Could you be the GA President for 2027-28?

You have until October to put yourself forward...

There is also a position for an Elected Trustee.

This is the current Governing Body, with Alastair Owens as Chair.

2025: Catherine Owen

For the fourth year out of the last five, the GA President will be a teacher, and a female state-school teacher for the third year in a row - and with a fourth to come next year. Quite a turnaround from the long-established pattern.

Catherine Owen is the new GA President for 2024-25

I sent Catherine the questions that I had given to all other Presidents and used them to create the post below. 

I'm grateful to Catherine for the level of detail she provided and taking the time to help create this entry on the blog.

When and where were you born?

I was born in Bristol in 1972. Both of my parents are Cornish and my Cornish heritage is an important part of my identity.

Where did you go to school / university?

I grew up in Yatton, a village outside Bristol which had been chosen for rapid expansion from the 1960s onwards. There was such a rapid influx of children into Yatton Infants School in the late 1970s that all the classrooms were Portakabins, with the old stone school building reserved for assemblies and lessons such as cooking. 

Aged seven we moved to the Junior School next door, which had four classes in each year group. 

Graduation day

It was wonderful to grow up in a village full of families with young children, but the rapid growth also
meant a lack of facilities and services.
We were bussed to the village of Backwell for secondary school on a fleet of around 13 coaches. I was a quiet, hard working student and appreciated the opportunities that Backwell School gave me, including learning to play the clarinet and saxophone and to go on visits including to France and The Netherlands. 

I studied maths, physics and geography for my A levels whilst also working at a local supermarket and taking part in the guiding movement as a Ranger Guide and as the Young Leader of a Brownie pack.
I wanted to be a teacher from pre-school, but initially thought I would study history. 

It was my amazing GCSE and A level geography teacher, Mr George, who changed my mind. 

I applied to study geography and physics at Lancaster University, but was horrified to find on results day that I had only achieved an E in geography, despite being predicted an A! 

At this time you applied to Universities and Polytechnics separately, so I called my first choice Polytechnic and was delighted to be
accepted to study Geographical Sciences.

By the time I arrived, Plymouth Polytechnic had become Polytechnic South West, then I actually graduated from the University of Plymouth in 1993 with a 2:1. I stayed in Plymouth to complete my PGCE at Marjon University, including placements in Plymstock and Bodmin.

What has your career been?

I would have loved to stay in Plymouth to teach, but no suitable jobs came up. 

My first teaching position was at Holyrood School in Chard, Somerset, where I taught yr 7-13 geography and also GNVQ Intermediate Leisure and Tourism. After a year I was given responsibility for the National Curriculum theme of Environmental Education, which came with a small pay rise. 

I also completed a MEd in School Effectiveness and Improvement with a group of teachers from Somerset – my PGCE had included little theory and I felt that I needed to learn more about the art and practice of reaching.

After four years and a term in Chard I moved to The King Alfred School, picking up the Head of Geography role in January 1999. 26 years later I am still Head of Geography at King Alf’s – I fell for the school and haven’t found another role I would rather do. 

King Alf’s is the only school serving the communities of Highbridge, Burnham on Sea and surrounding villages, so it is a true community school with wonderful staff. We have been through some difficult times over the years, but always look after each other. Whilst I may have been in the same school role for a long time, I have had many opportunities to be involved in different projects and adventures, often through the

Geographical Association. 

My first foray into writing was an article based on my MEd research for ‘Teaching Geography’ back in 2000. 

I have since written a range of articles, including co-authoring an article for ‘Primary Geography’, and have also written toolkit books,  and a chapter in the ‘Secondary Geography Handbook’ along with other resources. 

Most recently, in 2024 my book on 'Teaching Climate Change' written with Andrew Taylor, was published by the GA. 

I have also presented CPD for the GA, including the ‘Quality Geography for Non-Specialists’ course

which I currently lead twice a year.

My work for the GA led to other opportunities, including contributing to a GCSE textbook for OUP, a KS3 textbook for Hodder and a GCSE revision guide for Clear Revise. 

I have written many resources for Tutor2U and thoroughly enjoy presenting some of their Revision Blasts

on YouTube. 

I am also very active on social media with the handle @GeogMum reflecting

the importance of geography, teaching and my family to me.

The project which has meant most to me is my work with a group of schools in Uganda. When Seb Witts joined my department in 2014 he told me about St Charles Lwanga School in Kampala, where he had worked for 18 months. We gained funding from the GA Initiatives Fund (GAIF)  to bring the Headteacher, Benedict Ssaazi, to the UK in 2015, then gained funding from the Royal Geographical Society and King Alf’s to visit Uganda in 2016. 

This was the first of three visits, during which we worked with a group of schools on projects including questioning in the classroom and teachers observing each other and providing constructive feedback. In 2018 we held a one day Geographical Association conference at Good Times Primary School, with speakers from the Education Department and workshops hosted by local teachers as well as me and Seb. The Kasubi group of schools continues to collaborate on a wide range of projects and Seb took students from his current school to visit them in 2025.

We are also proud as a department to have achieved the Secondary Geography Quality Mark and Centre of Excellence from the GA.

What was your job when your became President?

I am currently Head of Geography at The King Alfred School an Academy on a 0.8 contract, doing consultancy work on my non-teaching day each week.

What theme did you choose when President, and why did you pick it? 

What had been your involvement with the GA leading up to that time?

I joined the GA as a PGCE student in 1993 and attended my first GA Conference in Southampton in 1995 – I have only missed a handful of conferences since then. I wanted to get more involved in the GA, so when I saw an advertisement for members for a working group on Leisure and Tourism in GA News I expressed interest. 

This group was ably led by Alan Marvell and I was a member for several years, until qualifications moved on and the group was no longer needed. I wanted to be involved with the GA, but found it hard to get a toehold. Following a lecture by Eleanor Rawling at a GA conference in 2007, where she encouraged members to become more active in the GA, I approached Eleanor, sharing my frustrations. Eleanor took me out of the lecture theatre and up to the first working group stand – the International Working Group. 

She introduced me to the Chair, Kevin Cook, asking if I could join. 

GA International SIG - Kevin Cook far left

I am so grateful to Eleanor for this, as I not only became more involved with the GA, but also met my ‘Geography Uncles’ Kevin Cook and Adam Nichols, who have given me so much support and encouragement. I became the Secretary of the group, then Vice-Chair, then Chair. Becoming Chair meant I joined the Education Group, learning more about the GA as a whole and having the opportunity to be involved in more discussions and projects. Throughout this time I had also become more involved as a  consultant to the GA, as described previously.

I also sit on the Publications Board and joined the Board of Trustees when I became Vice-President.

Kevin and Adam always joked that I was a future GA President, but I couldn’t see how I could take on the role whilst also being a classroom teacher. The increase in the use of technology from meetings and communication during COVID times solved the problem of being closely involved with an organisation based in Sheffield whilst being based in Somerset myself. 

L-R: Denise, Hina, Susan and Catherine

I was delighted when first Denise, then Hina, were elected as President whilst still in the classroom. With my children becoming adults, I felt it was time to put myself forward. 

I chose the theme of ‘Geography makes a Difference’ for three reasons:

• Learning about the world makes a difference to our students. Some will be fascinated to learn about concepts and processes which enable them to make sense of the complex world around them. Others will be frustrated when they learn about issues and inequalities, developing a passion for tackling challenges which may shape the direction of their lives. Gaining knowledge of the world whilst developing geospatial, green and transferable skills can also make a difference to students by increasing their employability.
• A high quality geography education is particularly important for students who experience disadvantage in education. Students who haven’t had the opportunity to travel, learn about different people and places and the geography curriculum can be designed to enhance cultural capital. Fieldwork takes students to contrasting locations where they can learn how to work in different contexts as well as developing their geographical skills. This learning can make a difference to our students life chances, giving them confidence to navigate their way through the world.
•  Issues facing us can seem scary and the future uncertain. Geography makes a difference by giving students a space to learn about and discuss issues, supporting their well being. This is particularly important in relation to the Climate Crisis – geography allows us to explore the causes of this crisis and its different impacts, but also empowers us to ask questions and make choices to work towards tackling it.

I hope that this theme will encourage geography educators to reflect on their practice and consider the difference geography makes. 

