50 years of Teaching Geography

The Summer 2025 issue of 'Teaching Geography' reflects on 50 years of the journal. There's a look back at four of the editors of the journal and their reflections.

Domesday Discs - 1986

The BBC's Domesday Disc project appeared in 1986.

It involved students collecting data, and adding to a digital laser disc the size of an old LP, which was read using a special reader, and navigated using a tracker ball which could be rotated by the hands. The final product was quite costly to purchase - a real investment for a school. I believe the price included the BBC Micro that was required to run the associated software and hardware.

Initially estimated to require the involvement of 10,000 schools and about one million children, the intention was to make the role of schools central in a data gathering project that would assign each school to a geographical area, have parents and local societies collect data, with the schools "acting as a focus and providing the computer". Questionnaires about geography, amenities and land use were to be completed, with school pupils and other contributors also able to write about their local area and "the issues affecting them" in their own words

Source: Wikipedia

As with the Land Utilisation Surveys of Stamp and Coleman, students were involved in its production and data collection, and it was a BBC project aimed at commemorating the 900th anniversary of the original 'Domesday' survey of 1086 ordered by William the First of England.

I still have one of the discs - although not the player and tracker ball to make use of it. There was an also an EcoDisc based on Slapton Ley which we also had in my geography department.

This website provides further details on the project.

There is an article from former GA President Margaret Roberts on the use of the Community Disc in an issue of 'Teaching Geography' from 1990. An early contribution to TG from Margaret.

I remember some external organisation coming in and filming me demonstrating the discs - I wonder what that was for, and whether it still exists somewhere - it would be wonderful to see it as I was fresh into my teaching career....

References:

Roberts, Margaret. “Locations, Lines and Areas: Exploring the Community Disc in the BBC Domesday System.” Teaching Geography, vol. 15, no. 1, 1990, pp. 17–18. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23752172. Accessed 23 Sept. 2023.

National Archives detail: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16160

https://www.atsf.co.uk/dottext/domesday.html

Some of the resources that came from the project:

Research Paper (Open Access)

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232993632_The_Domesday_Project--an_educational_review

The BBC later produced two further discs: an EcoDisc and one on Volcanoes.

I remember seeing them both - and also the very detailed instruction manuals.

A web based version existed for a while with an update for places in 2011. It's now on the National Archive site.

And a video of it in action:

Keen to hear from anyone who has memories of using the BBC Domesday Discs.

'Geography through Enquiry' 2nd Edition - now available to purchase and pre-order

The GA President in 2008, fifteen years ago, was Margaret Roberts

The new updated edition of her classic 'Geography through Enquiry' is now available for immediate download as an eBook in PDF format, or as a pre-ordered actual book which will be out in a month or so according to the GA website.

Here's the shop link from the GA website.

This second edition of Margaret Roberts’ key text focuses on what learning geography through enquiry can mean in the secondary school classroom. It identifies four key aspects of classroom enquiry: a questioning approach to geographical knowledge; critical study of the evidence on which geographical knowledge is based; the development of geographical understanding; and reflection on learning.

In addition to updating information and listing new references, this new edition includes recent examples of classroom practice, contributed by a range of practising teachers and educators from around the world. The book gives attention to challenges faced by teachers in dealing, for example, with stereotypical representations, students’ misunderstandings, disinformation and eco-anxieties. It also includes four new chapters: the contribution of students’ knowledge to enquiry-based learning; investigating geographical futures; geographical enquiry in a digital world; and reflecting on learning.

This book is designed to support secondary school geography teachers at all stages of their professional development. It will also be of interest to teachers wanting to carry out research into pedagogic practices in the geography classroom, to teacher educators and to policy makers.

I have my copy and started to read through it earlier. I will post a review here once I've had a proper read.

I was pleased to see that my own small contribution to its creation was acknowledged at the start. I was one of the teachers and other geography colleagues who were connected by Margaret to share our thoughts on the original edition and what aspects of it were the most important to focus on for the 2nd edition. Matt Podbury, Richard Allaway and Ellena Mart were amongs other familiar names who shared ideas for digital resources in particular as well as some of the new challenges, including AI.

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.

2014: Mark Higginbottom

Mark Higginbottom was GA President during 2014. He has spent a career supporting other teachers as an advisor and school improvement officer since 2002.

As with more recent Presidents, much of this entry has been written thanks to contributions from Mark to a questionnaire which I sent round to all the Presidents who are still around to answer one.

Mark has worked in the North West of England for many years, and has a long association with that part of the world, having been born in Stockport in 1965 - which makes him younger than me. A whippersnapper President :)

Mark also kindly invited me over to Wigan to lead a session for him while I was working for the GA, which I remember was held in the function ground of a local rugby union team with a lovely group of teachers.

Mark went to New Mills School, then went on to study at the University of Manchester (BSc Joint Hons Geography and Geology, before going to Sheffield University to do a PGCE in Secondary Geography, where his tutor turned out to be another former GA President: the remarkable Margaret Roberts. These encounters were important in Mark's further engagement with the GA as well as his own professional development.

He has been particularly associated with the Worldwise brand, including the Worldwise Quiz (including the website element) and the Worldwise Challenge weekends.

Mark has also accompanied teams to the iGeo events to locations around the world. In 2019, there was a particularly impressive performance by the team. More on that competition and the role of the GA has been posted separately.

Mark chose Making an Impact as his Conference theme.

