2001: Diane Swift

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

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

From the entry by Jeremy Krause:

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

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

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

Di was involved in a number of key projects.

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

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

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

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

Argumentation - Why argue (in Geography and Science)

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

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

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

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

She has worked on a number of publications.

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

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

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

References

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

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

Update - June 2025

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

2006-11: Young People's Geographies

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

Libby Brooks, 2006

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Young People’s Geographies Project 

Further Information 

Phase One 

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

Year One: September 2006 - July 2007 

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

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

 One or more teachers from each school 

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

 Open-ended approach 

 Four project days and school-based work 

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

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

Year Two: September 2007 - July 2008 

 Individual schools continue to develop YPG project 

 Development of YPG project website 

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

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

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

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

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

 Seven partner schools recruited: 

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

Archbishop Tenison’s C of E School, London; 

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

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

Nottingham Emmanuel School, Nottingham 

Arnold Hill School, Nottingham 

Bramcote Hills Sports and Community College, Nottingham 

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

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

 Individual schools develop their own YPG project

Year Two: September 2007 - July 2008

Seven schools continue to develop the geography curriculum 

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

 Project coordinators visit individual schools 

 Development of YPG website 

 Evaluation of Year Two and Phase One of YPG project

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

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

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

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

2007: Action Plan for Geography Events

I've already blogged about the Action Plan for Geography, which funded a whole range of CPD, activity, events, and support for teachers.

This was the brochure for some of the events that took place in the early years of the APG, just before I joined the GA (more on that in future blog posts).

GA Action Plan for Geography Events Booklet from GeoBlogs

2006: Keith Grimwade

Updated October 2023

When Keith Grimwade became President, he was working as the Head of Professional Development for Cambridgeshire County Council, with responsibility for the Schools Advisory Service, as well as training and development for the Council’s Children’s Services staff.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Keith for many years, and have continued this friendship partly through his association with the Cambridge GA Branch. This is my local branch, and I have had the pleasure of speaking to students there quite a few times. Our paths have also crossed en route to the GA Conference in the past. He organises social event for the GA Cambridge branch to the present day, and regular attends meetings. The Pandemic has paused this activity for a while, although the GeogMeet and Worldwise Quiz continues thanks to a lively committee. 

As with more recent Presidents, much of this entry has been written thanks to contributions from Keith to a questionnaire which I sent round to as many Presidents as possible.

Keith was born in 1957 in Southend on Sea, in Essex. He spent five years in London.

He told me, "I benefited from two very skilled teachers who saw my interest in geography and knew how to nurture it.

First, there was Miss Foster, my Year 3 teacher at Prince Avenue Junior School. 
We had to choose reading books from a trolley and I picked out a book about Thailand that was far too hard for me to read but I was fascinated by the photographs. Miss Foster let me keep it, so while my classmates were developing their reading skills I was absorbing images of Thailand, and then I moved on to other countries in the subsequent weeks.

Second, there was Jim Alves, my geography teacher at Southend High School for Boys. He led a school trip to the Lake District at the end of my first year. I had never been on holiday and the whole week was an amazing experience. I remember studying an OS map at the top of Cat Bells. Mr Alves looked over my shoulder and began to point out features. The map came alive, I could now see it in 3D and I was hooked. So, I think I’ve always been a geographer and I’ve spent my life looking at photographs and OS maps, and not much else! I read geography at Jesus College, Oxford - it was an alien culture (these days I would be helping their ‘disadvantaged background’ quota).
Not all of the teaching was that good, to be honest, but the opportunities and access to resources were phenomenal and ideal for someone who was quite happy to work independently and plough his own furrow.
The mid to late 70s was also an exciting time to be an Oxford geographer because having lost out to Cambridge and elsewhere in the quantitative revolution, it was just beginning to pull ahead with its work on the environment and climate, led by someone else who was to become a GA President, Andrew Goudie".
Andrew has his own entry on the blog of course, with plenty of contributions from Andrew himself.

In terms of his teacher training, Keith told me:

I did a PGCE at Goldsmiths and was accepted into the ILEA ‘pool’, having been interviewed by another future GA President, Michael Storm. I requested a posting in a mixed comprehensive in NE London, so they sent me to Henry Compton Boys School in Fulham. I know that ‘it was a rough, tough school’ is a bit of a cliche but it really was but I learnt a lot about how to motivate a wide range of abilities and manage a wide range of attitudes and behaviours very quickly. I was there for 5 years and then became Head of Geography at Hinchingbrooke School, Huntingdon, where I stayed for 12 years.
In 1997 I joined Cambridgeshire County Council as County Adviser for Geography, and I stayed there until my retirement at the end of 2017, having been Director of Education for the last 5 years of my career.