How can we maximise the benefits of studying geography? How do we share ideas about how to make a difference through geography?

Why does the GA matter to you?

The GA matters to me because it encourages geography educators to work together to be the best they can be. It provides a voice for geography educators – we are stronger together.

Past Presidents Susan Pike and Gill Miller have been extremely supportive of my decision to put my name forward to be President and Gill helped me come up with my Presidential Theme. It is such a shame that both of their conferences had to be online due to COVID – they are both such great geographers, leaders and role models.

Hina and Denise have also been wonderful in showing me the ropes, and with Fiona to come after me, we make a great team!

Denise, Catherine, Hina and Fiona - the Presidential team

Denise on the move

Denise Freeman has now completed the first third of her GA Presidency for 20223-4.

She said:

Advocating for geography education sits at the heart of what the GA stands for and what we do as a community. As President I have placed advocacy at the centre of my work. Over the current academic year I will be travelling to different parts of the UK and meeting those involved in all stages of geography education.

As part of the Presidential cycle I am currently a trustee of the GA. Being a trustee is a great way to actively support and contribute to the Association. I am currently busy working with other trustees to recruit our next Chief Executive.

Another aspect of ‘life at the GA’ is the great work and dedication shown by our special interest groups and phase committees. Over the past term, I have been privileged to attend many meetings for these groups. Thank you to all the volunteers who give up their time to support the Association through these groups and their activities.

Finally, as we head into 2024, my attention is increasingly turning to our Annual Conference. The theme is ‘Geography for Everyone’ and I can’t wait to explore this with all who attend. Do get your early bird tickets here.

A special ESRI StoryMap has been created to trace her travels to various parts of the country: north, south, east and west.

Ending my GA Presidential journey

Today is the final day of my GA Presidential journey. It's been emotional...

I've previously blogged about myself when I started as President.

I started my involvement with the GA Secondary Phase Committee around 2004-5, thanks to Rob Lodge who got me involved, and this was when I first encountered Alan Kinder, who was co-chair for a while. I later worked for the GA for three years - starting there 15 years ago tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone involved in the last four years of my Presidential journey, who has supported me in the process - there's a lot of people I could mention here from fellow Trustees, volunteers and those who serve on the committees and SIGs, staff at Solly Street and all those who are GA members. It's been a privilege. It's also my last day of four years as a Trustee and serving on the Governing Body, having also been Chair of Education Group for a year as well, and with previously working on the Secondary Phase Committee for about ten years on and off... and also writing the GA Webwatch column for about twelve years.

I hope I've pushed the idea of Quotidian geographies a little more into the spotlight. I think the GA has certainly changed during my time in the Presidential cycle.

Special mention to Jeremy Krause for his encouragement before and kind words after. Also thanks to Paula Owens and Steve Rawlinson for the original 'push': a few years earlier than I was originally planning.

I shall continue to develop the blog and add more stories from the archives and updates on Presidents as I find them, or they are communicated to me. I hope the project might one day find its way into a different (perhaps even printed or extended digital) form when I have time to do it a little more justice and carry out the necesary research. I need to renew my British Library Reading Room membership which lapsed just after the pandemic.

It's over to Denise Freeman and Hina Robinson tomorrow for the next couple of years of female teacher Presidents - there have been very few of those, so feel free to throw your hat into the ring.

Keep an eye out for your chance to put yourself forward to be GA President in 2025-2026.

Nominations will be asked for before too long.

Image: Selfie taken as I left the University of Guildford campus following my GA Presidential conference in 2022... a job well done.... 

Word cloud of Presidents updated too...

Quick trivia quiz question: Which three surnames have been shared by more than one President?

Thanks to Bob Digby for the mention too...

Today several colleagues finish their terms in trustee roles @The_GA...

A very big thank you to Olwen Lintern-Smyth our outgoing chair, @bobdigby Honorary Treasurer, Sue Holden, @GeoBlogs Immediate Past President, and Dan Cowling, for their vision, commitment and hard work! pic.twitter.com/ah232Ye7Je

— Alastair Owens (@AlastairHackney) August 31, 2023

GA President for 2024-5 announced as Hina Robinson

The GA Conference 2023 was a great success and I am blogging my experiences over at LivingGeography.

One of the events that happens at the GA Conference is the big reveal of who will be the GA President in two years time, and begin as Vice President in September of that year.

So this happened today...excited but daunting!! @The_GA #GAConf23 pic.twitter.com/zEtORtsiw3

— Hina Robinson 🌍 (@RobboGeog) April 13, 2023

This year, the person revealed was Hina Robinson. 

Hina is already an elected trustee and has also been involved with several GA events in the past. She has also presented at the GA Conference a number of times, and last year brought her students to an event at my conference in Guildford. She is the Chair of Governors of a Primary school and co-chair of the GA's working group which has been exploring inclusion and diversity.

She teaches at Southend High School for Girls, where she is also Diversity Lead.

You can see her in action on this GERECO page where she was part of an event exploring teaching about the anthropocene along with a range of speakers and contributors. If you haven't seen this before it's well worth a watch by the way.

Hina is on Twitter and is worth a follow so that you can follow her progress through the next three years.

Hina's appointment is a significant moment for the GA.

GA Presidential election for 2024-5

According to this UCL research paper:

Figures from 2019 show that 85.6% of all teachers and 65.4% of pupils are currently from a White British background; in comparison, 78.5% of the working age population of England were recorded as White British in the 2011 census 

(UK Government, 2020).

To date, 100% of GA Presidents have been 'White British' (with the occasional French-born President, and others born overseas). 

This needs to change.

If you would like to be involved in changing this narrative, we are now looking for the next GA President after Denise Freeman, who will be President in 2023-4. 

Nominations need to be in by the 1st of November.

You will see that there are also some other vacancies which we would welcome applicants.

Honorary Membership

The GA Awards are presented each year after the Presidential Address at the GA Conference.

The highest award is Honorary Membership.

This year it was presented to Iain Palôt.

Iain has been Chair of the Post-16 and HE Committee for some years and also served on Governing Body.

The Committee produces a regular newsletter, which can be picked up at the conference. This year's edition can be downloaded here.

In it, Iain reflects on his career and involvement with the committee and the GA:

This piece is one for looking back, remembering those members of the committee who contributed so much and whose efforts should not be forgotten. Over the years we have been so well supported by people like George Metcalf, the NATFHE rep and the committee Treasurer in the days when we had a delegated budget. 

One meeting a year was always at the Victory Club at Marble Arch as he was able to stay at a reduced rate having made the journey down from Dunfermline. 

Other members of our illustrious team have included Brian Harris from Thames Valley, Alan Marriott, Andrew Powell from Kingston, Tim Foster from FSC Blencathra, Antony Allchin, Mick Dawson, Dave Turton, Julia Jones, Helen Hore, Simon Oakes, Bob Digby, and others too numerous to mention.

Secretaries, Treasurers, Saturday fieldwork organisers, Travel and Tourism specialists, Geography Matters Editors [Dave T had a couple of blokes out at “the airfield” who printed it very cheaply, and we gave away huge numbers of copies at conference]. Those were the days! 

I have been chairman for long enough and could not have done the job without the support of my wife and the committee members, particularly Antony and then Helen, to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude. To Gill for taking on the editing of GM in the face of a number of difficulties and her own personal workload. And to all the committee members that I have not mentioned – thank you for your support and contributions to the work we have undertaken. 

I am now what Catherine Owen reminded me of as we gossiped at the back of a conference session, an OLD, some would say very old, WHITE MAN - and the time is right for change. 

The committee will be co-chaired by Laura-Jayne Ward and Ellie Barker and I wish them all the success for the future. I am confident that they will do a great job in the tradition of the P16/HE PC. They are looking for someone to fill the gap left by my leaving, to add new skills and greater diversity to the committee. I am only sorry that I will not have the opportunity to work with Servel Miller from Chester whom I am certain will add greatly to the deliberations of the committee. 

Thank you all for your friendship, help and support over the past 40+ years of my GA membership. I shall miss being involved and hope to see some of you at conference this and in future years. Post-16/HE Phase Committee.

Congratulations Iain, and thanks.

