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Find out what the GTE Conference is and information about the next GTE Conference here.
PowerPoint Presentations and handouts for many of the sessions at previous GTE Conferences are available to download below. Please note that some presentations from before 2018 may have been adapted due to copyright restrictions. The GA accepts no responsibility for the copyright of third party materials used in presentations from 2019 onwards.
2023
Building Confidence in Tomorrow’s Geography Teachers, through collaborative approaches to sustainability education
Georgia Ramsay
A Framework for the School Geography Curriculum
Eleanor Rawling and Alan Kinder
Decolonising the school geography curriculum
Sharon Reilly
Why racial experiences matter in the classroom: for teachers, researchers and children
Verity Jones
GI-Pedagogy: An innovative model for using GIS to teach locational knowledge in geography
Sophie Wilson
Engaging with Oxford and Cambridge
Liam Saddington and Daniel Hall
Debating Global Governance: Using Simulations to teach A level geography
Liam Saddington
Reflexive approach
C Mayo-Hollaway and B Aldridge
2022
To access recordings for GTE Conference 2022, click here
Out of the mouths of Presidents
Alan Parkinson
Exploring Geography Teacher Educator Identities
Elizabeth Rushton and Emma Rawlings Smith
Can a cross curricular approach clarify the distinctive contribution of geography to teaching sustainability?
Leigh Flaxman and David Mitchell
Climate Change Education in India: the certainty problematic
Steve Puttick
Geography teacher educators’ experiences of, and perspectives on, education for sustainability
Mary Fargher, Nicola Walshe and Lauren Hammond
‘Closing the gap’ between research and school geography
Christine Winter and Daniel Whittall
What should Geography Teacher Educators Teach?
Alex Standish
What do we know about geography teachers’ PCK?
Handout
Eefje Smit
Recontextualising Geography in Education
Mary Fargher, David Mitchell and Emma Till
Using tech in geography lessons during the pandemic – is this the new normal?
Bob Lang and Sophie Wilson
Using Mapping to explore experiences of the pandemic with 5-11 year olds
Verity Jones
Gi-Pedagogy – Innovative Pedagogies for Teaching with GIS
Sophie Wilson and Luc Zwartjes
What does an ‘ambitious’ geography ITE curriculum look like?
Nicola Warren Lee, Celia Tidmarsh and Michelle Graffagnino
Joining the dots: Connecting 11 – 18 and Higher Education
John Wilkinson and Professor Andy Plater
A Framework for the School Geography Curriculum
Eleanor Rawling
Mentoring Geography Teachers in the Secondary School: contributing to a more just tomorrow in geography education?
Grace Healy, Lauren Hammond, Steve Puttick and Nicola Walshe
Putting Geography at the heart of mentoring: challenges and opportunities
Kate Stockings
Exploring how transformational school teachers engage with the journey of decolonisation through culturally responsive pedagogy in the current social and political contexts
Sarah Whitehouse
Migrating Mentors: Push and Pull factors to effective ITE mentoring
Mike Simmons
Experiencing Geography
Steve Brace
Inside the Sausage Factory
David Preece
When death appears in the Geography Curriculum
Ana Angelita
Fieldwork together–apart; walking the hyperlocal with pedagogies of attention to sound and air quality.
Introduced by Elena Lengthorn
The role of fieldwork in the construction of secondary geography teachers’ identity
Ruth Till
Farming is changing
Alison Brown
Placing Place in Geography Education
Susan Pike
Educator Climate Assembly
Elena Lengthorn
Keynote two: Eco-Capabilities: Transformative environmental and sustainability education?
Nicola Walshe
2021
The 2021 GTE Conference took place from Friday 29 January to Saturday 30 January online hosted by Dublin City University.
