'Discover Geography' - shortlisted for a Teach Secondary award

The Discover Geography series has its own page on the Collins website, with links now to the Hub digital materials that I worked on to support the series and the webinar that was recorded when we launched it.

I was pleased to hear that the series has been shortlisted for the Teach Secondary Awards 2026.

Here are the other shortlisted resources in the 'Curriculum improvement' category.

The winner is announced in November.

Oak KS3 Curriculum - taking shape ready for the Autumn

 

The Geographical Association has been producing a KS3 Curriculum for the Oak National Academy over the last year. 

The previous year,  the GA worked to develop a whole Primary curriculum, which can be viewed and downloaded here. I wrote part of this and also acted as a subject reviewer.

For the KS3 project, I have been working for the last year as a subject reviewer. 

This means that I have been able to read through quite a few of the units and help develop them to be ready for uploading. 

These will be helpful for those who need a framework for their work, units to plug in and use straight away or models to use for future planning. It may save time for some.

Nordics

We will be introducing a new unit to Year 7. 

This draws on some work produced by Karen Corfield from Discover the World Education.

You can find the resources here - and sign up to download them for free.

Changing the subject

In 2025, I am going to be working on some curriculum projects.
I think it's time for a change - a step in a new direction.

Let's assume that you are going to be redesigning a KS3 curriculum.
You don't need to keep anything that you already do.
You don't need to do topics because they are in the GCSE specification and you want students to study them before they start their GCSE course.
You have the chance to do something new, and get rid of something else to make space for it.

I'd be really interested to see what sorts of geographical topics you would add in if you had the choice (which you probably do by the way) and what you'd drop to leave time for them (you've got plenty of curriculum time to play with after all...)
Go wild.... or play it safe.


I'll share a summary of the responses of course, and who know it might influence my curriculum making in 2025.

Image: Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license

'What are we teaching?' - a review

The latest book by geography teacher Richard Bustin was published by Crown House Publishing in October 2024. It is an extension of the work carried out by Richard for his PhD, and a previous book published by Springer Nature.

Richard's PhD was based on his involvement in the work of the GeoCapabilities project. 

I am proud to have been part of phase 2 of this project, which has had three phases to date. My involvement came when the project developed the ideas of curriculum making and connected it with the idea of vignette and the use of artefacts. All of these are referenced in the book.

GeoCapabilities began in 2012 with a pilot project led by the American Association of Geographers. This work is summarised in the online journal RIGEO. The first phase was funded by the AAG.

Read the article by Lambert, Solem and Tani here.

At the GA Conference in 2012, I co-presented a session on the digitalearth ERASMUS+ funded project which I had been part of - a multi-million pound project, and I helped to lead one of the sub-groups which took me to various European locations including Klagenfurt. This was with Michael Solem and John Lyon, and was an interesting experience, and led to me getting involved ultimately with Michael Solem's work.

In 2013, GeoCapabilities became an EU funded programme as a 3 year Comenius project (539079-LLP-1-2013-1-UK-COMENIUS-CMP).

GeoCapabilities is international in scope. It embraces in how geography is understood and expressed in national school standards. The capabilities approach helps geography educators everywhere to articulate the importance of children learning how to think geographically. This is part of what is called curriculum leadership.

I joined the project team, working on behalf of University College London. I also co-presented at several events with the legend that is Duncan Hawley.

In the 2nd phase I attended meetings in Sheffield, Bruges, Brussels and Helsinki.

In Brussels we discussed the way that we might share the work of teachers who we were working with the ideas we had developed. These included the idea of 'curriculum artefacts' which went along with David Lambert's previous development of 'curriculum making' as an important activity for teacher to engage in. I suggested the relatively new (at the time) technology of ESRI StoryMaps.

Richard has looked to extend the ideas from the project across the curriculum. Inevitably there are quite a few references to geography, but he also develops some thoughts on how this could be applied to other curriculum areas. There is something here for teachers of most subject areas.