"Making an Impact'. The theme of ‘Making an Impact’ provided an opportunity to reflect on the geography our young people encounter and engage with and the relevance it plays to their everyday lives and experiences, be they EYFS, primary, secondary, post 16 or HEI students and whatever their ethnicity or socio-economic background.

I have been a GA member since September 1998. You had to join before Margaret Roberts would let you onto her PGCE! Since 2001 I have coordinated what was Geography Action Week (now Worldwise week), which led on to being the GA link for the Challenge weekend and have been co-chair of Worldwise since 2005. I have been team leader for the International Geography Olympiad since 2006. In 2019 in Hong Kong TeamUK had its best ever success, ranked 3rd in the World (43 countries competed), with a gold (the student was 2nd in the World out of 167 students, a silver and two bronze. 

I was a member of the membership and professional board for three years before electing elected to Council, serving for two and a half years before it became the Governing body, whereon I served for six years. Twelve months later I was elected as President for 2014 - 2015."

During his Presentation Mark included some voices from young people, with the help of Daniel Raven Ellison.

It included this thought provoking question:

“Asked if geography helps young people shape an understanding and appreciation of the world around them, whoever they are, wherever they live and whatever their academic interests, I believe we would all immediately respond with a resounding ‘yes!’; but do we really know the impact geography has on shaping them as ‘well rounded’ human beings?”

Mark's Presidential Address in 2015 was memorable, particularly for him.

He told me:
"The buzz of conference in your Presidential year is hugely memorable. Meeting teachers and young people and seeing your theme being put into practice and the impact it was having was a real success for me. Working with the three other Presidents as a team ensured synergy between years to further strengthen and embed my own theme over time. The minutes before my Presidential lecture will be a lifetime memory, in many ways!" - another President to mention the lecture - should I be worried?

Mark is now heavily involved in the iGeo competition, which takes students around the world to compete in the annual Geography Olympiad. The 2019 team had particular success, and the momentum behind this competition has been building, although the Pandemic has sadly curtailed competition and travel for a while.

Mark has been described by other Presidents as a particularly talented teacher and colleague, including those he has been worked with personally over the years.

Why the GA matters to Mark?

"The GA matters hugely. It is a community of like-minded professionals committed to working with teachers, educators to enrich young peoples lives through geography."

Mark also mentioned the importance of the support of other former GA Presidents as part of the personal journey:

"Many previous presidents were all very supportive and encouraging during my time as President. Of note however was Professor Michael Bradford. Mike was my lecturer at the University of Manchester and was doubly keen to support me in my year, as conference and the associated futures day was at the University. Mike met with me many times, providing wisdom and guidance, for which I will always be so very grateful. Mike pulled out all the stops to make my presidential term, my 2015 conference and the futures day a great success for everyone."

Images: copyright Bryan Ledgard / GA and used with permission.

Selfie of Mark in his natural habitat sent by Mark himself 

References

Mark has written for a number of GA Publications over the years, and contributed to the materials which are made available for Worldwise Week (formerly Geography Action Week) - former packs can be downloaded from here.

Mark's Presidential Lecture - 'Making an Impact'

https://www.proquest.com/openview/bdae85f83bebfa6979fc8a9b33bd373d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=28686

As always, any memories of Mark in his time as President, or working with the GA welcome...

Margaret Roberts in Lego

 Margaret Roberts made by Ian Cook...

2012: Bob Digby

Bob Digby's name will be known to many from the numerous textbooks and other examination work he has been involved with over the years, and he is still a very active geographer within the subject community offering consultancy, online sessions and continuing to examine, as well as writing numerous textbooks and resources.

He has worked as a teacher, with a career in several schools to give him the grounding that he draws on in his other work. Bob has spent a great deal of time working with Awarding Bodies, and has written and co-written numerous textbooks and worked on other educational resources during that time, as well as leading fieldwork.

He has led many hundreds of days of fieldwork, particularly around the Olympic Park, along with John Widdowson and others, going back to a time before the Olympics.

This was the opening slide from Bob's Presidential lecture, which was themed around the Olympics of course. At the last minute, Bob decided that having taught about it for so long, he couldn't miss out on the once in a lifetime opportunity to see the ceremony that opened the games, and paid an as yet undisclosed sum for a ticket... That also means he saw what was probably Mike Oldfield's last 'live' performance into the bargain...

Bob kindly answered my questionnaire on the Google Form and filled in some additional details as can be seen below:

Bob was born in 1949, in Chelmsford, Essex
His family moved to Cornwall in 1960 shortly before he began his secondary education, which took place at St Austell Grammar School between 1960-67. Like many who have contributed to the Presidents' Blog before him, Bob told me that he owes much of his professional life to one man, Courtney Rice, who taught him geography - a kind and lively man, who was a firm socialist, having grown up in the Welsh valleys. 

Bob went to Keele University (1967-71), where he studied the four-year course; everyone did the same Foundation Year (FY) course cutting across all subject disciplines. He told me:

"I encountered everything from new (to me) disciplines such as astronomy, philosophy and sociology. I didn't make the most of it - who does, aged 18? - but 'FY' gave me a broader appreciation of academic subjects than I could ever have gained by studying a single-subject degree. My degree course consisted of Geography and History (everyone did dual honours at Keele), together with subsidiaries in Geology (which I still love now) and English. My teacher training at Nottingham (1971-2) was unusual at the time, but it determined my career path. I joined a group which trained in Humanities, and did my placement (one, full term at that time) at a new comprehensive school (Toothill, in Bingham) which explored links across the Humanities subjects. It gave me the experience that I needed to get my first job in teaching, which was again in a new school."

