Geography fieldwork

Geography fieldwork is ‘a restless desire to break down the barriers between the classroom and the streets and fields, and to venture outside into the sunshine and the rain.’

Alastair Bonnett

What is fieldwork?

Geography fieldwork is a hands-on learning experience where pupils leave the classroom to investigate the world around them first-hand. It involves immersion in real-world environments to gather data, analyse landscapes, ecosystems, and communities directly.

This approach allows students to apply theoretical knowledge in practical scenarios, fostering a deeper understanding of geographical concepts. Fieldwork is a key aspect of the National Curriculum, GCSE and A level specifications.

In thinking about fieldwork, it is important to remember that:

Fieldwork takes place outside…but there are ways to integrate activities in the classroom to support fieldwork.

Whatever the weather, geography fieldwork takes place outside. While virtual experiences certainly have an important place in the curriculum – they can ‘take’ pupils to places that they are realistically never likely to physically visit, or provide contextual information pre- or post- fieldwork to enhance the learning experience – they are not fieldwork.

Similarly, just because pupils are learning outside of the classroom, this does not necessarily mean that they are engaging in geography fieldwork. Fieldwork is a specialised form of outdoor learning that focuses on developing geographical knowledge, skills, and understanding through structured, enquiry-based experiences in real-world environments.

However, there are ways in which classroom activities can be used to enhance the fieldwork experience. For example, in a topic on rivers showing pupils the photograph below and asking them:

What might this group’s risk assessment look like?
What do you think they are doing / measuring?
What could their enquiry question be?
What would you suggest they do next?

Homework could also be a good opportunity for pupils to collect data – carry out an Environmental Quality Assessment at home or on your way home from school – and then bring their data back into the classroom to present, analyse or simply discuss.

Fieldwork is not the same as a fieldtrip… but both are important.

Carrying out fieldwork doesn’t have to be costly, lengthy or involve getting on a coach. It should be planned in as many of the topics taught as possible and using what is familiar to pupils – their school grounds, their home and their local area – is important.

Their locality forms part of their identity but often they fail to see interesting aspects of the area which makes it ripe for investigation. However, it is also important to take pupils beyond the environment that they know and which is familiar to them, particularly if they might not have opportunities to do so outside of school.

Fieldwork is more than a six-stage enquiry process… but it’s important that GCSE pupils are very clear about how it works. You don’t have to do all of the stages in one go.

David Job (1996) developed a classification of different types of fieldwork which takes into account the role of the teacher and student as well as the degree to which there is an emphasis on quantification or affective learning.

Due to the assessment of fieldwork at GCSE focused on the six-stage enquiry process, it can be easy to just focus on this type. However, this is limiting and ignores many of the other opportunities and ways in which pupils can engage with the environment first-hand. Having said this, pupils taking GCSE geography do need to be very clear about the six stages identified.

Breaking up an enquiry by only focusing on one part – for example, data presentation, or writing a conclusion – and signposting the different stages clearly can be effective strategies to do this.

This is especially useful at primary level where pupils can be incrementally introduced to a range of fieldwork skills that they will build upon as they progress as young geographers. Practising these skills through a ‘little and often’ approach cements the important concept that investigating the world outside the classroom is how geographers learn and develop.

Why is fieldwork essential to a high-quality geography education?

Fieldwork (whether school-based, local, residential or international) is an essential component of geography education. It enables pupils to better understand the ‘messiness’ of the real world, develop subject knowledge, and gain a range of skills that cannot be developed in the classroom alone.

However, it’s not just the geographical value of fieldwork which is important, it also develops soft skills such as teamwork, motivation and self-development.

Geography fieldwork is important because of its impact:

students can experience the environment beyond the classroom and can relate classroom work to the real world ‘from the 2D textbook to the 3D world’
students can develop their knowledge, understanding and respect for the environment through investigation, questioning and critical thinking
it encourages students to think spatially, use maps and new technologies such as GIS
it adds a temporal element into the students’ perception-present, past, and future thinking. Young geographers are the future adult citizens of tomorrow and could be making decisions which impact on their locality and beyond
it is a key stage 1-3 requirement and a part of key stage 4 and 5 assessment
it develops the students’ ability to deal with uncertainly through challenges and the opportunity to experience acceptable levels of risk
it supports the pupils’ enjoyment of geography.

How to embed fieldwork within the curriculum

In order for fieldwork to be effective, it needs to be embedded within the curriculum so that pupils have the opportunity to practice their skills regularly and there is progression built in. A good starting point is to map your current fieldwork offer, maybe using a framework like the one below:

In June every year we encourage everyone to get involved in arranging and taking part in fieldwork as part of the National Festival of Fieldwork (NFF). We have lots of resources available, visit our NFF page here to find out more.

You might also be interested in our spiralised fieldwork resources developed as part of our strategic partnership with the Field Studies Council. The purpose of these resources is to provide support, guidance and ideas for teachers who want to carry out some fieldwork using a particular technique or on a particular theme.

Together, they trace a spiralised progression pathway so that every time a pupil engages with this substantive knowledge, they have an opportunity to build on what they have done before. However, they also work as standalone resources, providing an idea of what a high-quality fieldwork might look like for each key stage.

Critical questions

What aspects of your current fieldwork offer are effective?
How might you build an element of fieldwork into every topic that you teach?
How do you ensure progression in fieldwork as part of your geography curriculum?

Examples from the Geography Quality Marks

As part of the Secondary Geography Quality Mark, schools are given the option to achieve Centre of Excellence in fieldwork. For this, they need to demonstrate that they have met the following criteria:

The geography department has embedded fieldwork experiences throughout the curriculum so that students practice their skills regularly and demonstrate progression.
The geography department engages in innovative and creative fieldwork and have identified the impact of students’ experiences.

Click the above examples to enlarge

Key resources

The National Research Report ‘High-quality geography fieldwork for all’ sets out principles for high-quality fieldwork as well as a framework for progression. The National Plan for Fieldwork which includes practical suggestions and support has emerged from the findings in the report.

The National Festival of Fieldwork takes place every June. We encourage everyone to take part in fieldwork and provide a wide range of resources to support you.

The spiralised fieldwork resources, developed by the GA and our strategic partners, the Field Studies Council help to build progression in fieldwork techniques and topic. Access the full collection of resources here.

GA and Field Studies Council fieldwork webinars

These short GA and Field Studies Council fieldwork webinars are aimed at Early Career Teachers but suitable for all. All of the webinars are explicitly linked to the Teacher Standards so that you can be confident that you can evidence your knowledge and skills in different areas.