Had their chips?

We have been covering some of the reasons for the current food inflation which is causing real concerns for many of the poorest in society, as food prices are rising well above the rate of what is already a high rate of inflation...

In a recent issue of the Guardian there was a piece on the growing price rises facing consumers and business owners, and the impact of potato prices in particular (on this occasion).

Open Farm Sunday

For King's Ely Geographers this is your annual chance to see some of the place where your food is grown as farms open their gates and welcome visitors.

There are some local farms doing this, including some particularly large farms which are important local employers.

Two weeks until the big day! 👏🥳

LEAF Open Farm Sunday, 11th June 2023 - don't miss out on the opportunity to visit a farm and hear first hand from a farmer about where your food is produced, what they are doing to look after the environment & more! 👇👇https://t.co/JZpwphs1t1 pic.twitter.com/NQb1jeqpsv

— LEAFOpenFarmSunday (@OpenFarmSunday) May 28, 2023

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.

Life on the Edge

With Year 7, we are currently exploring coastal processes and how they remove material from the coast, with the aid of videos from the Time for Geography folks.

New on iPlayer as of a few minutes ago is this 27 minute documentary on events at Hemsby on the Norfolk coast.

Worth a watch.

The residents of Hemsby don't want to leave, but their houses are on the edge of a cliff. This is their story of surving one of the most dramatic cases of UK coastal erosion.

YGOTY 2023

A powerpoint I created to help guide students in putting together their entries for this year's title: 'Blueprint for the Future'

IFRC Disasters Report 2022

This is produced annually by the International Federation of Red Cross organisations.

The report for 2022 rightly discusses the legacy of COVID19.

We celebrated the Coronation of the King in school yesterday, including a service in the Cathedral.

King Charles III is not just King in the UK but in other countries too... including Canada.

There was a map printed in The Guardian yesterday showing the various countries and terrirories where he will be Head of State.

To celebrate the coronation of King Charles III, we're releasing new resources that include lesson plans, articles, infographics, and a #StoryMap, covering topics such as sustainability, environmental conservation, and treaties with #IndigenousPeoples: https://t.co/UU7JWYtR7t pic.twitter.com/tYCRguwYv8

— Canadian Geographic Education (@CanGeoEdu) May 6, 2023

The Canadian Geographic Education website now contains a whole range of new resources which reference the work of King Charles III on the environment over the years.

Wildflowers for Primary Schools for the King's Coronation

 I've set up a Google Alert for the term 'GCSE Natural History' and it sent me to a recent post from the Department for Education.

They are going to be sending Wildlfower Seeds to Primary Schools around the country.

According to the blog post:

This initiative is inspired by His Majesty the King’s commitment to the environment. Working with the Eden Project’s National Wildflower Centre, over 200,000 seeds packets will be sent to schools.

If planted together, around 40 rugby pitch sized wildflowers meadows would be created. The packets of seeds include native annual wildflower species, like cornflower, corn poppy and corn chamomile.

Planting the seeds will be an opportunity for children to engage with the natural world and learn more about the importance of biodiversity, as well as being a way for them to celebrate a historic national moment.

The Eden Project has produced some educational resources, and guidance on planting the seeds.

There is also a link to the new GCSE in Natural History which I am preparing resources for, and have a dedicated blog.

You can also join over 750 other teachers on our GCSE Natural History Facebook page.

As the post says:

We’re also developing a new Natural History GCSE which will enable young people to explore the world by learning about environmental and sustainability issues, and gain a deeper knowledge of the natural world around them.

UK Food Security

We have spent some time as before this year exploring geographies of food.

Check out the latest warnings of salad shortages in The Guardian.

Another brick in the wall

We have been exploring supply chains, and this week there was another 

Who made the bricks that went into making your house?

One would imagine they might have been made in a UK brickworks, perhaps in the SE in an area where suitable clay is found. However, this is not necessarily the case and they may in fact have been made by children in brick works far from the UK. Another example of supply chain issues and a lack of transparency.

After a year's investigation, proud to see our revelation of child and bonded labour in UK brick imports on the front page of @Politico this weekend

The UK imports 400 million bricks each year, many of them made in terrible conditions

Read more here:https://t.co/e72PhAf3HU

— Disaster Trade (@DisasterTrade_) April 24, 2023

Image: Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license 

Rana Plaza - ten years on

Regular readers will know that I have been involved with the work of the Follow the Things project for some time now.

This is a project based at Exeter University, which started with the work of Professor Ian Cook, exploring global supply chains, trade justice and the stories of the things that we own and consume.

One of the associated projects that explores this area is Fashion Revolution Day.

We are approaching the tenth anniversary of the Rana Plaza tragedy on Monday and a pack of materials has been produced to help teachers and students think through its significance and the wider question of 'who made my clothes?' 

The education materials can be seen and downloaded at this page.

There are also Top Trumps cards to be made as part of the activity, exploring the impact of globalisation.
Ian Cook writes about using the cards here. Make sure that you are using the most up to date Transparency Index.

We will be using the materials at my school with Year 8 in some format and marking the tenth anniversary of Rana Plaza.

Happy Earth Day 2023

Happy Earth Day!

Dennis Hayes started the first event back in 1970.


‘Preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known’ - Carl Sagan

#EarthDay2023 #ClimateChange is about consumption of the very richest people in our global society.