He describes his career (so far) as "A mix!"

"My first job was at John Smeaton High School in east Leeds (1972-80), which was a large 13-18 all-ability school drawing from a social cross section from suburban east Leeds to the south of the school, and Europe's largest council estate to the north in Seacroft and Whinmoor. The school was very informal, with no uniform, led by a former Brigadier as Head Teacher, for whom his staff would have walked on water had they the ability. I taught a wide variety of subjects (all in mixed-ability groups to age 16), ranging from integrated Humanities and Social Studies, to Geography to A level and Geology O level. At the time, schools could assess most of their intake through Mode 3 CSEs and O levels, so I was setting exam papers at CSE in my third year of teaching and O level by my fifth year. You wrote the syllabus, you set and marked the exam, all overseen by a Moderator who fed back at all stages. Teachers were trusted and annual meetings took place where teachers cross-marked each others work to moderate standards. It all worked rather well. 

My first Head of Department role was at Morley High School (1980-90), a former West Riding Grammar School in a small town SW of Leeds. Unlike John Smeaton, it was much more formal (staff addressing each other as Mrs or Mr even in the staffroom (that still happens in some schools now - why?) with setted classes. But it was a wonderful time to be a geography teacher. The 14-18 Bristol Project was well-established, and we began teaching that - again, a curriculum which individual schools wrote within the broadest and most basic of frameworks, and an assessment system which was 50% coursework (five items over the two years x 10%) and 50% exam. The Chief Examiner, Keith Orrell , set the most creative exam papers for O level that I've ever seen, then or since. 

See the previous post on this blog on Keith Orrell.

My years at Morley High laid the foundations for the thing which changed my life - the 16-19 Geography Project. Led from the Institute of Education by Mick Naish (a major influence in my career), the project curriculum fired me up like nothing had ever done at school or university. 

It had curriculum depth (fewer topics, taught and assessed in more depth), breadth (a max of core and option topics - there were 23 of the latter and if you didn't like them all you could write your own), and innovation (the first decision-making exercises came from 16-19, together with three coursework assignments which could be designed as you wished based on techniques research and timed essays. I became a Regional Moderator and Regional Co-ordinator for the Project in the Yorkshire region just as the demand and uptake was increasing rapidly. It gave me my first experience in leading CPD and in leading an annual 16-19 conference through Leeds University which lasted over 20 years. 

Thanks to that experience, I was approached to author materials for a new GCSE book (it never got off the ground but it got me noticed) and then a new 16-19 topic book 'The Geography of Health'. From that came Heinemann's "Physical Environment' and its human companion, with others following. I loved - and continue to love - writing, especially on things I'd taught and about places I'd been to 

(I once had a discussion with Margaret Roberts where we agreed that no author should ever write about places they don't know). I've had a few discussions with Margaret on a similar theme of authenticity.

In 1990, my career changed when I was appointed as Lecturer in Education / Geography at Sheffield University (1990-2) to work with Margaret Roberts. 

"I brought experience to the role, but working with Margaret made me raise my game. Her capacity for using frameworks for thinking - about what we teach, how we teach, about writing in geography, as well as her research into enquiry in geography - turned my 18 years almost on its head. I realised I had been planning and teaching almost intuitively without consciously being aware of WHY I was doing things. It was like having to re-learn. I loved it but my goodness it was challenging."

"I realised just how much I'd learnt from working with Margaret when I was appointed to what was West London Institute of Higher Ed (later to become part of Brunel University) to run my own course (1993-2001). 

I invited Margaret to come and run a day one year, and one of the students said to Margaret 'I've wanted to meet you because Bob talks about you all the time'. I did - and if you've read this far and read Margaret's work, you'll know why, and just how unimaginably lucky I had been to work with her."

There were a few other interesting experiences:

"There was a gap in 1992-3 - when I worked at Manchester University as Project Leader for National Curriculum, working with a team to develop what were to be (but were later abandoned) tests for children at 7, 11 and 14. All I'll say is that I should never have taken the job. I wasn't cut out for it, nor it for me; my fault, no-one else's. Don't ever take a job when your heart is shouting 'Walk away'. "

Of his time at Brunel:

"The Brunel years were enjoyable, fun and challenging - just what a job should be. I worked with Fran Martin and Graham Yates, each of whom I love dearly, across a range of primary and secondary courses: undergraduate as well as post-graduate. I worked with school colleagues from a range of school types which were as varied and as interesting as our students. I observed PE lessons (anyone who knows me will splutter at this point) as well as lessons in Geography, English, RE ... whatever teachers taught, I observed. The School of Education was like a school in that it was a real community. PGCE students spend nine months with you and they're gone; with four-year undergraduates you get to know them and how they think just as you would with students in a school. It was rich, exciting, and fun."

"Why did I not stay then? 

Brunel appointed a Vice-Chancellor who could not understand why a third of the Education budget had to be paid to schools, and why as a consequence the School of Education made a deficit. I don't believe in being the last one at a party so began job searching. I'd also had enough of Ofsted by then - 29 inspections across the courses we taught within six years. 

A job was advertised at University College School in north London. Its liberal ethos appealed together with the education freedom that goes with independent schools. I didn't then, and I don't now, support the existence of independent schools in theory, but nor do I support the idea of academy trusts without any democratic accountability. I believe passionately in academic freedom, and the professionalism of teachers to do their jobs without being micro-managed, either by an authoritarian academy management or by the State. I'm not against school inspections at all, but monitoring is very different from feeling that your every move is being watched - and judged. So I took the job at UCS (2001-07) and loved every minute.