Richard's book is not only about geography but attempts to apply the geocapabilities framework to all the major curriculum subjects. An introduction sets out the journey that Richard has been on since his first involvement in the project. This is an important section as it sets the scene but also outlines the development of the approach he advocates. It is research-informed but also practical in nature.

Part 1 of the book is called Theory. 

It provides some wider reading and also develops some conclusions. Some of the wider reading was not to my taste when I read it, but it all counts in helping to develop a personal 'philosophy' on the complex nature of the job teachers do, and why we do what we (choose to) do.

The first section considers which knowledge is the most important, with the story of a Māori story recounting the formation of glaciers which would not be viewed as significant as the more 'scientific' explanation but nonetheless is 'a different form of truth' and helps get away from the 'single story' that some schools would have - focussing on the particular story that the awarding body wants them to tell to meet a bullet point on a specification. He moves through the previous 'Trad vs. Progressive' binary which was always unhelpful, and introduces those who are not geographers (and have probably heard David Lambert's work before) to the idea of Futures 1, 2 and 3 (alternative curriculum models).

A reference point for this is Michael Gove's 'infamous' and deluded claim from 2016 that people had 'had enough of experts' though a recent visit to a private dentist for complex root canal treatment confirmed that I'd rather have asked him than a local plumber. We need to counter the tide of fake news, which is lifted by AI and the actions of governments in more than one country... USA 2025-2028 is not a serial I am looking forward to.

As Richard says on p.22, "Teachers need to be the experts in the classroom. They need to be experts in the subjects they are teaching."

Sadly, in many schools, teacher recruitment and retention and an ageing workforce (of which I am definitely one) means that many pupils are not taught by someone who not only completed a geography degree but has also avidly maintained their knowledge of the discipline since they paraded across a stage in a gown and mortar board.

On p.29, the idea of expert knowledge is then applied to the students too. Richard talks about showing a picture of James Hutton: 'the father of modern geology" who lived in the 18th century. Which means of course he was ignorant of the basics of plate tectonics which even Year 4 students can now confidently talk about... they have more knowledge than the founding father of the entire subject. So what knowledge we teach now will retain its power during the students' life time - let alone beyond.

Geography is a rapidly changing discipline, with GIS and geospatial technology - supported by AI - developing at pace. This section also outlines differences between curriculum choices made in England, Scotland and Wales.

Chapter 4 introduces Amartya Sen and his work as a way to explore the knowledge work that Richard carefully outlines in the first 3 chapters. This is where he references and explores the work carried out in his PhD and the previous book for Springer which is very much more geography and capabilities focussed. The diagram he includes on p.67 of the book is key here.

It includes the importance of agency, which is key.

He outlines some of the other thinkers who have worked in the field of capabilities in education, which is useful, and includes the curriculum making diagram which geographers will again be very familiar with (I hope). This points out the importance of teacher choices, and includes a sentence that most teachers will relate to:

"A lesson at the end of the day on a Friday afternoon might look very different to the same lesson with the same class on a Monday morning..."

Part 2 of the book is called Theory into Practice.

This is where Richard looks at other curriculum areas. Each of these is called 'What might make.... <insert subject here> a powerful knowledge?'

This returns the thinking to the idea of knowledge(s) and the implication that to unlock this requires what Margaret Roberts has called "powerful pedagogy" which is where we come in...

Richard looks at the following curriculum areas:

• Mathematics
• English literature and language
• Science
• Humanities
• Creative Arts
• Languages
• Physical education

The final section looks at how to move towards a whole-school capabilities curriculum, which would take rather more effort but would also be the best way to ensure that the ideas gained traction. It's difficult for one subject to work in a different way to others, especially in a world of MATs and their 'corporate' nature. I teach in an Independent school currently, having spent a considerable amount of time in a state school where my creative and 'disruptive' tendencies were not always welcome.

There is no set structure that each of these chapters follow, as each subject area is so different in the established frameworks for knowledge and the chosen pedagogies. In my school, regular testing is an important element of science, and the use of gamification is common in MFL.