GA Presidency Month 5: January 2022

Arriving in 2022 means that this was the start of the second phase of my Presidency, and the 8 months leading up to the end of August. January has been a very busy month.

I started the year with meetings related to the working of the GA, and connecting with the GA's Strategic Plan (2020-25)

There was good news with an award for one of the GA's resources. Well done to all those involved in creating the resource which has won a TeachPrimary award.

We're delighted to have received the @TeachPrimary four star award for our Primary Geography CPD Packs 1-5 in the mail today!

Once again, thank-you to @TeachPrimary for the award and for the beautiful trophy.

Find out more about our CPD packs at https://t.co/EafBsW5Mtx pic.twitter.com/zumI9kJq4F

— Geographical Association (@The_GA) January 6, 2022

 

The Governance Working Group is going to meet at the beginning of next month, but preliminary meetings and discussions were held to set agenda items. For those who want to know more about the governance of the GA, the GWG sets the agenda for Governing Body. 

We also saw the publication of an excellent new book by David Gardner on Curriculum which deserves to be purchased and used by all secondary geography departments. 

We also had first sight of a National Research Report on the "professional needs and views of teachers of geography". This was launched just before the end of the month and we were expecting to see quite a bit of coverage on TES and elsewhere, and this was certainly the case. 

Download the report from here.

TES article here.

The report was co-written by Alan Kinder and Dr Emma Rawlings Smith.

Alan said:

'This GA National Research Report has been a year in the making and I’d like to thank all those GA members and others who gave their time towards such an insightful exercise. With a growing membership, the GA needs to work ever-harder to listen to and represent the views of its members. This report distils a huge range of ideas and makes recommendations for the GA, for policy-makers, for school leaders and teachers or geography. Our next challenge will be to pursue these findings and recommendations, so that children and young people in schools everywhere benefit from the improved support we are able to provide to teachers of geography, nationally and internationally.'

We also did final edits on the text of the latest Advocacy for Geography piece in the latest GA Magazine, which was the first in the new format, with a reducd page length for the print copy, but a larger and more flexible online offering. Check that out if you are a GA member.

If you aren't a GA member, I recommend that you join the 10 000 plus existing members to help amplify our voices.

This followed some final edits on an article which I wrote for the Summer 2022 issue of 'Primary Geography' on the transition curriculum I have developed at school. This will be out in the next issue, and thanks to those colleagues who I've worked with since last Easter to change what is taught in Years 3-5.

We also had further discussions regarding the Geographers' Gaze project. This has been funded by former Honorary Treasurer Brian Ellis and we are getting close to the first release of materials. Digital transfers of our selected lantern slides have been made and notes created. The next phase is going to be planned during the summer, and keep an eye on the website for the details of the first phase going live. We hope that you find it useful. There will be a second phase of images eventually. We have plenty of wonderful images to share with you.

I presented a session on Everyday Geographies for the GA's Tyne and Wear branch. Thanks to those who came along and for the excellent questions at the end of the session from those who were there and took my thinking in new directions. 

We started to send out the details of the GA conference to all those involved as well, as Bryan Ledgard worked on the design for the actual booklet. I also started previewing every session at the conference over on my LivingGeography blog.

There was also the recruitment of the moderating team for the Primary and Secondary Geography Quality Marks for the Summer 2022 season. I look forward to reading through the portfolios of the schools that have applied for the award.

I worked on updating the wording of some of the GA's Policies, and we also had discussions about some forthcoming changes to the GA's Governing Body in the year ahead. That acts as a reminder to everyone that there are some opportunities for you to get more involved in the GA coming up as we move into March. 

The year always starts with planning for the term ahead and the Education Group meeting - the 2nd of the meeting that I chair as President. I worked on the agenda and papers for the meeting and then chaired it - a long meeting with plenty of interesting discussions. We also welcomed Eleanor Rawling who has been working on a framework which was shared with us, and was also going to be included in the GTE conference the following weekend.

This included this very helpful diagram showing where different groups get involved in the process of curriculum change.

I also checked submissions for the IGU Session that I am chairing in Paris in July to find that there were 12 submissions to be part of the session that I am going to be chairing.

I attended a meeting of the GA Worldwise Board. Once again, this is a way for people to get involved in the work of the GA, particularly by organising or sending a team to a local Worldwise Quiz.

The Board were interested in the conference theme that I had developed and I will help with the development of some special activities for Worldwise Week later in the year. I've helped create materials in the past. It was lovely to chat to the Board members, who include a number of former Presidents: Sue Lomas, Mark Higginbottom and Steve Rawlinson, along with a former colleague 

A flyer has been produced for the National Fieldwork Week which is coming in June.

It can be viewed here:

GA National Fieldwork Week Flyer from GeoBlogs

I also had a chat with a film producer and we worked on a project which is going to be part of the BBC's Bitesize and children's programming in 2022. This was very exciting to be involved in, and followed some other work last year on the new BBC Regenerators resources for Primary.

The conference programme was shared in draft ahead of April, and bookings opened. I started blogging about each of the sessions on the programme.

I also completed the first draft of an article for the summer issue of 'Teaching Geography'. Historically, the GA President's conference paper was always reproduced in an issue of 'Geography' journal, as they were often presented in that format: read out from a paper, rather than being a little more improvisational.

The end of January is the Geography Teacher Educators' Conference (GTE), which had been due to be held at the University of Worcester.

I was pleased to be able to kick off the whole event with my own presentation on the GA Presidents and their influence, and a slightly redacted version is here:

Out of the mouths of Presidents from GeoBlogs

Particular thanks to Elena Lengthorn and other members of the GTE for their organisation, and for changing to an online format at the last minute.

I led a 90 minute session for teachers in London last week as well on the theme of curriculum making. This involved a series of ideas linked to the nature of curriculum and the part of teachers and students in the process.

This was based around some ideas on curriculum making, and also drew on David Gardner's new book.

As always, here are the Twitter statistics for the month. A reasonable return on the tweets that I've sent, and a lot of the numbers came in the last weekend when GTE Conference was particularly busy tweet wise.

This was a very busy month, and the next month starts promptly, with 2 sessions in the first 2 days.

It could be you...

 Back in 2017, I submitted an application to be the President of the Geographical Association. I was approached by a few members who thought that I might a good person to take on the role.

It turns out that I was successful in the application and as a result became the Junior Vice President the following September (a role that no longer exists now we have a Chair of Trustees), Vice President the year after and then President from September the 1st.

The vacancy has now become available for the President for 2023-24. 

There are details in the GA Magazine, which has now been made available to download by GA Members on the website (physical copies will be on their way shortly).

It could be you!

It would be fantastic to see a really diverse range of applicants this year. 

There are various under-represented groups in the body of over 100 former Presidents, who have all been researched in my blog here (which also features in the latest GA Magazine),

Contact me if you have any questions. I've already had a few messages about this.

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.

2001: Jeremy Krause

Signifcantly updated in late March 2021

Jeremy Krause has been involved with the Geographical Association for many years, and acted as a Trustee of the Association. He worked as an advisory teacher in Cheshire.

He has carried out many additional roles including being on interview panels to select the GA's Chief Executives - a key role in the changing nature of the GA to become a professional association with paid staff, rather than the decades of reliance on volunteers to carry out all roles. 

Jeremy has published a number of books, including books on Primary Geography in particular (although he was a Secondary teacher by training), and supported the work of the GA in numerous ways, alongside his advisory roles.

His Presidential address in 2001 was entitled: "Tell the world about learning geography" and published in 2003 in 'Geography'.

It ended with this paragraph on his vision for the GA in the future:

 "My personal vision for the GA of the future is an association which encourages its members to communicate with each other, by whatever means, to debate what it is to learn geography, what drives them and how we can all be better at delivering meaningful learning. An Association that is a strong voice for the subject as part of a rich and exciting curriculum." This links with Douglas Freshfield's introduction to the first issue of 'The Geographical Teacher'.

The Charney Manor Geography Conference is also an event which Jeremy has been involved with for many years: helping to organise and present sessions.
Jeremy was heavily involved in the 20th Anniversary event in 2017, which I was fortunate to attend, and made some significant contributions to the weekend, which celebrated the immense contribution made to Primary Education by Simon Catling.