When Bob became the GA President he was working as a freelance consultant and author

Bob's Presidential Theme was 'Looking to the Future'. He told me:

"I picked it because it seems to me that this is what we should be thinking about all the time - our students and the world they face, and the responsibilities and challenges they'll face as we hand over to them. I remember Mick Naish saying at the first 16-19 conference that I ever attended, that the purpose of a geographical education was political - that students should be in a position to vote when they are eighteen as informed and thinking citizens. That's our responsibility. 

It seemed that the theme would sit well with keynotes about climate change (a keynote given by Prof Terry Callaghan - I remember it well), teaching about controversial issues (given by Margaret Roberts - I remember that well too) and peace (given by David Hicks) would fit well with this. 

One of the features I was keen to introduce - and which has become a regular feature, I'm delighted to say - was the 'Future Geographers' parallel conference for sixth form students. I owe that thought to Sue Bermingham who brought along some school students to Manchester in 2012. 

I'd been a member of the GA since 1990. I'd attended conferences before that, for example at LSE. I attended conferences and ran sessions for the 16-19 Project during the 1990s, and then on curriculum change in both 2000 and 2006-7. When, in 2005, London won the bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, I'd continued writing materials as I had on Sydney's and Athens' Games in 2000 and 2004. I took the voluntary post of Community Geographer with the GA in 2007 to develop materials on Beijing in 2008, and then on London. I started working with Pumpkin TV and obtained funding from the Learning Skills Council to place a free copy of a DVD 'Aiming for Gold' in every secondary school in the UK.

Bob is a huge supporter of the GA:

"I love the GA. I don't mean that to sound cheesy, but I love the fact that this is a thriving community of people who love geography and love education. It matters because it's a strong voice for the subject when we need it within the community of teachers, within the wider public and (especially now) in a political forum. My roles have been Community Geographer as a volunteer, and then since 2010 when I began my four-year Presidential cycle as a member of Governing Body (2010-14). I continued as a Named Trustee 2014-17 and Honorary Treasurer since 2017."

Of his time as President: Bob said:
"I loved it, and especially annual conference at Derby in April 2013. 

Conference is a wonderful occasion by any standards, and the feeling that you have helped create the theme and the list of speakers is powerful. I was touched by how many people that I valued and admired wanted to accept invitations to speak. It felt 'successful', whatever that means; a large attendance, including the first sixth form students and their teachers, real quality sessions as judged by the evaluations afterwards, and it was also a much younger conference - a trend which has continued since.

It's a great feeling to see PGCE and NQT students attending in large numbers. Then there was the Presidential Lecture. 

I guess every President will tell you that it's the thing that kept them awake at night the most. Good to know. I'd better get started on it soon. I decided to play to strengths with a reflection of the 2012 London Games. I wanted to speak about something geographical. It seemed to me (and still seems) that London's Games were groundbreaking, and I wanted to show why geographers would want to study them. I loved being there at that conference in that lecture room, and looking at the audience. It was and remains the honour of my life to be there, no question."

My Presidents blog project has certainly revealed lots of stories around Presidential lectures, which will form part of my own...

He has some good memories from that time, and of other Presidents as well:

"Above all, I remember Margaret's Roberts' year as the only Presidential lecture I never made it to. I reached the (huge) hall in Manchester at the right time only to find everyone had a far better idea and had used their coffee break to get a seat. So - no seats left. Margaret's lecture is to my knowledge the only Presidential lecture that had to be held twice, the second time on the Saturday morning! 

I was about to make this a firm appointment in the diary when I received a text from BMI with whom I was flying home to Newquay on Saturday evening to say that my flight had been cancelled and I could only get home by taking the morning flight instead. It took off as Margaret would have been starting to speak ..... 

Another lecture that stands out is Eleanor Rawling's at Southampton (I think) in 1992, where she spoke quietly and powerfully about how the geography National Curriculum had been framed in the later 80s / early 90s. It was a devastating insight into the political process. 

Every President brings something special. 

The GA has been fortunate to have had an array of talent from which to draw for its Presidents - teachers, primary and secondary educators, local authority geography advisers, university-based teacher educators, academic geographers, a head of field centre .. we are lucky indeed."

Generations of students have benefitted from Bob's advice and he remains a popular speaker in all sorts of circumstances including online of course over the last year or so.

Until the pandemic, Bob was regularly travelling up to London and other locations from his home in rural Cornwall where he lives with his husband Mike and several dogs. As the GA's Honorary Treasurer. he has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors and continues to hold a very important position in the GA. The last year has shown the value of his financial 'nous' and prudence, backed up by Richard Gill and Alex Forsyth.

This image was produced at the same time as his GA Presidential lecture, and presented to Bob.

References

Far too many books and digital resources to mention, but a few notable items include:

Digby, Bob. “This Changing World: The London 2012 Olympics.” Geography, vol. 93, no. 1, 2008, pp. 40–47. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40574215. Accessed 15 May 2021.

There was also a special issue of 'Teaching Geography' on the London Olympics:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/i23753901

https://www.rgs.org/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?nodeguid=ad1c557f-1158-4fdf-a4b4-084da2d72a69&lang=en-GB - a piece on the Olympics for the RGS

https://www.rgs.org/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?nodeguid=bc40d439-8a25-4761-ad2c-74fda48cd525&lang=en-GB

Bob has co-written, written and edited for the GA's 'Top Spec' series.

