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.

Coastline 2000

Coastline 2000 was the most recent of the GA's large land-use survey projects.
This time round, there was a focus on the Coastline (naturally) and students choosing a square that they would use in a number of areas around the coast.

There are various resources which can be uncovered.

I went to the Internet Archive and found remnants of the original web page. Here is some of the text from the web page:

In 1944, a pioneering professor from Cambridge University provided the first snapshot of Britain's coastline, when he walked all the way around it! Professor Alfred Steers documented a fascinating range of coastal environments on his travels - from beaches to plunging cliffs, subdued marshlands to rocky foreshores. Since then, similar surveys have been carried out on smaller stretches of the shore, but no one has been brave enough to repeat Steer's coastal characterisation. The Geographical Association has taken up the challenge with Coastline 2000.

Alfred Steers was a former GA President of course.

More than 50 years have passed since Steers made his way around our shoreline, and with the passage of time considerable changes have set in. At the dawn of a new millennium it is time for Britain's schools and colleges to join with the Geographical Association and help paint an up-to-date picture of the nation's shores. Interest in Coastline 2000 is widespread, with the project receiving support from the National Trust, Ordnance Survey, David Blunkett of the DfEE and patrons including David Bellamy, John McCarthy, Michael Palin, Rick Stein, Janet Street-Porter and Helen Young.

We hope that businesses and other organisations will consider supporting this innovative and participatory educational project. By helping us in producing a CDROM of the results, combined with other learning materials and resources about our coastline, you will enable us to make the benefits of the project easily and widely avilable to a number of audiences. The partnership of the Geographical Association, The National Trust and the Ordnance Survey, brings together three respected organisations, each with a track record of supporting and providing valuable educational activities. 

We hope you will wish to join us in this unique, ambitious and exciting Coastline 2000 survey.

A Geography article introduced the project, which was written by Derek Spooner and Mo Morron.

This was written by Dr Derek J. Spooner, Lecturer in Geography at the University of Hull (and a former GA President) and Mrs M. Morron, who is Head of Harthill CP School, Cheshire. 

Source

SPOONER, DEREK, and MO MORRON. “Coastline 2000 – a Survey for the New Millennium.” Geography, vol. 85, no. 1, 2000, pp. 69–70. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40573376. Accessed 4 June 2021.

More to come...

Brian Ellis

Updated July 2022

Brian Ellis has been a great supporter of the GA for many years and held a number of important positions on the Governing Body and in other areas including being part of the Governing Body and acting as a Trustee for many years.

He has been the Honorary Treasurer, a very important role (currently carried out by Bob Digby) for many years, and this role in itself is extremely important to the everyday working of the GA.

He has attended a great many GA Conferences, and been supportive of the GA in many different ways as well.

He has been a member of the GA for a remarkable 65 years.

I am currently involved in a project which has financial support from Brian. Details of this important new offering from the GA will be appearing on the GA website shortly and in the GA Magazine, and also on this blog, as it draws in contributions and involvement from other former Presidents as well.

The project is called A Geographers' Gaze.

Image: Brian (left) with John Halocha (former GA President) on the right in ManchesterCopyright: Bryan Ledgard / Geographical Association

Making Geography Happen

Making Geography Happen was an Action Plan for Geography (APG) funded project which ran from 2010. It was coordinated by Ruth Totterdell and involved a number of schools and teachers.

I had the privilege of being involved in several meetings of the project, and helping to film some interviews with teachers discussing their contributions, and that of young people who were also involved.

Seven schools were involved in the project.

The idea behind the project, which is funded by the Action Plan for Geography is that we have been following students through units of work, and across key stages to try to identify and articulate moments when geography "happens": when an activity produces a recognisable change in geographical understanding....

The Making Geography Happen project was evaluated by Geoff Bright from the Education and Social Research Institute of Manchester Metropolitan University, in December 2012.

Read more about it from the link at the top of the post.

Don't forget the PROJECTS page on the GA website for more on this sort of activity.

The changing nature of GA Presidents

David Lambert told me a little about his thoughts on the changing nature of GA Presidents over the years in an email sometime ago. It reflects the changing nature of the Association itself, as it moved from a group of public school masters through a range of university departments, with the occasional curve ball such as Hilaire Belloc toward advisors, teachers and eventually primary educators, but as yet no people of colour and only around 1 in 8 being female.