Each chapter looks at some previous methods of teaching the subject and explores the evolution of current established methods, which are predominantly the result of teacher choice. When I first started teaching in 1988, the Key Geography series was the choice... which meant a textbook-driven pedagogy, which was lamentable looking back, and which I talked about in my recent session at Practical Pedagogies 2024.

On pp.135-6 Richard also discusses the need to de/colonise curricula, and that the Humanities have a legacy of ignoring discussions about what was taught and how it was framed. He references Danny Dorling and Carl Lee's excellent book here, which reminds us that the word 'power' can mean lots of things: as explored by Daryl Sinclair in a recent GA session, Christine Counsell in the excellent new KS3 History scheme she is coordinating, and also Doreen Massey's work on "power geometries". We have powerful choices to make as teachers...  There are some excellent suggestions for readings in this important area contained in this section, including Mark Sheehan's work on a "culturally responsive" curriculum. Read this Open Access UCL for some further Historical thinking.

The book is also in some ways a CPD handbook for a department (or even an SLT team) to use to engage with the capabilities approach. There are discussion questions at the end of each section, which could be used by teachers working together to develop their practice. This would take a while to work through, but it would be interesting to see the outcomes, particularly if the approach was taken across a whole school.

Richard has drawn on a wide range of sources and worked hard to show how the capabilities approach can work across a range of subject areas... particularly in PE... and ends with a reminder that we have the power in our own classrooms, and should be the curriculum makers. As I said when I worked for the Geographical Association and led sessions for young teachers, every teacher is a Head of Geography, because if they're not actually holding that post... they're teaching particular students rather than that person... 

It is very well written, and easy to digest as Richard unpicks the threads of how we have arrived at the current position we find ourselves in. With the deadline for the 'call for evidence' for the Government's Curriculum and Assessment Review coming at the end of the week, and the next stages when subjects will be looked at in detail, this book has arrived at the perfect time for schools who want to take a fresh look at why they do what they do.

Recommended for a departmental CPD library or as a book to hand to someone who has expressed an interest in taking on extra responsibilities or particularly enjoys the act of curriculum making.

Disclosure:

My copy was a review copy provided by the publisher, but I have also purchased a copy for my department's CPD library.

Published by Crownhouse in 2024

Paperback, 212pp

ISBN: 9-781785-837-180

Other resources:

A PPT produced by Richard on the GA website.

Curriculum and Assessment Review - call for evidence by the RGS

 

An RGS-heavy day today alongside my teaching.

This post is a cross-posting from my dedicated RGS blog - please go and check it out if you haven't already. It shares all the news linked to my role as Vice President: Education. This curriculum review will be one of the things I'm interested in for the next year or so.

Joined a very interesting Zoom call followed by some emails related to the opening of the RGS' request for your thoughts as part of the 'call for evidence' of the Francis Curriculum Review. That request is now open as of lunchtime today.

New on the RGS website is this call for your thoughts ahead of the Curriculum and Assessment Review for England, which is being chaired by Becky Francis.

At the moment, the review is in a phase where they call for evidence.

This evidence will inform later stages of the consultation.

The Government has launched an open call for evidence to inform its curriculum and assessment reviewfor England, which is being chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.

The review spans key stages 1 to 4, and 16 to 19 education, and will look closely at the challenges to attainment for young people, and the barriers which many children face – in particular those who are socio-economically disadvantaged, or with special educational needs or disability (SEND).

The review is wide ranging and is seeking evidence from young people and parents, teachers and lecturers, leaders, experts and employers on how the curriculum and assessment system can ensure all young people are prepared for life and work.The Society will be responding to the call for evidence and we want to hear your views to help us formulate our response. 