He has written materials to accompany Pumpkin Videos.

Check out these textbooks:

https://www.waterstones.com/author/bob-digby/27415

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bob-Digby

Image at the top: copyright GA / Bryan Ledgard.

As always, if anyone has further memories of Bob please pass them through or add a comment.

David R Wright

Not a GA President, but someone bound up with the work of the Association in many ways is David R Wright. He produced a series of best selling map books and atlases, and also worked as a PGCE tutor at the University of East Anglia, which was where I first met him in the early 90s. As you can see from the article below, he was also another geographer associated with St Catharine' College (and always remember to spell that with an 'a' by the way...) and to have Gus Caesar as a tutor. Gus was very much connected with a whole range of former GA Presidents including Margaret Roberts.



He contributed to a range of GA publications and articles, always on the theme of mapping.

The last time I saw David was at the Royal Geographical Society in 2008. He was receiving an award, as was I. He was unwell at the time, and sadly died the year after.

The following text and the accompanying image are copyright RGS-IBG

David Wright, who died on 20 November 2009 after a battle with cancer, was a geographer and author whose work inspired children around the world.

David graduated from Cambridge University and then trained as a teacher, undertaking an MA in Geography in Education from London University, Institute of Education. He taught in Stevenage and Pittsburgh before moving to Norfolk in 1969 as a lecturer in Geography at Keswick Hall College of Education, which was later merged with the University of East Anglia, where he worked for 12 years. He took early retirement in 1994 to further his research and writing, becoming a self-employed author, school inspector, adviser and consultant.

Throughout his career David was a champion of the use of equal area maps in teaching and in publications of all types and his (W)Right World Map was launched in 2007. He also advocated the use of stamps in engaging young people with an interest in places and examples of a virtual journey using stamps can be found on Discovering the Arctic 

I have this pencilled in for an activity in my new KS2 Schemes which I am developing with colleagues in a unit called 66 North.

Throughout his career David’s concern has been to stimulate children’s interest in the world by creating pupil-orientated approaches to teaching geography and innovative ways of linking geography, environmental and sustainable development education, all rooted in his experiences of many different parts of the world.

David was a past chairman and president of the Norfolk branch of the Geographical Association and his contribution to geographical education was acknowledged in 2007 when he was awarded the accreditation of ‘Chartered Geographer’ by RGS-IBG. In 2008 he was awarded the ‘Ness Award’ by RGS-IBG for his work championing the wider understanding and popularisation of geography through his work with children.

David's obituary on behalf of the Geographical Association was written by Margaret Roberts and published in 'Geography'. It has often been the job of GA Presidents to have that sad duty.

David also wrote a book in the GA-published series 'Theory into Practice'.

It was called 'Maps with Latitude'

Reference
https://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/alumni/landmark/1/landmark1.pdf - p10

Obituary: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00167487.2010.12094301

RGS-IBG Obituary: https://www.rgs.org/geography/news/david-wright-(1939-2009)/

As always, if anyone has memories of David please get in touch, or add a comment. Many people will have used his work and books I am sure.

2008: Margaret Roberts, MBE

Updated October 2023

Well, what is there to say about the legend who is teacher educator

Margaret Roberts?

In her time at Sheffield University, she trained many future teachers and I have worked with quite of those, including my current Vice Principal and some other geography legends that I engage with regularly.

The GA has published Margaret's books on geographical enquiry over the years and they have always been in the top sellers of the GA's catalogue. 

In January 2021 Margaret was awarded an MBE in the New Years' Honours List, and this resulted in lots of messages and appreciation of her work over the decades from people who had valued her thoughtful contributions.

At the GTE Conference in January 2021 there was a celebration of her award which I was pleased to be present at.

Emma Rawlings Smith, another of Margaret's students talked about how important Margaret was in her own life.

This tweet by Bob Digby has a number of others as part of the thread that follows:

If you haven't had a chance to scroll down the New Year's Honours, Geographers among you will be as excited as I am to know that Margaret Roberts has been awarded MBE! Hugely deserved - a brilliant award for a great ambassador for geography teachers everywhere.

— Bob Digby (@bobdigby) December 30, 2020

To hear Margaret at work, you can go onto YouTube, and hear her debating with Michael Young about Powerful Knowledge, for example and her own perspective on his ideas. You will find other elements of Margaret's work online.

Michael spoke first, and Margaret responded - the IoE recorded the session. I was fortunate enough to be in the audience at this event, and remember it well.

As with other former Presidents, Margaret was kind enough to send me some responses to a series of questions that I asked her, and that forms the next part of this entry:

Of her education, Margaret told me: 

"I was born in Cardiff. I went to Lansdowne Road Primary School, Cardiff and Cardiff High School for Girls before transferring to Colston’s Girls’ School, Bristol." This was the school where, shortly after, former President (1975) Sheila Jones began teaching. Sheila was the first female GA President to be teaching when she became President.

Margaret told me:

"My most vivid memories of school were school trips. I went to Windsor Castle when I was 9, my first visit to England, and to Bordeaux and Hanover, to stay with families on school exchanges, when I was 14 and 17. My parents never had a car or went abroad and we never went far, but I longed to travel. It was my interest in places and people that triggered my interest in geography. 

