In this area, GA members can:

• apply for vacancies and vote in elections for senior positions within the Association, including Vice President
• nominate people for a GA award
• vote for their favourite GA journal articles of the year. 

Both members and non-members are invited to take part in GA surveys and research exercises, the details of which will appear below when live.

Elections

The GA is a membership organisation. The majority of our Governing Body is elected by members of the Association.

Election details will appear here when an election is live.

Awards

Each year, at the GA’s Annual Conference, the Association presents a number of awards to recognise and celebrate the contribution of individuals towards geography education. GA awards include:

• GA Honorary Membership (normally one award per year) – this is the highest award made by the GA, in return for sustained and outstanding service to the Association. It confers lifelong and complimentary membership of the GA on its recipients. Read a list of GA Honorary Members
• GA Annual Awards for Excellence (normally up to two awards per year) – for a GA member or non-member who has made a significant contribution to furthering geographical knowledge and understanding through education and/or to the work of the GA over the previous year. Read a list of past recipients here.
• GA Geography Champion (normally up to two awards per year) – for a GA member or non-member who has made a significant contribution to supporting the work of the geography educator community or raising the profile of geography within the wider public arena.
• GA Distinguished Service Award – for GA members who have made notable contributions to the work of the GA and its charitable mission over a sustained period of time. This contribution might arise from participation on GA committees or special interest, or volunteer groups, service given to local branches, or other significant activity that has furthered the work of the Association.

Nominations for awards can only be made by current members and should be submitted using the online GA Awards nomination form. Please read the details of GA Awards criteria before making a nomination.

Nominations can be made at any time of the year. Those received by 1 March will be considered for awards to be presented at an awards ceremony held at the GA Annual Conference and Exhibition that year; nominations received after that date will be considered for the following year.

Judging is undertaken by the GA Awards Panel (made up of representatives from Education Group, senior GA staff, and trustees).

GA Journal Awards 2023

The Award for Excellence in Leading Geography 2023 is presented to one article from each of our three journals that voters feel has made the greatest contribution to the development of good practice in geographical teaching and learning.

Voting has now closed for the Award for Excellence in Leading Geography 2023 and the awards will be presented at the GA Annual Conference.

Other awards

Additional awards presented annually by the GA include:

• GA Rex Walford Award – for inspirational and innovative practice for those undertaking primary or secondary geography initial teacher education.
• GA Journal Awards – journal articles judged to have made the greatest contribution to the development of good practice in geography teaching, as voted for by GA members. Recent recipients are published in GA Magazine. The awards will be presented at the GA Annual Conference.
• GA Publishers’ Awards – previous awardees are listed on our GA Publishers’ Awards pages.
• Geography Quality Marks – to reward and promote high quality geography in primary and secondary schools.

Surveys

As the leading subject association for all teachers of geography, one of the GA’s key roles is to represent the views of geography teachers to central Government and others. Gathering information and views about geography in education is an important part of this, which is why the GA undertakes regular surveys and research exercises of members and non-members alike.

Current surveys

Live surveys will appear here.

Previous surveys and research exercises from the GA

• The GA’s Listening Exercise, which ran at the beginning of our 2020-25 strategic plan.
• An opportunity for geographers in ITE providers and schools to have their views heard on the new framework to inspect the quality of teacher education which came into force in September 2020. This informed the GA’s response to Ofsted’s consultation.
• Ofsted’s 2019 inspection framework (2019) – online survey to gather feedback on the GA’s draft response to Ofsted’s 2019 inspection framework. See the GA’s full response after your feedback was taken into account.
• Fieldwork in secondary schools (2016) – an online survey into secondary schools’ experiences of implementing fieldwork. See the GA Magazine Issue 34 autumn 2016 p.8 and ‘Geography: The future of fieldwork in schools’ by Alan Kinder.
• Support for primary geography teaching (2016) – online and focus group research into the sources of support used by teachers of geography in the primary phase in England.
• Geography initial teacher education and teacher supply in England: a national research report (2015) – this report drew on original research with 68 providers of ITE in geography, using questionnaires and interviews to investigate the provision of geography within ITE in England.
• Consultation on geography A level reform (2014) – focus group and open forum discussions held by the GA as part of the process of A level reform 2013-16.
• Consultation on geography GCSE reform (2013) – focus group discussions held by the GA as part of the process of GCSE level reform 2012-16.
• Consultation on National Curriculum Reform (2011, 2012) – two public consultations run by the GA as part of the process of National Curriculum reform, which produced feedback reports in 2011 and 2012.