In particular:

• We know that many in education feel the geography curriculum at GCSE is overloaded. Do you agree? If so, how can the load be reduced while keeping a coherent curriculum? What should assessment look like?
• We often hear from young people that the geography curriculum is not relevant to them and the world they now live in. What changes could be made to improve this?
• We believe fieldwork is an essential element of geography in schools. How can high quality fieldwork provision for all students be assured? How should it be assessed?
• We believe that geography is the central home for learning about climate change and action. Do you agree? How would you describe the value a geographical perspective brings to understanding and responding to climate change?
• We recognise that spatial data skills are vital for employability, especially within the growing green careers sectors. How should these be embedded across the different key stages? How should teachers be supported to deliver this element of the curriculum?

We are keen to collect the views of everyone, but those working in geography education in some ways are likely to be more affected by the outcomes of this review, as it filters through into official curriculum documents which more schools will be legally obliged to follow.

Please submit by the 4th of November.

Article in Teaching Times

I was contacted by Teaching Times who were interested in the session I had planned for the GA Conference 2024 on 'Everyday Geographies', which was called 'Wake up, smell the geography'. I turned it into a piece which fitted their structure and it has now been published on their website. A recent piece on GIS was written by Katie Hall I noticed.

You will need a subscription to read the whole piece, but you can read the first part at least.

Subscribers will also be able to see the final section where there is a chance for you to get in touch and share your own everyday curriculum adventures...

School's out

My 11th year is now over and this is the first week of the summer holidays. I've already been quite busy with some external projects and PGQM moderation, and work related to my new RGS role.

One of my jobs is to finalise some documents ahead of the arrival of our new headteacher, who wants to get up to speed on our curriculum across the Prep school.

This is our newly updated Curriculum journey / roadmap for the new academic year.

We are tweaking all the content as always.

Zombie Geographies

A new article in the TES from Steve Brace. It explores the persistence of some topics in the school curriculum, instead of exploring some of the newer curriculum thinking and relevant topics for an age of climate breakdown.

I first heard the term being used by John Morgan at a seminar at the Institute of Education, although I had explored this idea in 2007-8 when I worked as one of the CfBT Regional advisors at the time of a new curriculum, and put together a presentation of such case studies (which included Mt. St. Helens and Kobe as it happens) put to the Rick Astley song 'Never gonna give you up' (before his own current resurgence)... as a reminder of the need to update resources and as David Lambert said on the first page of the GA's manifesto 'a different view'

“we may need to throw out crusty old favourites … in favour of… lessons that challenge students to make geographical sense of their own lives and experiences”

‘Teachers should question whether presenting 30-year-old images of people's lives and circumstances is appropriate’: @SteveBraceGeog on the problem of ‘zombie’ teaching resources in geography classroomshttps://t.co/U3ETNb6bFg

— Tes (@tes) March 6, 2024

Fawcett Fellowship Research Questionnaire - your help requested

I'm proud to have been a UCL-IOE Fawcett Fellow for this academic year, working with others to explore curriculum thinking and epistemic quality in the curriculum.

In 1987 Edith Fawcett endowed annual Fellowships in the Department of Geography at UCL in memory of her father, Professor C B Fawcett, who was head of the department between 1928 and 1949. The Fellowships were originally designed to enable UK-based teachers and other professional geographers in mid-career to spend a sabbatical term studying at UCL. The teaching Fellows continued to be paid their full salary and the scheme funded replacement geography teaching. This has now been opened up to a second model, where regular meetings are held across a year. 

This year's group of fellows has had regular meetings at UCL, and discussions about curriculum, curriculum making and the influences which shape our professional practice. We have been discussing our decisions over what to teach, how to sequence it, and how to assess it. We have been using a number of books for inspiration, which have included the excellent David Gardner book published by the GA and others, including Alex Standish. We are drawn from different stages of our careers and different school contexts. It's been fascinating to learn from the other fellows, and I have a bulging notebook of notes and documents. We also have an input from Dr. Alex Standish during each session, and are also encouraged to follow up the Fellowship by applying for Masters level study.