Unlike other past presidents, I was not inspired by my geography teachers. It was my A level biology teacher whose lessons I enjoyed most; she shared her curiosity and sense of wonder in the subject and we did a lot of practical work. I would have studied biology at university but had stopped studying chemistry at the age of 14. I am perhaps an accidental geographer!  In a gap between school and university I worked for three months in an ice-cream parlour in Hanover washing up dishes. Other holiday jobs included working in a guesthouse in Cornwall, a bookshop in Bristol and cleaning public baths in Bristol.

I went to Cambridge University and was a student at New Hall, then newly established (now Murray Edwards College). It had no buildings and in our first year we lived in Darwin’s old house, now Darwin College. There were only sixteen students in each year and the life-long friends I made were studying different subjects: English; natural sciences; history; maths and economics, a broadening experience. As New Hall had no geography tutors, my weekly supervisions were in other colleges: Newnham, Trinity and in my final year, with Gus Caesar in St Catharine’s College. 

Gus has his own entry on the blog, and was mentioned by a number of other St. Catharine's alumni. This places Margaret in a special group of former GA Presidents.

When Gus Caesar died, Ashley Kent and Michael Bradford (who also feature on this blog of course) kindly contacted Margaret so that she could go to his memorial service with them in Cambridge.

Margaret told me that her time at Cambridge studying geography was exciting:

"...with access to the latest research and thinking; Richard Chorley and Peter Haggett were among the lecturers.  I was struck by how cross-curricular geography was, with most lecturers referring to other disciplines: history, geology, climatology, chemistry, physics and economics. What made the biggest impact on me, however, was getting a geography department travel award to do my undergraduate dissertation in Ghana, studying development in a rural area east of Accra. The time I spent getting there on a French boat where my companions were African students from Senegal and Guinea and the time interviewing subsistence farmers, together with short stays in a school and training colleges in other parts of Ghana, transformed my understanding of development and colonialism. I wanted to get back to Africa and did a PCGE so that I could travel. I never did get to work in Africa but married a South African and visited South Africa many times."

Margaret completed her PGCE at the London Institute of Education and, at her request, did her  teaching practice at Kidbrooke comprehensive school whose first headteacher Mary Green had been head at Colston’s Girls’ School. 

Career

• 1962-1968 Minchenden School, Southgate, London, where I became coordinator of Sixth Form General Studies
• 1968-1970 Team member of the Nuffield Foundation Resources for Learning Project  
• 1970-1976 Countesthorpe Upper School and Community College, Leicestershire (part-time): responsibility for A level geography.
• 1980-1981 City School, Sheffield (part-time)
• 1982-2006 University of Sheffield, Lecturer, PGCE geography tutor (part-time until 1987)

Margaret told me of her own teaching experience (remember that not every GA President has this):

"At Minchenden School the head of English, Douglas Barnes, took an interest my teaching and, because of interest in Language across the curriculum, got me involved in conferences of the London Association for the Teaching of English (LATE). Douglas encouraged my use of exploratory talk and writing in the classroom. I devised and taught Sixth Form General Studies courses on South Africa, the Press and Current Affairs.  

The Nuffield Foundation Resources for Learning Project was set up to promote more active learning in the classroom, where students could work more independently at their own pace using resources, with guidance. I was responsible for humanities, supported by Michael Armstrong, Deputy Project Director. The theme I was given was ‘the USA’ and I produced resources and guidelines for use by history, geography and RE teachers in comprehensive schools in London and Oxfordshire on: The First Americans; Black America (including extracts from black writers) and A Nation of Immigrants (white America).

Countesthorpe College, Leicestershire, which opened in 1970, was the vision of Tim McMullen, a former Director of the Resources for Learning Project. Four members of the Resources for Learning team got teaching posts there, keen to put into practice what the project had advocated. There was almost no whole class teaching; students learnt mainly through resource-based learning and investigative project work, often done in small groups. Students received a lot of individual attention. It was an exciting school intellectually for both students and teachers.

Margaret took a career break after the birth of her daughter, but spent her time marking CSE and O Level geography papers and did a ceramics diploma evening course (even considering becoming a potter). She also actually retrained as a Maths teacher (after doing A Level maths) as there was a glut of teachers and she wanted to get back into teaching part-time. She told me:

"I must be the only PGCE tutor ever to have done teaching practice (teaching bottom set maths students in Sheffield comprehensive schools) in the year before starting the job."

She may well be right there...

Margaret spent many years at Sheffield University, also home to the GA.

"I worked as PGCE geography tutor and eventually as Director of PGCE, at Sheffield University from 1982 (part time initially) until my retirement in 2006. My course, influenced by the language across the curriculum movement, included pre-Teaching Practice visits to schools to interview individual students about place, to teach planned lessons to small groups and to carry out a simulated public meeting role play, all emphasising the value of listening and talk. There was a lot of discussion and group work in university-based sessions. My ideas on enquiry-based learning, developed during my experiences with the Resources for Learning Project and at Countesthorpe College, were further influenced by the Schools Council geography projects which were used widely in the partner schools. (see separate blog post on the Schools Council project)

My research, using questionnaire surveys and interviews, focused on the geography national curriculum and learning through enquiry.

Margaret's personal geographical education contained at the same time, she told me:

"In my first three jobs, I had been incredibly fortunate to find myself, by chance, working with such brilliant, stimulating teachers, most notably Douglas Barnes, Michael Armstrong and Pat D’Arcy, each of whom developed my educational thinking. But none of these was a geographer. 

