freshfield.
John talks about his own experiences with the Geographical Association, going back to 1976 and visiting the library at Fulwood Road. He and Alan also say something which I've heard quite a few times before - that visitors to Solly Street can't believe how much is done by such a small number of staff.
Alan talks about the purpose of the GA and its link with the subject discipline and the notion of community and lays out with his usual clarity the key purposes of the GA, and how those are communicated and sometimes contested.
The GA is an association of geography educators, and developed to enable discussions of shared values and the exchange of ideas.
John discusses Douglas Freshfield's introduction to the first journal 'The Geographical Teacher', something I've also covered over on the blog, and the impact of the internet on teacher development and communicating.
Alan reminds us of the importance of the GA, and how it has got to where it is now... influenced by the 100+ GA Presidents who have held the role over the decades, and those who have got involved in whatever way they have with the GA - and there are several options for that.
He also talks about the value of being a GA member, and why some people may not become members.
Alan talks about the future of the GA, and the challenges ahead as well as the powerful work that continues to be done, and discusses the GA's new Strategy as well as trailing the GA Conference ahead - conference began in 1921, so this is the centenary year for that.