Jeremy was kind enough to answer the questions on my Google Form a while back to add to his entry.

He also shared a great deal of other information in emails and other formats, as we approached his own entry onto the blog, with respect to the Presidents who he knew well and worked with.

I shared some questions with Jeremy, and some memories of the 1990s, which have been the focus for a number of recent blog posts.

I felt that the GA in the late 90s changed considerably as we moved into the 2000s. It went from a  charity run very well by members and a supportive administration to a professional body with subject leadership coming from HQ in addition to volunteers. Prior to 2000, the GA was very much the territory of academics this was prior to changes in demands on them to research more and also GA publications and journals weren’t approved by HEFC (so couldn't count towards their research output).
The GA’s nomadic geographical journey from Oxford to Aberystwyth Manchester and finally Sheffield was ‘underwritten’ by these academics.
The professionalising process probably also began with the introduction of Pathways at Conference - all linked to increasing performance management in schools and limited money for CPD eventsI

Jeremy was involved with the introduction of ‘pathways ‘ at conference, along with the then Hon Conference officer Paul MacDermott.
It also emerged out of the M&PD committee’s work, under chairs Judy Mansell and later Sue Lomas
They were introduced either at the 2001 conference or Jeremy's conference in 2002
This was important as it represented a shift to a more Professional Development orientated organisation. This was on the back of increased performance management mechanisms in school and schools having more control of their budgets.
It was important in an environment like this to ‘badge’ the conferences more overtly as CPD - something which of course continues to this day.

He also took the time to have a number of phone conversations with me during the time when the blog project was taking shape.

The following was written by Jeremy himself and outlines in detail his involvement in the GA for many decades. Jeremy told me: 

The process of writing this blog has been both interesting and humbling. ‘Interesting’ because it is revealing to consider what the GA has given me over more than 50 years and what I have tried to do in return. ‘Humbling’ because I’ve recalled the many who helped me ‘get on my way’ and also ‘along the way’. Just as important, are those who I don’t know about directly, but who must have been there! As someone who has ‘come up through the ranks’ I have always felt strongly about all who serve on Committees and the contributions from the ‘far from ordinary members’. I hope that I do justice to all who made this possible. Thank you.

When and where were you born? 

6th July 1950 – a ‘Metrolander’ 

Born at home in Pinner Middlesex within the sound of the Metropolitan Railway. (Uxbridge Branch). 

Where did you go to school / university?

Cannon Lane Junior Mixed Infant School, Pinner Middlesex 1955 - 1961 Harrow County School for Boys, Harrow (Now Harrow High School) 1961 - 1969 University of Southampton 1969 - 72 BSc Hons Geography University of Southampton 1972 -73 PGCE University of Keele 1982 – 84 Part time MEd 

What has your career been e.g. teacher / academic / author / other work outside the obvious geography sphere? 

Relief Warden YHA North Yorkshire 1972 

Geography and Geology Teacher - Branston School and Community College Lincolnshire1973 – 78 

Head of Geography Department Adams School Wem Shropshire (now The Thomas Adams School) 1978 – 86

Head of Humanities Croeswylan School Oswestry Shropshire (now The Marches School ) 1986 – 87

Advisory Teacher for Geography 11 – 18 Shropshire LA 1987 – 89 with a focus on introducing the new GCSE courses and examinations and also the Use of ICT in Geography. 

From 1987-92 Geography Committee of the Secondary Examinations Council chaired by Tony Thomas and its successor the School Examinations and Assessment Council (SEAC) Chaired by Professor Richard Daugherty 

The Shropshire experiences coupled with being a member of SEC and its successor SEAC revealed some of the challenges especially with geographical enquiry and its assessment. Although there was a great spirit of cooperation at the time with a huge commitment to the new syllabuses, some key issues emerged: 

• with regard to Values and Attitudes, ‘What was the point of asking pupils for their opinions?’ 

• how to allocate marks for knowledge, understanding, skills and values? 

• how to make the wording of questions accessible to students of all abilities? 

• how to set up, mark, moderate and validate students’ Geographical Enquiries? 

Senior Adviser for Geography 2- 19 Cheshire LA 1989 – 2002 

A responsibility that caused me to develop a deep understanding of Early Years, Primary and Special Education that has stayed with me since and which informed me greatly about how children learn. This was a major turning point in my professional life. 

Collaboration 

One significant aspect part of my work was with the late Roger Carter in forming the Geography North West Consortium of Geography with colleagues from Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire Staffordshire Shropshire with the University of Liverpool. I am eternally grateful to Alan Waters, Barry Piggott, Roger Carter, the late Kate Campion, Professor Bill Marsden and Jo Hughes.

 

An important outcome were the ‘20 Day courses’ we ran for five years, with c 150 Early Years and Primary School Teachers per year, as a key part of supporting the development of the National Curriculum for Geography. A spin off from this were many writing projects for both the GA and NCC/QCA including: 

1992 Place - a Practical Guide to teaching about places for The GA 

1992 Geography and Economic Understanding at Key Stages 3 and 4 

NCC Cheshire Geography Expeditions. 

Prior to my arrival in Cheshire the LA had already run its first Geography Expedition for 6th Formers to Iceland in 1989. I played a key role is setting up expeditions to Iceland in 1991 and 1993 and participated as a leader in the latter. In 1995, 1997 and 1999 the location moved to Arctic Norway. I was able to participate as a leader in 1997 & 1999. 

1997 – 1999 Part time PGCE Primary Geography Lecturer University of Manchester 

1998 – 2000 Seconded to Cheshire LA Education Policy Adviser post to work with the Director of Education to create the LA’s first Education Development Plan for all maintained schools – over 500 in total. 

2000: Palestinian National Authority - The Department for International Development with The British Council East Jerusalem (West Bank and Gaza) - Support programme for Social Studies in Grades 1 – 4 

A real eye opener and life changing experience working with bright, optimistic and highly committed teachers in Ramallah, Nablus, Jericho, Bethlehem and Gaza. 

2002 – 05: Regional Director for Teaching and Learning in the Foundation Subjects with National Strategies for School Improvement – Yorkshire and the Humber Region 

2005 -11: Senior School Improvement Adviser with the National Strategies South West Region with a focus on 50+ underperforming schools 

2011-15 Independent Education Consultant including a major School to school improvement programme in Somerset. 

2010 – 18 Member of the Governing Body and Chair of Appointments and Standards Committee, Cotham School, Bristol 

Charney Manor Primary Geography Conference 1998/9 & 2011 -18 and 2021. Presentations in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018 

Author 1988 ‘Ready Steady Go’ Module 3 Shropshire Geography for Young School Leavers –TRIST (TVEI Related In-service training) Project with five other Heads of Department. 

1988 Spaceview UK - a teacher’s guide to Landsat 

Images in the classroom: Image I Welsh Borderland 1994 ‘Read all about it’: Using Children’s Literature in support of Primary Geography Chapter 11 in Primary School Geography Eds Bill Marsden and Jo Hughes David Fulton 

1995 Landmarks Portrait of Europe BBC 1995 Primary Geography a developmental Approach with Prof Alan Blythe Hodder and Stoughton 1996 Using Land Use – UK for a County Wide Initiative Chapter 12 Land Use UK- a survey for the 21st Century Ed Rex Walford Geographical Association 1997 

Geography Co-ordinator’s pack BBC Worldwide (Educational Publishing) Jeremy Krause and Wendy Garner 2004 & 2010 

Chapter 25 The subject leader in Primary Geography Handbook Ed by Roger Carter 2004 and Stephen Scoffham 2010 (in 2010 with contributions from Jane Millward and Anthony Barlow) 2001 Departmental Visions and Planning for Change with Linda Thompson, Chapter 10 in More Thinking Through Geography Ed Adam Nichols and David Kinninment Chris Kington Publishing 

A range of other materials were also authored over the years.

Articles have tended to be either practical guides to teaching and learning or particularly in recent years reflections of the lives of fellow GA Geographers who made a significant difference to me life and career 

What was your job when you became President?

Initially Senior Adviser for Geography with Cheshire LA until February 2002, then Regional Director for the Foundation Subjects Key Stage 3 National Strategy from February 2002

What theme did you choose when President, and why did you pick it? 