So, the Geographical Association was particularly important for me as it gave me the opportunity to meet inspiring geography educators and to become part of the geography education community. I initially felt overawed at meeting, at GA Teacher education conferences, well known authors such as Bill Marsden, Rex Walford and Frances Slater and people involved in Schools Council Projects: Eleanor Rawling, Ashley Kent and Michael Naish. But I found them approachable, supportive and encouraging. I gradually became more involved with the GA and over the years have been on several committees, including Council, Publications, Teacher Education Working Group and a Research group. The GA gave me opportunities to publish chapters in its secondary handbooks, articles in its journals and ‘Learning through Enquiry’ which was based on my PGCE course. So, it was easy to choose my Presidential conference theme ‘Investigating Geography’.

She told me of her own Presidential year:

"I was fortunate during my Presidential year to have the support of David Lambert, then Chief Executive of the GA. He decided to launch ‘a different view’, the GA's impressive Manifesto for Geography, in my conference slot, but having timed my lecture carefully I was worried about how much of my time he would use up! I was delighted that this conference included, for the first time, a slot for research presentations and a special session for PGCE students, an earlier initiative of Michael Bradford’s that I had strongly supported. I think it is important for new teachers, whatever other networks they can now join, to become members of the professional community of geography teachers, the Geographical Association. My PGCE students were expected to do so and encouraged to go to conference. It has given me enormous pleasure to see former students, including Mark Higginbottom, Richard Allaway, Matt Podbury and Emma-Rawlings Smith, giving presentations at GA conferences."

Since my retirement in 2006, in addition to my year as GA President (2008-2009), I have continued to be involved with the GA and with geographical education generally. I coordinated the GA’s Think Piece project; I edited 'Teaching Geography' journal for a while and went on well-organised GA Study Tours to China, South Africa, Mexico and Poland. I chaired COBRIG (Council for British Geography) for six years and organised its small-scale seminars in Sheffield, Perth and Cardiff. I have contributed to CPD sessions for Teach First, Prince's Trust, Eduqas and a MAT. I was on the IGU Commission for Geographical Education British Committee for many years and contributed to its conferences in Helsinki, South Korea, Brisbane, Melbourne, Stellenbosch, Singapore and Lisbon. I have been a member of the Geography Education Research Collective (GERECO).  I continue to write occasional articles and chapters and to contribute to conferences.

My GA publications, notably, ‘Learning through Enquiry’, led to unimagined further opportunities. I was invited to run courses for teachers on ‘Inquiry’ in Singapore in 2011, the Netherlands in 2014 and Hong Kong in 2015. So, although I never did teach abroad, I did get to travel widely in the end. I developed my second book, 'Geography through Enquiry' (now translated into Korean), from the ten courses I ran in Singapore. My unplanned and surprising career would not have developed in the way it has without my involvement in the Geographical Association. Through the GA I have met and shared ideas with so many inspirational people and feel very grateful to have received so much support and encouragement from the GA community."

You need to get yourself a copy of Margaret's book if you haven't already. One belongs in every departmental library.

"What makes a Geography lesson good?" is one of the most useful pieces of advice she has shared - free download from the GA.
Download as a PDF

For more on Margaret's influence, you should listen to her talking to John Lyon for the second of the GA's GeogPod episodes. She talks about her work with Singapore educators, and also a recent contribution to a book on technology and her career as a whole.

Listen to the episode here.

Margaret has contributed numerous articles to GA journals as well as her other writing work. 

I also have a memory of chatting to her and the late Doreen Massey while at the University of Derby about a T-shirt I was wearing saying "I am here" and where exactly I may have been...

Doreen, who has her own post as a former Honorary Vice President of the GA later posed in a hoodie for a recreation of one of our 'Mission:Explore' missions: 'Put OAPs in the Hood'.



Images copyright: Bryan Ledgard / Geographical Association - used with permission

When I'm teaching, to this day, I often think to myself of any lesson "What would Margaret say?"

Another former GA President Derek Spooner also provided me with a great story about he and Margaret...

"Another less serious memory: when I was Editor of Geography I used to attend Publications and Communications Committee at HQ at Fulwood Road. These meetings were held on Saturdays and could be rather long and tedious. Margaret Roberts (another President in due course) was also on the Committee. She was a Sheffield Wednesday fan, and the two of us skived off after lunch from one particularly boring meeting to go to Hillsborough to watch Everton v Sheffield Wednesday. Wednesday won 3-1 and the Everton goalie Neville Southall was sent off. Chris Waddle was playing (brilliantly) for Wednesday. The only time I've been to Hillsborough (though I played cricket several times down the road at Bramall Lane!). I remember a few eyebrows were raised when we left the meeting......"

Margaret told me of her MBE award:

It has been quite humbling receiving such messages from people who themselves have done so much to promote geographical education. I feel particularly fortunate to have worked with people in my first few jobs who encouraged me so much and also to have had the support of the Geographical Association and the opportunities it has given me at conferences and in publications. I consider myself a democrat and have always considered the students in the classrooms I have observed. That is what it was about for me - their engagement and involvement - otherwise geographical knowledge was just inert.

I've had the pleasure of spending time chatting to Margaret many times over the years. I also remember a terrifying occasion in a hotel in York when I was leading a session for the GA's 'Living Geography' events and my session on 'Geographical Enquiry' had Margaret in the audience - she was very kind about it. She also asked to check a chapter of a book I was editing to make sure what we were saying was accurate and included real people and not 'talking heads' invented by the authors. Realism and authenticity is vital in textbooks.

References
'Learning through Enquiry' and 'Geography through Enquiry' -  Margaret Roberts - published by the Geographical Association.

