Fiona Sheriff and the Open University

Fiona Sheriff is the current Vice President of the Geographical Association. She will take over as President in September 2026.

Fiona has previously shared her journey through the Open University on a LinkedIn post. This sort of detail will probably end up in her entry on the GA Presidents blog - which is a while off yet.

"When I started studying for my A Levels back in 2004 I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. Not all of my friends wanted to go to university, and it wasn’t the ‘normal’ thing to do where I lived. A few things happened during my A Levels which meant I missed large chunks of tuition and really struggled catching up. This meant I finished with 2 A Levels and 2 AS levels. My best grade was Geography, and my teacher Anna was so kind and supportive along the way.

Fast forward to mid 2007 and I saw an advert for OU on the TV. 

I knew I didn’t have enough UCAS points for a traditional uni route so looked up the OU, as despite my A level results, I loved learning and felt I wanted to do a degree ‘for fun’.

At the time there were no tuition fees, just course fees for each unit. As I came from a low income family I received financial support which included money to buy a laptop. I think I paid around £500 for my whole degree.

I switched and changed units a fair amount and decided that the ‘open’ route was best for me, so that I could study units which interested me - these just happened to be mostly geographically themed. I worked full time throughout the 5 years I studied for and graduated in 2013 at a lovely ceremony at the Barbican in London.

What did my OU degree teach me?

• Resilience - it isn’t easy studying and working full time! Many an essay was written in small chunks over time (sometimes at 3am!)
• To be adaptable - not everything always go to plan
• To be resourceful - looking further afield than the associated materials, which can be hard when you don’t have a tutor to catch up with in-person
• To be grateful for different education opportunities.
• That anyone can get a degree with the right support. Your A levels do not define you.

18 year old me, with her very short list of A levels results never thought she would be a teacher, head of department, a ‘go-to’ person for geography, an author, a leader of CPD, a Fellow, a consultant or the Vice-President of the Geographical Association .

Without the OU I wouldn’t have my degree and my path would have looked incredibly different. There are routes to higher education qualifications, and sometimes it might seem like a degree is unobtainable. But do check out the OU. I am very grateful for my time studying with them."

This is a great reminder of the value of lifelong learning.

Many previous GA Presidents were connected with universities for most of their careers.

Current ways of studying are very different to back then.

There are also plenty of links with the Open University and the Geographical Association (and the Royal Geographical Society).

One of my first acts when joining the GA in 2008 was to travel with David Lambert to a meeting with the late Clive Barnett and the late Doreen Massey. The other person in that meeting was Professor Joe Smith - now Director of the Royal Geographical Society!

A new role for me at the RGS-IBG

I've been connected with the RGS-IBG for quite a number of years in various ways, as were quite a few other former GA Presidents. I'm now about to strengthen those connections a little more.

In 2007 I became a Fellow of the RGS and Chartered Geographer (Teacher) and have been ever since.

In 2008, I was awarded their Ordnance Survey Award for excellence in Secondary Geography Teaching. This was a proud moment and came at the culmination (I thought) of my teaching career as I was joining the Geographical Association and stepping out of the classroom. I didn't realise I'd be back again within five years.

I had also spoken at the RGS as part of a student day - with Alastair Owens actually - although I only found that out much later when digging through some old papers. It's a wonderful thing to stand on the stage in the Ondaatje Theatre where so many greats have stood before. We also took students there for a range of events, and I took part in an event representing the Guardian / DfE once as well. I ended up having lunch with Nicholas Crane and have bumped into all sorts of explorers and 'celebrity' geographers at times in the lunch area.

Between 2008 and 2011 I worked closely with the RGS - particularly Steve Brace - who is now the GA Chief Executive of course, and Claire Wheeler (now Claire Brown) along with the rest of their APG team as part of the Action Plan for Geography. This meant regular meetings at either the RGS or Solly Street at a time when Michael Palin was president.

From 2011 onwards for several years I contributed resources to the RGS website, thanks to Steve Brace. This included:

- From the Field resources - working with PhD researchers to translate their work into the classroom

- 'A' level / fieldwork materials funded by a Data Skills project

- a resource on Hunstanton's famous stripy cliffs

- the education materials for Felicity Aston's Going Beyond funded trip to the Pole of Cold - these won an award from the SAGT.

If you are a fellow, you will have received your electronic 'ballot paper' for the elections for Council for June 2024 and will perhaps have noticed that I have put myself forward for the post of Vice President: Education. I had to keep this to myself for a while.