50% of global emissions are emitted by just 10% of the population.

90% of global emissions by 50% of the population.

We need to recognise climate justice to save our planet pic.twitter.com/qhZoOTVqeG

— Professor Mark Maslin 👍 (@ProfMarkMaslin) April 22, 2023

and a cartoon:

Ella Baron on #EarthDay2023 #ClimateEmergency – political cartoon gallery in London https://t.co/dePcTdnXF6 pic.twitter.com/u9LJCcKNHC

— Political Cartoon (@Cartoon4sale) April 22, 2023

As part of Earth Day, why not have a go at the Sustainable Fashion Quiz, which links closely with our Fashion topic in Year 8.

GA Governing Body vacancies for September 2023

After four years as a trustee as part of the Presidential journey through the GA, my term in office comes to an end at the end of August 2023.

At the same time, there is also the end of a term of office for several other GA colleagues who I have worked with for the last four years. This means that there some vacancies on the GA's Governing Body, which is of course a good training ground for those who may have ambitions to become more involved with the Association and give back to the association.

There are actually four vacancies to be filled, which carry different responsibilities.

You can read more about them on the GA website page, and the links here.

Chair of Trustees

Honorary Treasurer

Elected Trustees

Co-opted trustee

For those who may have previously suggested that the GA and its Governing Body needs to become more inclusive and diverse, this is your opportunity!

Happy to answer any questions about the roles and the wider work of the GA's Governing Body if anyone is interested in finding out more.

I will blog my thanks to some of those people who are leaving GB later in the year...

How well do you know your area?

 

Details from the Census 2021 have been turned into quizzes by the team from ONS who have frequently created and shared interactive comment.

How well do you know your area?

There is a wide range of questions here to choose from.

How well do you know your local area?

We’ve added some more questions to our interactive #Census 2021 quiz 🗺️❓

Try to guess things like:

🏠 most common number of bedrooms
🩺 how people reported their health
🎓 qualification levels

➡️ https://t.co/lnm0wnbH61 pic.twitter.com/mmbNePjqcK

— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) April 3, 2023

Give it a go. It's embedded below: 

Young Geographer of the Year Competition 2023

Around about the time of the GA Conference, the theme of the Royal Geographical Society's Young Geographer of the Year award is revealed. 

The new theme is now revealed.

We always use this competition as a focus for the final month or so of the Summer term, when lessons are often disrupted by trips and other events, and this forms a useful basis for some lovely class work. Students have time to complete their entries over the summer and we then collect them in in September and have an in-school competition judging and then send off the best entries.

The Young Geographer of the Year is the Society’s annual competition which recognises the outstanding work of the next generation of geographers. With its age ranges spanning the primary years to A Level, the competition encourages thoughtful and creative answers to the competition’s theme which is set each year.

The Society encourages schools to run their own in-house competition and then send their top 10 entries into the national competition. The Young Geographer competition has been running for over 20 years and in 2020 over 10,000 young people took part.

The theme for the Young Geographer of the Year competition 2023 is:

A blueprint for the future

The Society invites students from KS2 to KS5 to create their own blueprint for the future. 

They are looking for innovative ideas to address problems in areas such as food production and supply, energy and sustainability, water security, resources, population growth, economic crisis, transport, travel, urbanisation, risk management, trade, environmental management, biodiversity and more. 

Your ideas and recommendations should be forward-thinking, taking into consideration the depth of the problems and the reasons behind them, as well as what can be done to mitigate them. 

Your blueprint for the future could be a design for an eco-city, or a plan to produce and distribute enough food to feed the world. It could be a look at the future of energy and how we can produce enough energy sustainably without harming the environment, or a plan to revolutionise travel and transport in your country or beyond. 

Your plan must be realistic, but we welcome ideas for futuristic strategies and new technologies.

Details of the competition are here.

To get an idea of the standard of entries of last year's winners, head here.

Entering the competition

The competition has four categories.

Key Stage 2 (pupils aged 7-11)

Key Stage 3 (pupils aged 11-14)

Key Stage 4 or GCSE (pupils aged 14-16)

Key Stage 5 or A Level (pupils aged 16-18)

Students should enter the Key Stage category they will be in on 30 June 2023. 

The deadline for receipt of all entries is Monday 2 October 2023 at 5.00pm. 

Entries received after this time will not be accepted. The RGS encourages schools to run an in-house competition and only send their top 10 entries into the national competition. 

All winners and highly commended students will be invited to an Awards Ceremony at the Society in London on Friday 8 December 2023.

The general entry criteria are the same as usual

KS2, KS3 and KS4 students should produce an A3 size poster entry. 

This can be handmade (then submitted electronically using a scanned copy or photograph) or using PowerPoint, Word, Publisher or PDF, etc. KS5 students should produce an Esri Story Map or write an essay – both of which should contain no more than 1,500 words. 

Key Stage 2 criteria: 

Provide your plan for at least one geographical issue, using annotated images, maps or diagrams. 

Key Stage 3 criteria: Provide your plan for at least two or more geographical issues, using annotated images, maps or diagrams. 

Key Stage 4 criteria: Provide your plan for at least three or more geographical issues, using annotated images, maps, diagrams and data. 

Key Stage 5 criteria: Provide your plan for multiple geographical issues, using annotated images, maps, diagrams and data.

Good luck to all those who put together an entry.