‘Learning Geography for our world – life in the global village’ Two reasons: First, I was fascinated by the debate about how we learn which was highly influenced by Dylan Wiliam and Paul Black’s ‘Inside the Black Box’ published in 1998 and the development of thinking skills through the work of David Leat. Geographers with their insatiable appetite for learning about places, engaging with environmental issues and for travel and adventure are ideally placed to develop strategies that engage learners with thinking skills. I also reflected on the need to be clearer about why we select particular aspects of our subject for our pupils to learn. Why do we think they are so important? Do we need to revisit our knowledge. Should we re-examine the skills we use to engage our learners? This was placed in the context that Manchester, the venue for the 2002 Conference, was hosting the Commonwealth Games later in the year. Not quite the Olympics in terms of international teams but nonetheless highly representative of our global village. This theme of ‘Life in the Global Village’ was also picked up in ‘Celebrating diversity – life in the British Isles today’ , the excellent programme of activities that formed Geography Action Week 2002 which was led by my good friend from Cheshire days Mark Higginbottom. (For those paying attention, all the 2002 Conference materials were purple as a nod to inclusivity by showing what happens if you mix the red and blue of the two leading Manchester football teams.) 

My conference address was followed in the afternoon by the The Learning Forum: ‘Learning Geography in the Primary school’ led by Wendy Garner, Simon Catling and Stephen Scoffham.

‘Learning Geography in the secondary school’ led by Linda Thompson, Dr John Morgan and Dr David Leat. 

The other aspect to my Presidential address and year was my personal vision for the GA. This choice was influenced by a real concern that the GA had to be open to new ideas and adapt to the changing circumstances in schools especially in terms of funding and curriculum development. Also events during my Presidential year also made me concerned for the GA’s future. My vision of the future was for an association which encourages its members to communicate with each other, by whatever means, to debate what it is to learn geography, what drives them and how we all can all be better at delivering meaningful learning. I also suggested that we needed to do more than say geography is ‘good’ and educationally important. We must demonstrate why it is good. There were five strands to this: 

• Research and share good practice 

• Address inclusion - especially as the membership did not reflect the ethnically diverse population of our country.  Still work to do here.

• ‘Geovisions’ – use this forum to raise and debate issues and make proposals about the future of geography 

• Links – foster links with other organisations in including the HA and RGS-IBG 

• Professional Development - develop professional development programmes which addressed the wide ranging needs of the Association’s membership. 

One feature of the whole conference were the Professional Development Pathways developed in Membership & Professional Development Committee, Chaired by Sue Lomas another good friend of mine from Cheshire. 

Paul McDermott the GA’s then Honorary Conference Officer played a significant part in their planning and execution. Sarah Clarke & Lucy Oxley at GA HQ also played a major part in the Conference being a great success. I will always be grateful to them all for all they did. My conference address was followed in the afternoon by the Learning Forum: ‘Learning Geography in the Primary school’ led by Wendy Garner, Simon Catling and Stephen Scoffham ‘Learning Geography in the secondary school’ led by Linda Thompson, Dr John Morgan and Dr David Leat. In the 2002 Conference the Pathways, begun in the previous year, were developed further under four broad headings: 

• Leading and managing Geography: Primary, Secondary and Post 16 

• Geography and ICT 

• Improving your geographical understanding 

• Curriculum development for the new Geography teacher 

The Presidential Reception was held at Chetham’s School of Music. It was an informal evening of cultural entertainment and cuisine from around the world*, including the presentations of the GA and Frederick Soddy Trust Awards. 

*Food and entertainment was provided in three different rooms and all attending were encouraged to move round all three. 

My reason for this more informal approach was that I was concerned that the Conference Dinner didn’t attract large numbers and was seen to be a bit exclusive and for many too expensive. 150 attended the Chetham’s Reception and over the 20 years since, the style of this event has become less formal and more inclusive. As a footnote: GA News Conference Extra Geography April 2002 had a comment that a first glance could be seen as a criticism: 

‘In a presentation that any visiting Ofsted inspector would find difficult to fault, GA President Jeremy Krause left his audience in no doubt about his fervour and commitment, for both his subject and the GA’ 

Too right! If I was waffling on about teaching and learning it would have been deeply ironic to be less than ‘good’. And yes I do still fervently care about the GA. 

Why does the GA matter to you? How did you get involved, and what roles have you played within the GA? 

I have been involved in the GA for over 54 years. The first twenty years were very much determined by the energy and commitment of others who guided me, advised and taught me. Those who went before me, those who support me and believe in me and helped me on me way, both subtly and directly, creating fertile ground for my growth. Only in recent years through conversations with Roy Avery my Headmaster at Harrow County, my A level geography teacher Phillip Clarke and good friend John Bale have I realised the influence others made on my early involvement with the GA. 

In my research for my GA Presidential Address I came across a 1915 article in 'The Geographical Teacher', Vol 8, No 1 (Spring 1915), pp45-53 'Value of Surveying in Teaching Geography' by Ernest Young BSc (The County School Harrow) 

A paper was delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Geographical Association, January 7 1915 with the poet and GA President Hillaire Belloc present (an aside - we have no record of his Presidential Address - I tried my best to find it.) What I liked about this was to discover that only 22 years after the GA was founded curriculum debates about what Geography included were going on. For me, most important of all, it was my school’s first Headmaster writing about Geography. Perhaps this was the first course of bricks in the foundations of the Geography Department from which I benefitted hugely in the 1960s. 

I have also discovered that Rex Walford undertook a Teaching Practice at my school before my time and trialled his ‘Geographical Games’ including ‘the Railway Pioneers’ there, after my time. 

The greatest debt I owe the Association from these times was through the Harrow and Wembley Branch of the GA. When I was a 6th Former 1967 – 69, the school arranged for us to attend branch activities. I recall a lecture by Professor Eric Brown from UCL. His lecture was about dry valleys on the North Downs. Who could forget ‘The Devil’s Kneading Trough’ near Wye in Kent. I was gripped by the detail of the research detail which went far beyond A level textbooks. What I didn’t realise then, but do now, was that the Branch had some of the key ‘Geography influencers’ of the day including Trevor Bennett, John Everson and Brian Fitzgerald as leading lights. I should also mention my other geography teachers Charles Crinson and Maurice Venn the latter was my amazing Geology teacher. (almost persuaded me to pursue a career as field geologist……shame I can’t tell him I’m still a keen amateur!) I must also mention Jim Golland, my English teacher who managed to get me to write…….Non Fiction. In my teens, I didn’t ‘get’ creative writing, but local history and geography was something I could do. My strongest memories of my three years at the University of Southampton were of Reader (Later Prof ) John Small and his protégé Dr (Later Prof) Mike Clarke and Mr (later Prof) Keith Barber. They were into the outdoors and physical geography and geology of Southern England. The Downland of Southern England is in my soul through life at home, school and university.

My next thanks are to Professor John Bale. 

John's many contributions to my life’s journey as a geographer. 

I first met him at Nobel School, Stevenage in 1971 when he very kindly helped me with my Undergraduate dissertation on the perception of place. That input helped immensely as my tutor wasn’t much interested. I then recall going to see him at his home at Vigo near Meopham after he had become a lecturer at Avery Hill College. I recall him insisting that I went to the Annual GA Conferences at The LSE. 

10 years later in 1982 he encouraged me to study for a Masters at Keele. That was another show of faith in me. Sadly he was not my tutor and I think I always begrudged that slightly. I still have a signed copy of John’s fantastic book ‘ Geography in the Primary School’ on my shelves! 

My first five years in teaching were in Lincolnshire and I am grateful to Janet Collier my first Head of Department and Gerard Roussel, Headteacher for encouraging me, a rather fidgety and always into something new, teacher. The GA’s Lincoln Branch provided an outlet for some of this energy and my contacts with other local teachers enabled me to learn more about ‘New Geography’ and new approaches to teaching such as the three ‘Geography for The Young School Leaver’ (GYSL) packs of modern case studies in a workcard format. I am proud that as GA President that I was able to speak at a Branch meeting in 2001 on the topic of ‘My journey through Palestine’. 

Jeremy has said that he is going to send me some more, so this post will be updated.