"In the earlier stages the GA looked like a personal fiefdom of very few influential (and doubtless brilliant) men (mostly). It was led by prominent geographers for many years (just as chief examiners were also usually academic geographers. One of the most recent was Bill Chambers)."

This phase ran up until the late 60s probably and then changed from there, as the "new geography" began to emerge. We also had to wait untul 1968 for Alice Garnett to become the first female President, and 1975 for the first female teacher President in Sheila Jones.

"This was followed by a period of influential geography educators (usually teacher educators/trainers; Patrick Bailey, Rex Walford, Ashley Kent etc). Then local authority advisers and inspectors (Jeremy Krause, Keith Grimwade). Then occasional and subsequently more frequently, primary educators (Wendy Morgan to start with … Simon Catling etc" 

Occasionally, individuals outside the formal education mainstream (Kington). Then, occasionally, also serving school teachers (Morrish, Jones, Fox, Parkinson). 

The big question is where is the next development in the leadership of the GA going to come from? Susan Pike mentioned this in her GA Conference lecture.

David went on to mention some other challenges which meant that potential candidates may not be able to come forward and feel that they had time to do the role.

These included:

• the destruction of the network of local education advisers (although a few remain in counties or local authorities) and the almost non existent specialist inspectors (Leszek excepted) ; 
• the grip of REF on academics, which means that they may have less time to give to the Presidency; 
• the intensification of work for school teachers and the relatively low status of subject leadership roles in schools; 
• the changes in, and challenges facing university led teacher education … where are the next leaders coming from?

This partly arose from the nature of Presidential choice: essentially people were approached and asked to be President as the council or executive committee felt they might have the contacts or the experience that were needed at particular times. Now there is an election, and Presidential candidates are expected to have 'worked their way up'. 

Could that be adapted so that the GA goes back to approaching someone - perhaps someone who may represent groups that have previously not been represented by GA Presidents past, myself included...

Will the pandemic also increase the chance of people putting themselves forward. One thing that may have put off previous candidates was the need to travel to meetings at Solly Street, but this is no longer required thanks to TEAMS and ZOOM.

Just some thoughts as we move into the last 15 years of the project and get closer to the present day.... Your thoughts welcome.

2003: Building Sustainable Communities

Building Sustainable Communities was a GA project which was run in association with the Academy for Sustainable Communities, which later became the Homes and Communities Agency, but was then subsequently replaced again by Homes England... can't keep up with these governmental changes....

Building Sustainable Communities arose from two linked ideas. First of all the idea of living geography - at home and outside the front door - one of the GA's key concepts and one which we've developed over a number of years through our project work. The second was about participation now and for the future - how do students make a positive contribution to the community and how will they develop skills which will contribute to their future economic well-being?

The project also asked two questions: 'What is meant by sustainable communities?' and 'How do geographical skills lead to engagement?'

One of several projects involving the GA over the last few decades. They will feature on this blog in time.

To support the project, groups of teachers were engaged in action research in four regions - Kent and Medway, Milton Keynes and South Midlands, Humberside and Plymouth and South Devon.

The project was ultimately involved with the creation of  this DVD, which I still have a copy of.

This fed into the development of a unit in the OCR Pilot GCSE Geography, which was on Sustainable Communities.

More details here. (PDF download)

Main image: Eddington Sustainable Community in Cambridge - fieldwork day - Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license

1998: GeoVisions

The GeoVisions Committee of the GA was active from the 1998 through to around the year 2000. It was looking at what a geography for the 21st Century would need to be. Now that we are a fifth of the way through it, have we managed it...

It involved a committee of various people who have been related to the GA for many decades and included people I have worked with on projects myself, particularly Di Swift, who chaired the project, and Chris Durbin. Linda Thompson is also mentioned, who was Chair of the Secondary Committee when I joined it, but then moved on to another role. Diane also led the Young People's Geographies project, of which more to come later. 

The strapline of the project was:

‘Create the future … don’t just let it happen’ 

The full list can be seen below:

Coordinated by Roger Carter a former GA President who is next up on the blog. It was also referenced by Keith Grimwade in his Presidential lecture.