We are now reaching the final stage of the year, and writing up our research and thinking. I've now got ethics clearance to launch the questionnaire which will inform the final part of my work and writing. The questionnaire is linked to and also embedded below.

This questionnaire is aimed at teachers who teach GEOGRAPHY, and refers to these lessons specifically. You don't have to be a full time Geography teacher to get involved. All responses are anonymous and may be referenced in a chapter for a forthcoming publication on curriculum thinking in geography. 

The aim of my Fawcett Fellowship is to research the impact of "everyday geographies" and how these are unpicked and taught by individual schools. My GA Presidential theme for 2021-22 was Everyday Geographies, and an exploration of the quotidian. 

As significant local / national / global news stories and related content (such as images and videos on social media accounts) appear, I'm keen to discover  how  you, as geography  teachers, react  to them and make time for them. 

This is particularly aimed at KS3 Geography teachers, but KS2 teachers would also be welcome to respond.

At  what point might these news stories prove weighty enough to displace other content in your curriculum and earn a place in your curriculum for the next few years, and what thought is given to the longevity of these stories placed against topics which form a stronger foundation for GCSE courses as they appear in the specification?  How are these stories combined with existing curriculum content, or used to displace previous case studies? Is thought given to how this might create an imbalance in the parts of the world covered, or the extent to which this reinforces partial views of the world?

Is there a tendency for these topics to skew curriculum offerings away from ‘physical geography’ or what might be considered important disciplinary knowledge because of their nature? Are more news stories likely to be what might be termed 'human' or 'environmental geography'?

I'd be interested in your thoughts on the questions below. 

Please provide as much detail as you are happy to provide.

You can fill in the survey on the embedded form below, or by clicking this link.

I am very grateful for any and all contributions.

If you want to let me know more thoughts, feel free to add a comment on the blogpost below, or DM me on Twitter: @GeoBlogs.

Thanks to SLT at King's Ely for supporting my application and enabling my involvement.

The application process for next year's Fawcett Fellowship will be open shortly, and I shall let you know all the details as soon as they are available.

New Pearson support for Primary Geography and History

Mr. Parkinson has been reviewing this new resource from Pearson.

Curriculum making is an important part of any teacher's professional identity: engaging with the discipline, and developing pedagogical practice, while considering the particular nature of the school's context and the young people who sit in front of you to ensure their geographical experiences are not only educational, but also authentic and empowering.

According to Professor David Lambert,

"Curriculum making is the creative act of interpreting a curriculum specification and turning it into a coherent, challenging, engaging and enjoyable scheme of work, it is a job that really never ends and lies at the heart of good teaching."

For Primary practitioners and Secondary alike, developing a curriculum across a key stage is a lengthy and time-consuming process, which may result in several iterations over time. There are a lot of decisions to make in this work, and not all colleagues may have the time to do this within a particular academic year's cycle, or have opportunities to undertake the necessary reading and other preparation to be able to do this work justice.

For this reason, some teachers will turn to ready-made resources and schemes which are provided by a range of organisations. These are probably well known to many teachers, but Pearson have now stepped into this arena with an offering of their own.

Pearson has a great deal of experience in publishing curriculum resources, alongside supporting teachers with preparations for external examinations with textbooks. They have now produced and released a completely resourced scheme of work for Primary Geography (and also History), which includes all the resources that a school would need to begin to move towards a (possibly) new and consistent approach across the lower key stages, supported by planning materials, resources, regular assessment activities and classroom support for teachers engaging with the material for the first time. 

These resources are part of the Pearson Primary Extended Curriculum.

Pearson has spent a year working with staff at Reach Academy Feltham, Jon Hutchinson (Director of Training and Development at the Reach Foundation) and Emily Maule (Director of Humanities and Social Sciences at Reach Academy Feltham) to create a new, whole-school curriculum for Primary History and Geography.

You can take a look at the sample materials and find out more here if this sounds like it might be something to kick start or revitalise the geography in your school.