References

Presidential Address: 
KRAUSE, JEREMY. “Tell the World about Learning Geography.” Geography, vol. 88, no. 1, 2003, pp. 4–14. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40573792.

If anyone has other memories of Jeremy Krause, please get in touch with me, and I can update the post accordingly. 

Image: Bryan Ledgard / Geographical Association

Bottom image: Joseph Kerski, used with permission

Updated March 2021

Author - Jeremy told me of the items he had authored over the years.

1988 ‘Ready Steady Go’ Module 3 Shropshire Geography for Young School Leavers –TRIST (TVEI Related In-service training) Project with five other Heads of Department. 1988 Spaceview UK - a teacher’s guide to Landsat TM Images in the classroom: Image I Welsh Borderland 1994 ‘Read all about it’: Using Children’s Literature in support of Primary Geography Chap 11 in Primary School Geography Eds Bill Marsden and Jo Hughes David Fulton 1995 Landmarks Portrait of Europe BBC 1995 Primary Geography a developmental Approach with Prof Alan Blythe Hodder and Stoughton 1996 Using Land Use – UK for a County Wide Initiative Chapter 12 in Land Use UK- a survey for the 21st Century Ed Rex Walford Geographical Association 1997 Geography Co-ordinator’s pack BBC Worldwide (Educational Publishing) Jeremy Krause and Wendy Garner 1998 & 2004 Chapter 25 The subject leader in Primary Geography Handbook Ed by Roger Carter 1998 and Stephen Scoffham 2004 (in 2004 with contributions from Jane Millward and Anthony Barlow) 2001 Departmental Visions and Planning for Change with Linda Thompson, Chapter 10 in More Thinking Through Geography Ed Adam Nichols and David Kinninment Chris Kington Publishing National Strategy for school Improvement (being a Government funded programme the authorship of materials is never declared) BUT: 2003 Starters and Plenaries Unit 5 with Linda Thompson: and Unit 9 Improving the Climate for Learning (revised) in Pedagogy and Practice Teaching and Learning in Secondary Schools 2004 Building Capacity Module 4 in Sustaining Improvement Contributions to content including video footage of classroom practice and interviews with school leaders 2005 Key Stage 4 Network Leadership for Subject leaders and School Senior Leaders – English Mathematics Science MFL D&T and ICT (Led the programme) 2017: Making Sense of Charney Part 1: A letter to Charney and Making Sense of Charney; Part 2 Sense of Place A Reflection Reflections on Primary Geography Edited by Simon Catling, Register of Research in Primary Geography c/o The GA From 1989 to present: Articles in Primary Geographer and Primary Geography, Teaching Geography and Geography and GA Magazine. Articles have tended to be either practical guides to teaching and learning or particularly in recent years reflections on the lives of fellow GA Geographers who made a significant difference to me, my life and career

Jeremy ended his contribution with a lengthy and detailed description of the last 30 years or so of the GA's activities and his personal involvement. It's a reminder of how much one can gain from being part of the GA's community of practice. The following is Jeremy's personal views, which he wanted to share widely through the forum of this blog:

I am particularly interested in this, as I started teaching at this time, so the following mentions a great many familiar changes that I have had to adapt to, with the help of the GA.

Playing a more active role: 1987 to the present 

Context

I consider it useful to reflect on the context for geography and the GA during this 34 year period. These changes in the subject, and also life in schools had a profound effect on my professional life in Shropshire and Cheshire and they impacted on my ideas that I developed as President and in my other GA leadership roles. 

‘The geographer, as any other social scientist, cannot avoid being socialized into a specific culture – or more accurately, sub-culture – at a particular period of time.’ Pahl (1968)

Pahl, R. (1968). Sociological Models in Geography. In R. Chorley & P. Haggett (Eds.). Socio- Economic Models in Geography. (pp.217-242). London: Methuen. 

The ‘what, how and why’ of Geography 

The seeds of the current situation for geography in all phases were set in the late 1980s. From its beginnings the GA has always played a role in all three elements: the what how and why of Geography and its teaching and learning. The debate about the ‘what’ and ‘why’ was made in an emphatic and well argued way in 1987. The Geographical Association’s publication ‘The Case for Geography’ Edited by Patrick Bailey and Tony Binns in 1987 was the GA’s significant and timely response to Sir Keith Joseph in his address to the Geographical Association at Kings College London 1985 when he was then Secretary of State for Education & Science 

Since then the GA has sought to continue this involvement in the debate in the ‘What’ and ‘why’ of Geography 

These have included: 

• 1999: Geography in the curriculum – A position statement from the GA 

• 2002: GeoVisions - Birmingham Development Education Centre by GAIN and the Geographical Association 

• 2009: ‘A different view – a manifesto for Geography led by David Lambert 

Following closely on from the ‘Case for Geography’ was the development of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in 1987 & the National Curriculum in 1989. GCSE provided a single examination system replacing the bipartite Ordinary (‘O’ level) and Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE). The GCSE geography syllabuses had to cover in their courses and assessments: knowledge, understanding, skills, values and attitudes. Assessment by terminal examinations only formed a part of the final grade awarded. The significant change for most schools and especially those that had taught traditional content based ‘O’ levels was coursework or, more precisely, Geographical Enquiry. Initially, there was a short period of ‘flowering’ of a broader view of geographical content and assessment. In particular, the opportunity to develop geographical enquiry was seen by many in the geographical community to offer a chance not only to test students’ knowledge, understanding and skills, but also to apply those to their own investigations, in the field and secondary research, and while doing so developing their values and attitudes and appreciation that others held differing views. 

The National Curriculum (NC) for geography at Key stages 1, 2 and 3 was an attempt to define the content, ‘The What’ for all maintained schools. The famously cumbersome 183 statements of attainment in the original version were an attempt by the then Conservative Government to define geography mainly as content and it was left to schools to construct courses and schemes of work and approaches to teaching and learning. It is worth noting that an approach to the subject that included Geographical Enquiry chimed well with primary phase teachers. They understood implicitly that children learn best through discovery, finding out and investigating the concrete world, and thereby build up their knowledge understanding and skills, value and attitudes through experience. 

The massive growth in geography and the GA response 

The GA set about moving from ‘the what’ to ‘the how’. Much of our time was spent looking more closely at how we organised and taught the content. Another outcome over time was a move from a focus on teaching to one on learning. The GA worked hard to engage with new National Quangos to support the process of introducing GCSEs and the NC. In the early days this was not helped by a false dichotomy between curriculum content and assessment with the clumsy division between the School Examinations and Assessment Council (SEAC) based in London and the National Curriculum Council (NCC) based in York. 

As the years passed the officers of these public bodies and their professional officers worked hard to make things work and increasingly were involved with the GA in the ‘how’. Thanks are due to Ken Bland, Pat Wilson, Eleanor Rawling, John Westaway, Barbara Jones and others for the way they enabled developments to take place. 

To this day the GA has and is responding to this agenda. 

Again under a Conservative Government we have a new curriculum and amongst all the debate about ‘what’ and ‘why’ there is a clamour for ‘how!

‘It’s the economy stupid’ 

The shift of financial control & school budgets from Local Authority centralised control to schools (Local Management of Schools LMS) took place in the late 1980s. In short, schools had to take over the management of their budgets. The long-term consequences were that LAs’ control of budgets and funding rapidly reduced. It is worth noting that this process has continued to this day although perversely the power now lies with national government’s centralised overview on Academies, Multi Academy Trusts and Academy Chains etc 

When I began working as an Adviser in Cheshire in 1989 there was a growth of finance at the start to fund me and my LA’s programme. At the end in 2002 when I left I was not replaced and even in the final years I was always seeking finance from alternative funding including selling my expertise to schools. 

I achieved this with a Thinking Skills programme where I persuaded the Heads to pay for my time and course costs out of the ‘Best Practice Research Grants’ awarded to their schools. 

With schools ‘holding the purse strings’ the GA also needed to be more explicit about what it could offer 

Big brother 

Two key centralising processes took place during the 1990s that exist to this day. First, the development of School Inspections under the Office for standards in Education (Ofsted). Second, the significant growth of the accountability processes associated with performance management of teachers. This grew rapidly first in 1998 with the ‘National Standards for subject leaders’. 