Mentioned by him in his Presidential lecture:

It is hard to look into the future with any certainty. I have been working with the Geo Visions Project (Carter et al., 1998) ' in order to help to raise the debate about the future of geography. I would like to close with what the Geo Visions Team believe a geography for the twenty-first century will need: 

 • A renewed emphasis on the professionalism of teachers We need fewer voices telling us what to do and how to do it. Equally, we must reassert our own professional responsibility.

 • A focus on children and young people Let us focus less on what is to be done to them and more on their hopes and fears for the future. It is their world too: we should listen to them more.  

• An all-inclusive debate about future needs Education is far too important to be left in the hands of a few, be they educators, politicians or chief inspectors. We must keep the debate open. 

 • Attention to alternative and preferred futures Education for the twenty-first century should engender a real feeling by everyone that they matter in society and that they can make a difference individually or collectively. 

 • Commitment to the capabilities for a better world. The knowledge and skills needed to compete industrially are not necessarily the same as those needed to build equitable, sustainable communities. We need a broader vision, and a better balance between skills and knowledge on the one hand, and values and commitment on the other. 

 • A critique of geography as a subject to promote a better world

Any memories of engagement with this project welcome.

A booklet was produced in assocation with TIDE Global (PDF download)

A report as well.

This includes a quote from Roger Crofts, of SAGT, who is someone I've met several times, most recently at an FSC 75th Anniversary event where he spoke about his life in geography:

“It is essential that geography is not just seen as social geography or cultural geography or biogeography or geomorphology, but that there is some interlinking between these different elements if the subject is to retain its relevance.” 

Professor Roger Crofts, COBRIG Seminar 1998

To find out more about more recent GA projects, head for this relatively new archive page on the GA website which details what the project work of the GA has involved. I am proud to have been involved in quite a few of these projects over the years, including the most recent GEO project, for which I am currently writing some materials.

GeoVisions also led into the OCR Pilot GCSE Geography, of which more to come...

References

Carter, Roger, et al. “The Geo Visions Project.” Teaching Geography, vol. 23, no. 4, 1998, pp. 201–202. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23755721. Accessed 22 Jan. 2021.

Robinson, Roger, et al. “Wiser People — Better World?” Teaching Geography, vol. 24, no. 1, 1999, pp. 10–13. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23755686. Accessed 22 Jan. 2021.

If anyone has memories of participation in this project, or knows of the outcomes, please let me know. It looks to have huge relevance today.

2nd Land Use Survey

As part of the blog project, I have been collecting a few books that have piqued my interest along the way, and are of reasonable value and price. There are quite a few that have been outside my price range. This cost £3 and is a bargain.

It's a copy of the handbook that was used for the 2nd Land Use Survey in 1968, and is a First edition (although I'm not sure there was a 2nd edition) of the booklet for teachers to ensure that their entries were accurate. The coding system would probably stand up even now, although there are some land uses which are probably not needed any more, and some others which couldn't be plotted using the existing key from the 1960s: I don't suppose the idea of a solar farm had occurred to people, for example.

The inner pages included a colour code for all the different land uses. It's interesting that Dan Raven Ellison brought this up to date in his 'UK in 100 Seconds' video, and will shortly film his UK National Parks version of the concept.

School's Council 14-18 Project

This was launched in 1970.

More to come as the project found its way into school.
Memories of School Council project resources and lessons welcome.

REYNOLDS, JOHN. “Schools Council Curriculum Development Project: Geography 14-18 Years.” Geography, vol. 56, no. 1, 1971, pp. 32–34. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40567432. Accessed 6 July 2020.

GA and RGS-IBG

This post makes a start at exploring some of the many connections between the GA and the RGS-IBG over the years.

At the AGM of the GA held in 1904, at the London School of Economics, there was a

Following the war, the RGS offered its premises to the GA for their use for meetings, as they had remained undamaged. These weren't the current premises on Exhibition Road, and Lowther Lodge, which is the iconic current 'home of Geography'.

Many GA Presidents were also President of the Royal Geographical Society (either before or after holding the GA Presidency), or held other posts such as Secretary or Librarian, or worked on the RGS Council.
Numerous GA Presidents were also Fellows of the RGS and remain so today.

The IBG also had strong connections, with GA Presidents, who were founder members of the IBG

I am sure in thefuture that the bonds between the Association and the Royal Society for geographers will remain strong. The changing world ahead of us demands no less.

References
“THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 2, no. 4, 1904, pp. 146–152. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40556219.