This blog post would have been a request to vote for me in an election, but as it turned out I stood unopposed, so will be confirmed in this role at the AGM of the RGS in June, the same day as the RGS's Awards are handed out.

From June I shall therefore be taking on the role of Vice President: Education at the RGS and have a place on RGS Council for a four year term of office.

Thanks to the fine people who proposed me for the position, including a Polar explorer and some very excellent geography teacher colleagues.

Thanks also must go to my predecessor as VP Education: Mel Norman, who has also been closely associated with the Geographical Association. She Chaired and was Co-Chair/Secretary of the GA's Education Group and was also editor of 'Teaching Geography' for a lengthy period. 

She taught PGCE Geographers for many years - I visited her cohorts a few times while working for the GA - and is also closely associated with the organisation of the Charney Manor Primary Geography Conference. I'm hoping she will pass on more of her wisdom, much as she did when I started my GA Presidency. Speaking of which, Mel is one of those people who has not been GA President (yet) but would be fantastic in the role. She has received awards from the GA for her work in a range of spheres.

If you're going to be at the AGM / Awards or reception in the evening it would be fantastic to catch up. 

I shall be back with more requests as I get started on the role in the summer. 

I look forward to working with all the various Council and committee members, RGS staff and the new incoming President Professor Dame Jane Francis, who received the RGS's Patron's Medal in 2022.

There is work to be done to ensure that all the ongoing support that the RGS offers for teachers meets their needs, and continues to be responsive and inclusive to the changing needs of the profession. I'm excited to offer my support in various ways.

Image: Sam Parkinson

Hina Robinson - the new GA Vice President

Good luck to Hina - check back in a year's time to see her entry on the blog...

Congratulations to Hina Robinson (@RobboGeog), the new @The_GA Vice President (and President in 2024-25). Already a huge figure in the Geography education community (and a good friend), @geography_DAF and I are really looking forward to working with you in you new role! pic.twitter.com/S0oPDUSSPo

— Alastair Owens (@AlastairHackney) September 1, 2023

R J Unstead

While in the GA Archive I came across the manuscript of an appreciation of the work of A J Herbertson: a legend from the very origins of the GA, handwritten by R J Unstead.

R J Unstead was a connection with the early days of the GA as well, having been a teacher who was influenced by hearing Halford Mackinder speak. He wrote about Herbertson, and that was featured in a 1955 issue of 'Geography'.

Source:

UNSTEAD, J. F. “A. J. Herbertson and His Work.” Geography, vol. 50, no. 4, 1965, pp. 343–47. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40565958. Accessed 19 Aug. 2022.

Here is the piece as it featured in 'Geography', in a special issue devoted to A J Herbertson.

Here is the manuscript:

He wrote a great many books which were published during the middle part of the 20th Century.

His obituary was published in 'Geography' in 1966, and written by Olive Garnett.

Source

Garnett, Olive. “JOHN FREDERICK UNSTEAD.” Geography, vol. 51, no. 2, 1966, pp. 151–53. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40566076. Accessed 19 Aug. 2022.

I lack an image of R J Unstead if anyone has any memories or is able to provide one from the 1960s.

A chance to feature on this blog in the future...

 

Some people ask from time to time what they can do to get more involved with the Geographical Association -  other than the obvious way which is to become a member in the first place.

We have the Phase committees (including Early Years, Secondary and Post-16/HE) and other Special Interest Groups (SIGs) which have a changing roster of members and activity.

There are opportunities to write for the GA's journals: articles and contributions can take various forms and be of differing lengths.

Teachers can also apply to be Consultants to the GA, and work comes through fairly regularly. I've just completed some work with a game design company for example.

There is now a chance for you to put yourself forward to get involved with the journey that I am currently involved with, and apply to be a future President of the Geographical Association. There are also positions for trustees and governing body roles.

Details are published in the GA magazine for Autumn 2020.

You could be the person to become GA President after me.....

Stepping up

Regular readers will know that I started this blog back in April 2019, when I heard that I was going to be the GA President in 2021-22
The plan is to create a blog for each of the GA Presidents that has been in 'office' since 1893.

I'm now up to 1977, and I have exactly one year remaining of the blog, which will end with the President for 2021-22. This means another post every week or so for the next year. 
All of the remaining posts are in draft, some of them, more close to finishing than others.

Today also saw the changeover of roles, and I am now the Vice President of the Geographical Association. Plenty of work to do in the coming year.