Over the years more attention has been given to monitoring and evaluating everything including classroom practice and especially the use of pupil progress data. 

 The GA’s response: 

 • By being more explicit about its programmes especially conference including some identifiable CPD element within the conference programmes – ‘The Pathways’ 

• By indicating where our work impacts on pupil progress 

• By supporting appraisal

By supporting the ‘how’ especially as LA Advisory and other external support services disappeared  

By engaging in lesson planning / curriculum planning and curriculum debates such as Humanities v Geography & History 

Support for non-Geographers not just in Early Years / Primary but also KS3 & in Special Education 

So what GA activities did I get involved with?

Shropshire GA Branch 

In 1987, with support from local teachers, Nigel Vaughan, Shropshire’s Humanities Adviser and Tony Thomas Director of The Field Studies Council and his colleagues, I set up the Shropshire GA Branch. 

Wendy Morgan was one of first speakers and provided me, as a parent to two infant age children, my first insight into what young learners could accomplish in primary geography. 

Information Technology Working Group (ITWG) 

Also in 1987, I was invited to join the GA’s ITWG by Andrea Tapsfield. Andrea is another person to whom I owe a great debt of gratitude. Her leadership of what was, at that time, a significant area of growth drew me into the heart of the GA. I gained so much from so many. I mention some here and apologise for leaving some out. Thanks to Neville Grenyer, Mike Milton, Don Garman, Dave Hassall, Andy Phillips, Paula Richardson and John Davidson amongst many others. 

Also John Nanson and Roger Sanders two Shropshire Colleagues who worked on the Weather and IT project. 

Geography Advisers and Inspectors Network (GAIN) 

In the late 1980s/early 1990s most Local Authorities (LAs) in England and Wales set up or expanded their school Advisory Services in response to the new GCSEs and National Curriculum. I was first employed in Shropshire’s Advisory Services and then from 1989 Cheshire’s. GAIN was affiliated to the Geographical Association, a decision agreed partly as some members considered that the GA represented an elitist view of the subject and the curriculum. This situation also arose because some smaller LAs appointed a person to represent Geography, History and the Humanities. There was considerable and often heated debate about the role of Humanities. Thanks are due to Doug Sharp from Solihull LA and Marcia Foley from Kent for the leadership they provided. I also should mention Keith Grimwade, Roger Carter who, like myself, went on to be GA Presidents with an LA background, a group that also includes Mark Higginbottom and Sue Lomas. There were highly influential members of GAIN such as Michael Storm from ILEA whose ‘Five key questions for Geographical Enquiry’ are at the heart of much of the subject’s pedagogy. 

Chris Durbin from Staffordshire was also the inspirational source for many debates and discussions.

Membership and Professional Development Committee (M&PD) 

Prior to becoming Junior Vice President in 1999 I served as Hon Secretary to the GA’s M&PD Committee Chaired by Judy Mansell. This Committee no longer exists, but at this time it played the role described in its title. It carried overall responsibility for Membership and Professional Development activities such as Conference. It also held an overview of Local GA Branches. Each of these areas had a Hon Officer such as Paul McDermott for the GA’s Annual Conference. When it was decided to close down the Committee its activities moved either to Education Standing Committee (Education Group) or to paid staff at GA HQ. There were a number of attempts to raise additional external funds for the GA (later to be called ‘The Third Stream’) For example, an inordinate amount of time spent unsuccessfully seeking National Lottery Funding. 

During this time The GA bought (took out a Mortgage) to buy 160 Solly Street. This came about as the University of Sheffield wanted to reclaim the Fulwood Road building from the GA. The move offered much more space and although Solly Street had none of the charm of Fulwood Road it did give the GA its first ‘home of its own’ with vast amounts of space, much of which remains unused to this day. (Check out the basement!). The building could accommodate more staff both permanent and temporary as well as room for the archive and storage of publications. 

Publications – books and journals 

During the 1990s the GA’s publications flourished. Primary Geographer later Primary Geography (PG) was a shining example of the GA responding to identified needs of teachers and teacher educators. The groundwork by Wendy Morgan and Margaret Mackintosh carries through to this day under the leadership of Fran Martin and more recently Steve Rawlinson and the collective. I am proud to be an author of articles in PG from those days. The growth of the Barnaby Bear books and resources occurred at this time. 

A little known fact about me is that I’ve been airbrushed out of a Barnaby Bear image. It was my arm holding up Barnaby as he posted a letter in “Barnaby Bear goes to Dublin’! 

A highly significant event was the GA’s publication of the first ‘Handbook of Primary Geography’ in 1998 edited by Roger Carter. This was followed by a second edition edited by Stephen Scoffham in 2004. Thanks are due to Roger and Stephen for leading so successfully this mammoth and highly professional task. I was proud to involved in both. This publication challenge was repeated with huge effort and dedication under Tessa Willy’s editorship as “Leading Primary Geography’ in 2020. This is the GA at its most supportive and influential. 

In 1999 I was involved with many other GA members in a GA working group* in producing the two important leaflets ‘Leading Geography Primary’ and ‘Leading Geography Secondary’. 

(* Roger Carter, Wendy Garner, Keith Grimwade, Elaine Jackson, Sue Lomas, Paula Richardson, Linda Thompson and myself.) 

Linda Thompson was on the GA's Secondary Phase Committee when I joined.

This was the GA beginning to get further involved in the Professional Development of Teachers. Professional development 

The decline of LA Advisory Services began in the late 1990s and it became evident that the GA needed to appoint someone to lead our fast developing CPD programme based out of Solly St. I am proud that I was able to work with others to create the post of Professional Development Coordinator and the GA appointed Di Swift in 2001. 

Being the GA’s President is, to this day, the most important public office I have held. It is a source of great pride that I join the roll of honour of 100 plus Presidents that have held office since the Association was founded in 1893. 

I am humbled to be listed alongside some of the ‘greats’ in the world of geography. 

I would like to thank posthumously Mike Bradford and also Derek Spooner and Chris Kington, the three other Presidents who I served with between 1999 and 2003. We worked closely together and very much enjoyed each other’s company. I would also like to thank posthumously Neil Simmonds, Named Trustee; Don Garman, Treasurer and Trevor Bennetts, Council Member for their considerable support alongside Roger Carter and Peter Fox who were Joint Interim CE for most of my Presidential Year. 

The loyalty of GA staff especially Julia Legg and Frances Soar was highly significant in keeping the GA running smoothly. 

GA Chief Executive (CE) 

I have had the good fortune to be involved in a significant development in the leadership and management of the GA through the creation of the role of Chief Executive and the four appointments from 1998 - 2013 

The GA's first CE Martin Curry, served from 1998 – 2002. The role was toprovide leadership of the Solly Street offices as they grew both in the number of personnel and the complexity of operation. Peter Farrell was the second CE appointed to a similar job description,  but resigned for personal reasons during November 2001. I will always be grateful to Roger Carter and Peter Fox for jointly covering the Interim Role of CE in the Summer 2001 and again from Autumn 2001 until David Lambert took up post in late 2002. They provided stability and strong leadership at a difficult time for the GA at Solly Street and more widely. As President, I decided that the job description and salary level of the new CE should be changed to meet the new demands being made on the organisation. In short, we needed a CE and leader at HQ who was a subject expert of some standing who could provide leadership in not just in the Solly Street office, but also in Geography as an academic subject. 

Part of the CE Job description from 2002 illustrates this shift in emphasis and responsibility: The Chief Executive provides dynamic and enterprising leadership of the GA and its team of staff at the Association's headquarters in Sheffield. 

The role demands a high degree of responsibility and considerable initiative in terms of: 

• The areas for which the Chief Executive has special responsibility, i.e. strategic development and planning, and the provision of clear, strategic advice and implementation of agreed policies in partnership with the Governing Body. In the current climate, this particularly includes the future growth of the Association, its external relations, and income generation. 

• Advocacy for the subject, the Association and for members of the geography community (teachers, schools, and other members engaged in geographical education) in the external arena, particularly its relations with national government and external agencies. 

We appointed David Lambert from a very strong field in May 2002 and he took up the post in December after working 6 months notice from The Institute of Education in London. David, as CE, led the GA through many innovative developments including the ‘Action Plan for Geography’ and we became ‘The Trusted Voice for Geography’. 

