Printed copies will be available for those who join us face to face in Guildford.
I can't wait to collect one. Thanks to everyone who was involved in
Visit the conference page and download the handbook by clicking the PROGRAMME link.
You can also book your tickets if you haven't already done so. You can see the REMOTE sessions in the handbook too.
Attendees at the GA Conference have a number of pathways which they can follow if they are interested in particular aspects of the subject e.g. GIS.
These are often flagged up with colours in the conference programme.
Chris Winter and Kit Rackley have worked to identify sessions which relate to the theme of decolonial and anti-racist education. I am grateful to them for their time.Delighted that this year’s #decolonisegeography pathway for @The_GA conference is now out. Kindly put together by @geogramblings and Chris Winter, it offers a route through conference for those interested in decolonial and anti-racist education #GAConf22 https://t.co/7QSHUeyRjT
— Decolonising Geography (@DecoloniseGeog) March 17, 2022
There are some very useful sessions which have been identified.
These have been published on the Decolonising Geography website.
A PDF can be downloaded here.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g2VctmPkLdwRKgzb2dLga5NKRrgplprf/view?usp=sharing
It will be lovely to have my hand on a physical copy of the final programme and go through it with a highlighter as a ritual of attending conference since 2004.
It will be lovely to have my hand on a physical copy of this.
Booking is now open for the full range of events at the conference as well.
I hope to see as many of you there as possible to celebrate being able to gather again in person.
This is the 700th post on the blog, which tells the story of the 106 GA Presidents to date, and also the wider story of my own Presidency and other moments from the GA's history (and geography).
A very busy month once again, as they all are for GA Presidents in the run up to the GA Conference in April.
Started fairly quickly on the 1st of February with a GA Cambridge Branch lecture on supply chains. This is a good session and one with a lot of content which I'm happy to offer to other GA Branches or audiences. There's always plenty of relevant news stories in the media each week related to supply chains, including a timely article in the New York Times as well as a Guardian feature on a day in the life of a lorry driver. Check out the activity at your local GA Branch.
The 2nd of February was the Governance Working Group - this used to be called the President Group, and meets ahead of Governing Body to set the agenda and ensure that all the papers that are needed for that important business are in place.
Sadly, that was also the day I tested postive for COVID19, and the next week was a bit of a write off although I kept up to date with my inbox as much as possible when I felt up to it. Best wishes to everyone who has had COVID, and please make sure you get your vaccines and booster when offered to give the best protection if (and probably when) you test positive.
I am needle-phobic but felt no hesitation in going and getting jabbed at the earliest opportunity.
I spent some time during this period pottering on what I could do, lacking in energy a little and not able to do much for quite a few days:
- Judging five resources for stage 1 of the GA's Publishers Awards, ahead of a meeting of those who were sharing their thoughts to take them forward to the next phase.
- Supporting the Worldwise Board in planning for iGEO 2022
- Reading through Eleanor Rawling's work on the National Curriculum Framework (following on from GTE)
- Responding to a range of queries from GA members and others with regards to work / projects / conference etc.
- Worked on thinking through the early phases of a range of exciting projects, some of which will see the light of day and support teachers in particular parts of the country
- Reviewing book proposals
- Working on a GIS book
- Working on ERASMUS projects: GI Pedagogy and D3 - both of which are coming to a close this year.
The GA President serves as a Trustee for the three years of their Presidential journey, and joins the GA's Governing Body.
They join a group of people who serve a particular period of time - usually between three and six years.
There are named trustees who are responsible for additional aspects of the GA's work, particularly finances. I also filled in an audit sheet. We often reflect on the nature of our skills and consider how to broaden the diversity of this group in the widest sense. There are also co-opted members, who are brought in because of their particular skillset and backgrounds.
Thanks to all those who have served, currently served, or will serve on Governing Body.
Wednesday 9th was a busy day.
I started with a session for the East London Geography Hub, presenting along with Brendan Conway.
This was on my Presidential theme of Everyday Geographies.
This was followed by me hosting GeogChat - a regular weekly twitter chat that takes place on Wednesday. The theme was about the Pandemic and its influence on the curriculum. I shared ideas and had some excellent contributions from others.
I blogged about the session here.
Goodness me. You have finally got the reigns of Geog Chat. You are the most powerful person that I know. Perhaps we should simply rename Geography as 'Alan'.
— GeographyPods (@MattPodbury) February 8, 2022
I also put together a session for teachers in Liverpool. They have the support of the Archdiocese of Liverpool School Improvement Trust (ALPSIT)
Thanks to the legendary Hywel Roberts for getting me involved in this event and other work with the trust which will continue up to the summer.
Our Geography specialist for our Subject Leader conf is Alan Parkinson @geoblogs Alan is Head of Geography @ King's Ely Jnr in Cambridgeshire, Author of 'Why Study Geography?', Chartered Geographer & Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society & award winning innovative teacher! pic.twitter.com/1lvJ5fvSin
— ALPSIT (@ALPSITnews) February 3, 2022
There were over 100 people signed in when I joined on the Tuesday to do an hour long canter through Primary curriculum making ideas, with some contributions from the thinking of Paula Owens, Simon Catling and several others.
I'm going to continue to work with ALPSIT until the end of the academic year by providing some ideas for their ASSEMBLE platform.
I popped to school to pick up some marking and other bits and pieces.
The final weekend of the half term was the 25th Charney Manor Primary Conference.
I was keeping an eye on the weather as there were two named storms in the forecast, the second of which would ultimately disrupt my arrival at the conference which was a disappointment. In the end, however, the storm was to have the last word as the Conference venue lost its power, so the whole event had to be cancelled until next year.