The resource is provided as a complete curriculum, including what Pearson calls “I know that...” and “I know how...” approaches, which "enable pupils to not only show they know and remember more, but also develop the conceptual and disciplinary knowledge they need to become young geographers."

Pearson's website explains that the new resources adopt a: "pedagogically rigorous approach, validated by the hundreds of classrooms who have clarified their intent, been supported through their implementation and seen evident impact." 

This approach has been trialled in a number of schools across the Reach Foundation before being made available more widely. This has doubtless ironed out many of the problems that are spotted when a new activity is given its first run through in an actual classroom with children.

For each Unit, teachers can access planning materials and lesson plans, resources, printable activity booklets and assessments which can be completed in various ways. The Units are split up into 6 Sessions, with each one ending in a Unit Check Out, which forms a final review check or assessment. There are 3 Units for each Year, suggesting that combining them with 3 History topics would produce a year's worth of lessons. Resources can be located quickly using the search function.

A series of free sample lessons are provided - you can take a good look at a KS1 lesson on the UK, and a KS2 lesson on Rivers to see whether this might fit with your own existing curriculum, or take it a step further.

Sample lesson plans to accompany the resources can also be seen on the link above.

I've had a good look through the resources and supporting documents for geography.

There are some familiar topics which receive a fresh look, along with some interesting new areas of study - Year 6 will explore fast fashion, for example, alongside carrying out fieldwork. Year 4, for example includes Rivers (with a focus on the Volga), Migration (including a look at Windrush) and Natural Resources (with a located example of Chile and its copper mines).

In addition to the lesson materials there are Concept toolkits, which allow for the exploration of some of the key underpinning concepts of the Units. These concepts include Change and Location and Place. The materials here introduce strategies to organise class discussions, group work and decision making.

There is plenty of support for writing, such as the inclusion of structure strips for some of the key topics when extended writing is required, which are formatted ready for printing. 

Speaking of printing, there is likely to be a lot of printing required to disseminate the very thorough, but lengthy booklets for both pupils and teachers which accompany each Unit. The Year 4 Pupil booklet on the Migration Unit is 31 pages long, for example. Schools would need to factor in a photocopying budget. The booklets are provided in PDF format.

Each pupil booklet starts with a knowledge organiser (you may have your own views on those), and a learning review page to track progress through the Unit. Activities include labelling, cloze text passages, connecting boxes and sorting information as well as writing answers - generally quite short pieces of text, or capturing ideas. The accompanying Teacher booklets will give teachers confidence in what is required, and help pupils through each Session. Pacing is likely to be important here, and the amount of text and visuals may overwhelm some learners.

There is one problematic Unit entitled Slums, which I would not personally use given the language, and could usefully be rebranded as 'Homes: Near and Far', or something similar.

There are differing opinions about the use of the term 'slums' and I understand that Pearson did speak to subject experts and teachers before making the decision to use it. However, they are now consulting with teachers who have bought these resources and will use their feedback to decide whether to update the unit to avoid the term.

One possible omission from the resource is any multimedia material - such as videos which are aimed at use by pupils or teachers - the materials are quite 'static' and a few animations or sound clips with effects would have been helpful for a Primary audience. 

There are some videos included, but these are restricted to teacher briefings for each unit from the project's lead: Jon Hutchinson.

In the video below, for example, he talks about the approach that has been taken and the work that has been done so far, which may sound like something that you would find develops your current practice. If so, it would be worth taking out a trial subscription.

This approach will not be for everyone, but given the nature of the profession, as we reset after COVID19 and face other challenges with recruitment and recent financial crises, support of this kind will be welcomed by many.

The Cambridge Primary Review is also a little cautious of the approach taken by some schools and Trusts, suggesting that  "children will not learn to think for themselves if their teachers are expected merely to do as they are told."

It is the consistency of approach, format of materials and connection with cognitive science that will provide the appeal for many Primary colleagues.

There will likely be different approaches to using the resources which will probably include adapting them or including a few additional resources such as videos or music.