The Geography team at Solly Street expanded greatly. David also appointed Richard Gill as Finance Manager in 2003 and he served the GA at the highest professional level until his retirement in 2020. In 2013, David Lambert was succeeded by Alan Kinder who holds the post to this day. Alan has had to lead the GA through times of reduced budget and membership while changing the organisation to cope with a greater on-line presence and increased electronic communications with a smaller HQ team. 

GA Named Trustee 2008 – 2014 

After the role of President there is, for me, no higher office than Named Trustee. I am proud to have been a Named Trustee for six years alongside Brian Ellis, Hon Treasurer and Peter Fox. The GA’s three Named Trustees are Governing Body members who have considerable experience of the GA either through previously being a member of the Governing Body or through holding other significant posts within the Association Named Trustees take a special interest in the GA’s finances (including investments) and hold specific roles with regard to staffing matters and the estate. We worked closely with six Presidents : Margaret Roberts, John Halocha, John Hopkin, Fran Martin, Bob Digby and Hazel Barrett. Our activities included: purchasing the Solly St building outright; agreeing new staffing structure, salaries and pensions and appointing Alan Kinder as CE. 

EYPPC 2014 to present 

I have been on EYPPC for six years. I joined at my own request to Anthony Barlow and Simon Catling as I came to the end of six years as a Named Trustee. I joined EYPPC because when I was a Named Trustee I was concerned that EYrs & Primary had been at times been under-recognised and under funded especially in the period after the Action Plan funding came to an end. It was also clear that there was considerable frustration that the EYPPC voice was not being heard. At that time the decline in GA Primary memberships was adding to that weakening of position. The great strength of The GA is its expertise across all phases of education!!! What pleases me immensely is that there has been a significant shift towards EYrs & Primary over the past few years. This shift is not yet complete. Evidence of progress has included the new Handbook and important joint articles such as that written by Paula Owens and Alan Kinder on School Inspections. There are many more including the new arrangements to encourage Primary membership. Through EYPPC I have become part of A Study of Moderators’ Reports on Submissions to the Primary Geography Quality Mark Award Scheme, c.2014/5-2018/19. This is led by Simon Catling and I am delighted to be working alongside Kate Glanville, Jen Lomas, Paula Owens, Steve Rawlinson, Stephen Scoffham and Sharon Witt. 

Honorary Member 2015

It was a surprise then and still is now, to be made an Honorary Member of the GA in 2015. It is not a role that I chose or was elected to. That fact alone gives it real status in my own mind. It was all the more special for the award to be made by the then President Mark Higginbottom. Mark is one of the best and most expert teachers of Geography that I have ever had the opportunity to work with. 

Memories of other Past Presidents and others 

Denys Brunsden producing pairs of boots in his 1987 Presidential Address at The LSE. 

I was very taken with this visual ‘punctuation’ of his life as Geographer. I am also impressed with his life devoted to geography which, in retirement ,was directed to work on the ‘Jurassic Coast’. 

1993: Simon Catling as President leading our celebrations in the GA’s Centennial Year in Sheffield but also in Oxford. How important it was to have a President from a Primary and Early Years background one hundred years from the tentative beginnings in 1893. A really strong message to the world of Geography that the GA had this depth and width of experience within its leadership and membership. 

1996 Rex Walford and especially Land Use UK – what a privilege to know Rex! Even more so to have his support and engagement of our county-wide coverage of I km squares across Cheshire in schools in all phases including the maintained and private sectors. The Chapters about Cheshire in the LUUK Book and the choice of three of my images and one of my ‘Geographical task force’ descriptions in the final publication. A proud moment for me both professionally and personally. 

1998 My good friends Wendy Garner and Elaine Jackson persuading me to stand for election as President, and the embarrassing situation, for all concerned, when it was announced at GA Council that there had been a tie in the voting for President between Derek Spooner and myself. It was resolved in the meeting by a ‘drawing of straws’ which Derek won. I then had to decide whether to continue. It was decided that I would be put forward uncontested for President the following year. 

After the meeting, Derek suggested that we should have gone down the ‘single stump in cricket’ route. I would have still have lost! 

At the start of his GA Presidential Address in 1999, Roger Carter looked around the packed lecture theatre and said, ‘There’s a lot of you… I’m used to seeing you in small groups in pubs and meeting rooms.’ We were those in small groups and as individuals who gained so much from being with Roger. This wasn’t a random action, it was central to Roger’s being. It’s best summed up by a quote from the ‘Geovisions’ project, in which he played such an important part, used in the conclusion of his Address.

‘We 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.’ Roger’s impact on us as individuals was best expressed in his son Alan’s eulogy where he referred to messages from former colleagues, ’ Dad was an inspiration to them, or gave them the start which defined their subsequent career, or helped them at a difficult time. ‘ I am proud to say I was one of those who Roger valued and supported. 

2002 Chris Kington – a quiet voice of reason amongst the clamour. 

2012 Fran Martin’s Conference Address: Her self effacing but engaging opening lines, ‘I failed A level Geography…… twice!’ 

2013 Bob Digby. Working with Bob as a Named Trustee and supporting him in the CE Appointment of Alan Kinder. 

2015 Mark Higginbottom who used part his Presidential Address to share his ideas and experiences of the Worldwise programme. This was about students and them learning geography. That has been at the heart of the GA since 1893. Mark with Sue Lomas have been the driving force behind the ‘Worldwise’ programme which focuses on developing school students’ skills and knowledge of Geography. This has been a massive commitment for them in terms of time and energy in the UK and overseas. They have made this highly successful programme one of the GA’s jewels. 

2018 At Christchurch in Oxford in May with so many Past Presidents, Past and present office holders and members who have given so much to the GA and invited guests. 

Stephen Scoffham 2018 - 19, Gill Miller 2019 - 20 abd Susan Pike 2020 -21 

I want to thank these three Presidents for their leadership of the GA as it changed the way it operates. This is both in terms of leadership especially in the Governing Body with the appointment of Chair, but also in the way the GA operates in a world with many more ways of communicating with each other. On top of this, has been the impact of the Covid 19 Pandemic on the operation of the GA and especially the extra demands of putting the Annual Conference on line in both 2020 and 2021. 

Those who didn’t become Presidents (yet) 

This is my list and includes many who served the GA over long periods of time and at the very least deserve to be recognised for the part they have played: 

Neil Simmonds, Trevor Bennetts, Andrea Tapsfield, David Lambert & Tony Thomas 

GA HQ Staff 

The GA owes a deep gratitude to all those based at the HQ in Solly Street. There were massive demands created by this period of considerable change. I especially wish to mention Julia Legg, Frances Soar and Richard Gill. For those of us who have known the GA for a long time they ‘were’ the GA in Sheffield 

Post Script

1976 Sheila Jones 

I regularly visit a friend at a Retirement Village in Bristol who lives near Sheila Jones. She was the first female teacher to be President of the GA. Recently she shared with me an offprint of her 1976 Presidential Address. It all seemed so fresh and served as a reminder of the common cause we have been engaged with for the past 128 years. 

These are her final two paragraphs 

 “In conclusion I should like to refer to part of Professor Stanislawski's obituary to Carl Sauer who died last year: "He rejected the proposition that a teacher was obligated to pour knowledge into students while they were comfortably unaware - a method that may result in saturated sponges but hardly artesian wells of inspiration." You will all realize that this has been a very personal and consequently rather superficial consideration of the challenges facing us today. I hope that you may disagree with some, although not all of my opinions and if so, you may be provoked into considering your own point of view and possibly in clarifying your own aims and objectives. If so, then I will have achieved what I hope to achieve in the classroom, that is, a statement made by Carl Sauer in one of his last conversations - "I tried to encourage students to keep on thinking”. 

 D. Stanislawski, Carl Ortwin Sauer, 1 889-1 975, Journal of Geography, vol. 74, 1975, pp. 548- The Challenge of Change in Geography Teaching Author(s): 

SHEILA M. JONES Geography, November 1976, Vol. 61, No. 4 (November 1976), pp. 195-205 Published by: Geographical Association 

Tell the world about learning geography’ Jeremy Krause Geography January 2003 Vol 88(1) 4 - 14