The Action Plan for Geography

For several Presidents, their period of office coincided with the Action Plan for Geography.

This ran from 2006-11

Several of the GA Presidents mentioned this in their Presidential lecture.

Keith Grimwade told me:  "The big curriculum initiative during my Presidency 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."

Action Plan for Geography from GeoBlogs

References

It is well worth downloading the Action Plan for Geography Final Report to see what the GA and RGS-IBG did when working together.

Final Report and Evaluation

Perhaps it is time for another big joint project.

https://www.geography.org.uk/Action-Plan-for-Geography-

https://www.rgs.org/about/the-society/what-we-do/teachers/action-plan-for-geography/

2010: Solly Street - official opening

The GA has been based at Solly Street since 1997, when it moved into the premises and had an official opening by Wendy Morgan (GA President of the time)

In 2010, it purchased Solly Street, as this made financial sense compared with continuing to rent.

I was working for the GA during this time, and as staff we were all invited to the official opening on the 5th of November, where we were joined by many former GA Presidents.

By now, regular readers of the blog should be able to identify most of these people.

We were visited by David Blunkett, MP, Clive Betts MP and Meg Munn, MP, along with Alan Law, the Lord Mayor of Sheffield. Rita Gardner: the Director of the Royal Geographical Society was also in attendance.
The office space was cleared as people arrived from mid afternoon and had coffee and biscuits and took the chance to catch up with friends and colleagues. There was a formal presentation and speeches, followed by canapes and wine.

Plenty of names familiar from the spines of books in my office, or in piles in cupboards when I was teaching.

As always Bryan Ledgard took the official images of the opening. I managed to avoid being on any it seems. I was lurking by the door.

Image copyright: Bryan Ledgard / Geographical Association

Landshapes - Channel 4

Do any readers remember this series?

It involved two former GA Presidents: Denys Brunsden and Andrew Goudie, as well as Rita Gardner and David Jones.

A Channel 4 TV series called Landshapes, which I remember using when I first started teaching as I had the series on video. It also involved Rita Gardner - former Director of the RGS-IBG. I also had the book for a while but it went to the second hand shop some time ago.

It was presented by Tim Preece I believe.

It was made in 1988.

A series of seven programmes looking at the geomorphology of Britain and Ireland.

Part 1: The stiperstones of Shropshire, which are representative of some of the most ancient rocks found in the British Isles.
Part 2: The landscape created since the last Ice Age, concentrating mainly on Norfolk where the sands and gravels represent some of the youngest and weakest rocks of the British Isles.
Part 3: How the ice sheet influences land shapes in the mountainous regions of Britain, showing the glacial cradles of North Wales and the rivers estuaries of Ireland and Cornwall.
Part 4: The landscapes created by the melting waters of the Ice Age. Shows some spectacular scenery such as Devil’s Dyke, Cheddar Gorge and the waterfalls of Teeside.
Part 5: The erosion of the coastline caused by the sea undermining the soft rocks. Concentrates on southern and eastern England where land is being reclaimed by the sea.
Part 6: Because the British Isles lie on the edge of one of the earth’s plates, the 10,000 miles of coastline are very varied. The shoreline is shaped by the constant battle between the waves and the rocks.
Part 7: The effects of man’s actions on the landscape since his earliest ancestors used ‘slash and burn’ techniques to clear the ancient forests. Soil erosion caused by agriculture in places where the forest was completely felled created the wetland landscape. Human activity has thus changed the landscape sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.

The episodes in bold are ones I remember using in my teaching. The music was very memorable as well.

Does anyone remember using this in their own teaching?

I was contacted by Mark Worthington in 2006 who wanted to copy my VHS copies onto DVD, and produced one for me as well. It's around somewhere, and will share some screenshots when I find it.