In the 80s / 90s and early 2000s I authored / co-authored a range of curriculum materials and text books, and regularly contributed to the TES.

His Presidential theme was ‘The Future of Geography’. Keith says:

"we were twenty years on from the original National Curriculum debates and in something of an existential crisis. I re-visited the Case for Geography (which has had its own post on the blog previously) and explored possible, probable and preferred futures. 

My sub-theme was young people’s involvement in curriculum making. I managed to combine both into my Presidential Address. 

My route to becoming President was via the Secondary Education Section Committee (on which I also served for 14 years) and the Education Standing Committee, and I was encouraged, supported and guided by two wonderful but very different geographers,

Patrick Bailey and Roger Carter.
Read Keith's Presidential Address here:

It is called 'The Future of Geography'.
(Slideplayer)
In it, he considers the new National Curriculum and some strategies for the future.
He also mentions the Young People's Geographies project, which I was involved in.
Keith told me back in 2019 why he believes the GA matters.

"Geography teachers need a ‘community of practice’ - that is the GA, it’s one and only unique selling point - that is why the GA matters. I joined the Secondary Education Section Commitee in 1991 and was involved with many committees, including chairing the Education Standing Committee. I have been a long-standing member of the local branch, helping to keep it going through some difficult times, and I have just attended my 35th consecutive annual WorldWise quiz local round; and I still don’t know all of the answers."
He told me that:

"My Presidential year was the highlight of my professional career as a geographer. It is, of course, part of a 4 year term (Junior, Vice, President, Senior) so ‘achievements’ are spread out over a period of time. 

The big curriculum initiative was the Action Plan for Geography. 

Lord Adonis was a great supporter of geographical education but could not understand why we had the RGS/IBG and the GA - politicians prefer dealing with just one organisation. Negotiating and securing the GA’s distinctive role was, I think, one of my biggest achievements, much of which went on behind closed doors and could not be broadcast. 

I keep a letter from Lord Adonis acknowledging my work, and recognising the GA’s contribution. I also helped the GA develop its strategic framework."

He also talked about the importance of David Lambert to the GA, something I certainly appreciated when in post.

"My biggest achievement was probably retaining the services of David Lambert, who was in danger of heading off to the Institute of Education full time; David did for the GA what few, if any, others could have done over the next few years."

He was also mentioned by Jeremy Krause as being very supportive.

Ketih finished with some thoughts:
These days, I attend GA events mainly for social reasons.

What really gives me hope for the future is the energy and enthusiasm of our young teachers. They will spark a lifelong love of our subject in many ‘young Grimwades’ in the years to come. And the GA must remember that its purpose is to support their passion.

Keith was also influenced by the work of the GeoVisions project.

Keith Grimwade reflects on Geo Visions as “one of the most enjoyable and influential projects that I have been involved with …” in his 2007 Presidential Address [reported in journal 'Geography' Autumn 2007]. He highlighted the strap line:

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

“ The GA adopted GeoVisions under Di Swift’s leadership (see more in Di's own blog post) and over a period of two years it inspired a range workshops and publications including the GA’s [2002] Position Statement on Geography and it initiated the GA's involvement with ‘third stream’ activities. GeoVisions introduced many of us to possible, probable and preferred futures and, I now realise, to my presidential theme. To create the future of geography rather than just letting just happen we need a strategy for change.”

Keith retired as Director of Learning at the end of 2017 after 37 years in education.

He continues to be generous with his time in the local community, and to support the work of the Cambridge GA Branch.

He is also a Governor of the Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.

He is also a supporter of Peterborough Football Club, who I have been to see play with colleagues from Ely.

References

GRIMWADE, KEITH. “Presidential Address 2007: The Future of Geography.” Geography, vol. 92, no. 3, 2007, pp. 175–178. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40574331

Image copyright: Geographical Association and Bryan Ledgard - used with permission

Any further memories of Keith welcome. 

Updated October 2023

Keith is the guest on a podcast, exploring ideas of Hope. It was published on October 17th 2022.

He speaks openly about his career and personal challenges, and connection with caring.

He talks about his career in education: 20 years as a geography teacher, and later as an education administrator for Cambridgeshire, and as the county's adviser for geography.

He describes again the influence of his teacher Miss Foster, and his love of Ordnance Survey maps.

He retired at the end of 2017.

It's lovely to hear Keith talking about his "hope kit".

Valuing Places

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

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

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

Key Aims

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

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

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

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

The project had a number of regional officers.

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

References

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

Teaching Geography, Spring 2005 - special edition,