I returned to school for the final week of the month. A busy week it was too, with my continuing recovery from COVID:
- Further edits on articles for GA journals
- Reports, parents' evening and a Saturday Open morning to attend at school
- Some writing of examination materials for a company
- Some consultancy with AVANTIS, who create Virtual Worlds.
- Preparation for a 2nd session with teachers from a London based MAT - looking at concepts and enquiry questions in the curriculum
This now brings me amazingly to the half way point of my Presidency. It's going very quickly as everyone told me it would.
Twitter stats
As you'll have seen from the blog, and the 106 Presidents so far, a relatively small number have been teachers (or former teachers) when they became President.
If you are a teacher, you may have an idea of putting yourself forward at some point - whether during your career or after retirement, we have an exciting vacancy in the Senior part of the school which means you get a chance to work with me at my school.
The job is shown below, and the link to the vacancy page is here.
If you are interested, feel free to get in touch with any queries.
Here are the people involved in the first 25 sessions in the programme, which have now been added to the blog.
I was pleased to be the first speaker at this year's Geography Teacher Educators' Conference.
My presentation, with a few redactions can be seen here.
It is linked to my work on the GA Presidents blog.
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!
— Geographical Association (@The_GA) January 6, 2022
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
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.
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:
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:
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.
The GA has carried out a great deal of research throughout its history and released papers and pamphlets at intervals, often involving the President of the time, or former and future Presidents. The latest report has been compiled over the last few months and is now available to view.
Download a copy of the report here.
New geography teachers lack the confidence to teach fieldwork after having limited experience of it during the pandemic, @The_GA warnshttps://t.co/DzJgTBx14c
— Tes (@tes) January 27, 2022
December saw a range of activity in the first part of the month which came at the end of a long and varied term which was particularly tiring and challenging, with growing COVID cases in school, and waiting to find out more about the new variant and its potential implications for us, as cases rose and the threat of another lockdown began to loom the week before Christmas.
December 1st was the first of another month of activity supporting GA branches.The GA Birmingham Branch has continued with a programme of excellent speakers, including Ben Hennig.
Thanks to those teachers who came along, and to Bob for sending a recording of the session, which I think went very well.
The 2nd of the month saw the latest of our Parents' Evenings via Parent Cloud. These may well become one of the legacies of the pandemic, with the end to face to face appointments, or perhaps hybrid events.
My booster jab was given on the 3rd. Many people in the world are yet to receive their first vaccine, although impressively over 800 million Indians have received their first dose. It turns out this is going to very important with the Omicron variant.
ERASMUS projects have continued and we have negotiated extensions on the project as they have been majorly affected by the pandemic which has impacted on our chances to work with the teachers who are part of the project. They have been delayed and subject to alteration.
Zaragoza in Spain is a city that I have never been to (yet) and my trip there had to be cancelled last weekend following the emergence of the Omicron variant and changes to travel arrangements.
I also had to cancel a proposed trip to Romania in the New Year, and an event in London as well due to people having to isolate.
I also filled in my CPD log for my Chartered Geographer status this week. I have been a Chartered Geographer since April 2007, and the GA Conference will mark my 15th anniversary as a CGeog (Teacher).
To find out more about this opportunity to get accreditation for your CPD and other efforts check out the Chartered Geographers section of the RGS website.
I had a GIS resource to work on and spent some time on that as well.
I also put out the call for papers for the session that I have had accepted at the 100th IGU in Paris. If you would like to be part of the session you need to submit your abstract by January 11th. Let me know if you would like further information.
I also had to get copy for the Spring 2022 issue of my Webwatch column for GA Magazine's Spring 2022 issue finished. The magazine is getting a face lift in 2022 with a new format which means the full version of Webwatch will now be available to download with a smaller version in the magazine.
With the GA now passing 10 000 plus members (as you may have read in a piece I wrote for the GA website)
Christmas was a bit of a pause for most people.
I continued to potter on projects during the school holidays:
- The first day of the holidays I had a meeting with Alan Kinder.
- Wrote an article on the KS2 work I am doing at school. This will appear in 'Primary Geography'.
- Worked on ERASMUS project outcomes for GI Pedagogy and also D3 - check out the course we have created here.
- I also bought and started reading David Gardner's new book, which is out now as an eBook - it's excellent, and comes with an accompanying GeogPod broadcast which I listened to this week as well.
- I worked on finishing a new session called 'Click and Collect' to present at a number of GA Branches this coming year. It links with another resource I'm working on, which also connects with the idea of Supply Chains. That will all emerge in 2022, as part of my 'Curriculum Vitae'
Omicron cases continued to rise as we entered the final few weeks of 2021 and many of the teachers I follow on Twitter tested positive.
Here are the Twitter stats for the month as usual.
This is the 2nd issue of the 2nd volume of the ROUTES journal.
Well worth seeking out, particularly as I am pleased to have an article in the journal of my own research into the people who have previously held the position of GA President which is located in this very blog.
The editorial for the issue is here.
Well done to the other contributors to this issue as well:
Examining the impact of the East Coast Low Storm, June 2016 on Narrabeen-Collaroy Beach, Sydney, AustraliaWhy not suggest to your students that they write and submit an article for a future issue - all the information on how to do that is on the Routes website.
Thanks to editors Cyrus Nayeri and Lizzie Rushton, and the peer reviewers and to all those who have supported the journal in various ways, including submitting articles.
Cite my article as shown below:
Parkinson, A. (2022) Researching the changing professional profile of the Geographical Association’s Presidents 1893-2021. Routes 2(2): 67-79It's time for another new GA President. Another year has passed. The President for the next year is Fiona Sheriff. She is another female...
