2001: Diane Swift

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

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

From the entry by Jeremy Krause:

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

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

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

Di was involved in a number of key projects.

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

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

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

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

Argumentation - Why argue (in Geography and Science)

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

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

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

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

She has worked on a number of publications.

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

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

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

References

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

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

Update - June 2025

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

Valuing Places

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

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

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

Key Aims

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

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

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

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

The project had a number of regional officers.

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

References

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

Teaching Geography, Spring 2005 - special edition,