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.

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.

CFBT Curriculum support - 2007-8

During 2007 and 2008, the GA were involved with CFBT to provide support for the new National Curriculum.

This brought Ruth Totterdell to the GA, and also David Rayner who were the two national subject leads. I was one of the regional advisers for the project and it was a stepping stone to my eventual appointment at Solly Street. I worked in the East of England.

Here I am at a hotel in Norwich leading some training in February 2008. I think I met John Lyon for the first time here too. This was where my session including 'never gonna give you up' by Rick Astley also got its venue I believe... where I explored case studies and topics that people persisted in teaching despite being less relevant...