You can request a FREE TRIAL, and this may be a useful first step to see whether the resources are going to be the answer to your current problems, or a support for colleagues.

Trials run for one month - International schools have two months.

The price to access the Primary Geography content is £400-£450 a year. The current increases in energy and staffing costs mean this will require a careful investment decision. Subscription to the content provides school access to the online content for 12 full months from the date of registration. Teachers accessing the resources via a subscription of this kind must of course be from the same school and use their school email addresses.

For those who want to pair up the Geography content with the History content, the price is £800 for the year for both.

I've also taken a look at the Primary History content, and the structure and focus for each unit is consistent with the Geography content, to provide a consistent experience across the Humanities in schools that go for that option, particularly where teachers may not be subject specialists.

There are also supporting Professional Development courses available through to May 2024, led by John Hutchinson for those who want an additional level of support in finding out how to use the resources to the greatest advantage.

To read more, click this link to download an illustrated booklet (PDF)

Thanks to KS2 colleagues at King's Ely Junior for their comments on these resources which helped to produce this post.

Prince's Teaching Institute Online Course

Now on the PTI website and available for booking is an online course I am leading for the PTI along with Catherine Bradley.

Follow the link to get some more details. I hope to see some of you there.

Details:

Alan Parkinson's talk will be on Exploring Post-Covid Geographies: Navigating new normals in the classroom

The last year has seen dramatic changes around the world. This session will explore the implications of the pandemic on the geography classroom and the curriculum. What new human and physical geographies are emerging as a result of the impacts of COVID-19? Participants will have access to a detailed document and resources to help unpick examples such as the economic effects of working from home, changing demographics, vaccine inequalities, food security, air quality and the rise of the 'staycation'. There will be examples drawn from Alan's own classroom and an opportunity for sharing and developing ideas collaboratively.

GA Cambridge Branch CPD - a date for your diaries for January

This will hopefully be of interest to those who can get to Cambridge fairly easily.

Curriculum making: new tools and serendipity Alan Parkinson A practical CPD session for teachers which will introduce a number of new resources made with the British Red Cross, Gapminder Foundation and others, along with the work of the GeoCapabilities project, which outlines the teachers' role of 'curriculum making' and the use of curriculum artefacts. Alan will demonstrate a number of websites and apps which he has been using in his teaching and which may increase the depth of investment that students have in geographical topics, and describe how serendipity plays a major part in his work. The session will take place on Wednesday 23rd January (5.00 pm - 6.00 pm) at Netherhall School, Cambridge, CB1 8NN (map) Please use the link here to sign up. The session is free to Branch members. You can join the Branch for £1 on the day.

End of term - 2 of 3

Over the summer, there will be a lot of work continuing as always. That has already begun with the clearing of the room. There are going to be some changes to the Junior school classroom, as well as some new facilities in Old Hereward. These will allow us to organise our resources more effectively, and also improve the facilities for students at King's.

Thanks also to the ICT team for their work which will improve the wifi and internet access, and also add some speed to my classroom computer, which is also now loaded with options for mirroring iPads a little more than we have previously done.

Thanks to all those of you who have visited the blog. There have been just under 400 posts added here during the year, and I've had over 13 000 page views.
This has a way to go to catch Living Geography's 1.2 million views, but we're on the way.

Here's a tune for the summer:

Professor David Lambert on Geography and curriculum...

"Without geography, the world would be a mystery to us. Geography is the subject that contributes more than any other to young people’s knowledge of the world." 

Professor David Lambert 

Preparing for 2 courses I'm leading over the next few weeks on the future geography curriculum and pedagogy.
Watching a video of my old boss Professor David Lambert at SSAT

Here's a shorter video from the Institute of Education which is worth a few minutes of your time too.
More here from a recent post by Malcolm McInerny

Curriculum 2014: WHAT will you be teaching about for the first time...

Feel free to tell me what you are going to be teaching for the first time in 2014...

Double click the PADLET wall...

Created with Padlet