Read this PDF : OU Enquiry resource

Margaret contributed a chapter to a recent book edited by Nicola Walshe and Grace Healy on Geography Education in the Digital World. She also mentions that in the GA Podcast with John Lyon.

Any further memories of Margaret would be very welcome. 

If you were trained by Margaret please say hello in a comment or let me have any further memories of your time on the course.

Updated August 2023

Make sure you sign up to hear about the new edition of Margaret's classic book.

The second edition of the popular Geographical Association title Geography Through Enquiry: Approaches to teaching and learning in the secondary school will be published in autumn 2023.

This updated edition draws on Margaret Roberts’ in-depth experience and knowledge of geographical education, with input from a wide range of practising teachers and educators from around the world.

It takes into account the changes that have taken place since the first edition, both educationally and in the wider context:

• The many new books, articles and national and international projects focused on geographical education.
• In England, the changes to the inspection framework and standards and requirements for trainee and early career teachers.
• The sharper focus on issues related to equity, diversity and inclusion and on the continuing impact of the legacy of empire on both the curriculum and the world that geography studies.
• The increasingly urgent challenges related to climate change and sustainability.
• The rapid development of digital technologies and the impact of this on the world studied by geographers and ways in which they study it.

Go here to register your interest in finding out more.

NOW AVAILABLE FOR ORDERING.

New Years Honours

Updated January 2021

Lovely news today that former GA President Margaret Roberts has been awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours List.

Here she is working with teachers in Singapore in 2016.

The citation mentions the GA:

Margaret Grace Roberts. 

External Examiner and President, Institute of Education and Geographical Association. 

For services to Education. 

(Sheffield, South Yorkshire)

Margaret was GA President in 2008.

Other GA Presidents to gain awards or honours:

Richard Daugherty, OBE

Eleanor Rawling, MBE

Denys Brunsden, OBE

Rex Walford, OBE

Frank Debenham, OBE

Harry Thorpe, OBE

J R James, OBE

Osbert John Radcliffe Howarth, OBE

Leonard Brooks, OBE

Kenneth Charles Edwards, CBE

John Allan Patmore, CBE

Michael John Wise, CBE

J A Steers, CBE

Sydney William Wooldridge, CBE

Robert Steel, CBE (awarded in 1983 - thanks to Elizabeth Steel for details)

Sir Halford J Mackinder

John Linton Myres, OBE (later Sir...)

Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas

Sir Richard Arman Gregory (first Baronet)

Sir Harry Alexander Fanshawe Lindsay, CBE

Sir William Mitchell Ramsay

Sir Patrick Abercrombie

Sir Alexander Morris Carr-Saunders

Colonel Sir Henry G Lyons

Colonel Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich

Sir John Russell

Sir Charles Close

Sir William Leslie Mackenzie

Sir Cyril Norwood

Sir Thomas Henry Holland

Sir Laurence Dudley Stamp, CBE

Sir Josiah Stamp (later Lord Stamp)

Lord James Scorgie-Meston

Lord Nathan

Lord Robert Cecil - also a Nobel Prize winner

William George Arthur Ormsby Gore (later Lord Harlech)

Also good to hear that Professor Mark Brandon from the Open University has also been awarded an MBE for his work in Polar science.

He has helped support the geography teacher community in different ways over the years through his work.

A lovely quote from Margaret on the GA website.

“I was very surprised to receive the award and felt very honoured, particularly when there are so many people in geographical education who have worked so hard to promote good practice. I would not have been able achieve what I have done without the support of the community of the Geographical Association. Through the GA I have met and shared ideas with so many inspirational people. The GA has given me opportunities to publish my ideas and those publications have led to further opportunities to present work at conferences and to work internationally. I feel most fortunate to have had this support but feel a bit parasitic, feeding off the ideas of others and incorporating them into my own thinking.”

For those wishing to incorporate some of Margaret’s inspirational ideas into their own thinking, a good place to start would be:

Geography Through Enquiry (2013)

Or listen to Margaret talk about her life and career in education on GeogPod.

John on Jim Jay

I posted about L J Jay quite recently, followed by some memories of him.
I was listening to GeogPods again, with John Lyon interviewing Margaret Roberts. It's well worth catching up with if you haven't heard it.

I get a mention towards the end, which is nice.

John also mentions that his own tutor was Jim Jay, so I asked him to tell me a little bit about him, and this is what John sent me:

He was a lovely man. He interviewed me for a place at Sheffield University for the geography education course. I’m not entirely sure how he assessed me as being suitable for the course and indeed as a teacher. As I recall he did most of the talking. Obviously he was sharp ... and perceptive. 

'Geography teaching with a little Latitude' is a wonderful book and somehow expressed all that made him a high quality tutor. It’s packed full of practical ideas, challenges the reader to think about their own practice and how to improve, yet all the while being served up with his gentle humour. I’ve still got it. Chapter four on image and reality could be used very effectively for perception of place today.

He invited us all for tea with his wife at his house in Dore and we had a wonderful time. He had the ability to make people feel rather special. He certainly made us evaluate the what and why of our planning. An all round excellent teacher trainer.

Margaret Roberts on the GA Podcast

Margaret Roberts on the development of her teaching, and the changing nature of school geography. This is very well worth taking the time to listen to....

Margeret Roberts was GA President for 2008-9

I was privileged to have been in attendance at the lectures that are referred to here by 'whispering' John Lyon.

Lovely to hear Margaret mentioning EU DIGCOMP Competencies which are at the heart of our D3 ERASMUS project.