“Messy maps mean more because it’s mine”: What might support O.S map use in the primary years
Anthony Barlow
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Session 1
Teaching in the COVID-19 City: The reflexive lived experience of Geography teachers during lockdown in Sydney Australia
Susan Caldis
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Download: Teaching in the city
Download: President’s report
Exploring Secondary Geography teachers’ early professional development during the global pandemic: challenges and opportunities.
Elizabeth Rushton and Cyrus Nayeri
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Gi Pedagogy – Innovative Pedagogies for Teaching with Geoinformation
Sophie Wilson
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What practical theorising can offer learning to teach geography
Nicola Warren-Lee
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Session 2
Climate Change Education: what do we know about the sources of information teachers are using?
Steve Puttick
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Meaningful Maps: what can they tell us about geographical thinking and sustainability?
Paula Owens, Stephen Scoffham, Peter Vujakovic
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Introducing active learning via smart devices
Brian Whalley
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Keynote One
Margaret Byron
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Session 3
Racism and Teaching Geography
David Lambert and John Morgan
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The ethics of case study writing – how to represent people and place without misrepresenting them
Alistair Hamill
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Geography education about, through and for children’s rights
Benjamin Mallon
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What might a more hopeful Geography look like?
David Alcock
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Session 4
Poetry, geopoetics and geography
Alison Brown
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Session 5
Changing places: The position of geography in the Irish education system
Susan Pike
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Geography Education Research and the Geographical Association
Becky Kitchen
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Download: Geography Education Research paper
Download: Geography education in the primary phase
Download: Research into Government policy and practice in geographical education
Download: Sources
Approaching fieldwork in the year with no fieldwork: Supporting teachers to plan their own, virtual fieldwork experiences.
Ben Newborn
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Fieldwork together –apart; walking the hyperlocal with pedagogies of attention.
Sharon Witt
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Session 6
The initial teacher education inspection framework 2020
Iain Freeland
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The changing landscape of early career teacher development
Chris Larvin
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Trainees as full members of the department: win-win for them and us
Kit Rackley
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2020
The 2020 GTE Conference took place from Friday 24 January to Sunday 26 January in London.
Geography teachers’ written lesson observation feedback
Dr Steve Puttick
This session focused on the subject-specific feedback given to geography trainees. Steve explored two questions in what ways is geography/geographical knowledge discussed in written lesson observation feedback given to beginning geography teachers and in what ways does research feature in the written lesson observation feedback given to beginning geography teachers.
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Quality in the revised GCSE Geography
Graeme Eyre
The 2010 education review and subsequent reform led to a revised GCSE curriculum, with the revised geography examination sat for the first time in 2018. The new qualifications were designed to be harder. However, does harder mean better quality? What does quality look like in14-16 geography, and does the revised qualification provide this quality? The presentation was based on the early stages of Graeme’s work towards a PhD at the Institute of Education.
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Something Happened!
Professor David Lambert
In the twilight of a 45-year career in geography education, David shared the opportunity to think and reflect.
He started with what the late Geoff Whitty (in 1974) called “naïve possibilitarianism”. Many of Michael Young’s disciples in the so-called new sociology of education argued that “the traditional curriculum was little more than a middle-class confidence trick that could be swept away and replaced by a curriculum based on working class culture” (Whitty 2017).
David spent much of his professional life at the UCL Institute of Education, the intellectual home of both Whitty and Young. David had very little to do with Michael in the first twenty years. But something happened to change this.
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Download: Notes
Geocapabilities 3 project, some initial findings: towards a cyclical model of teachers’ engagement with the discipline
Dr David Mitchell and Dr Mary Biddulph
The Geocapabilities 3 project explores how far a ‘geocapabilities approach’ can work for teachers and their students in challenging school contexts. The project focuses on the teaching of migration – a richly geographical and significant theme (at a range of levels) both now and in the future. This session presented findings from some of the teachers David and Mary have been working with.
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Geography Mentor Survey – The Results
Maria Palombo
This session reported back about the geography mentor survey focusing on the three key questions that it initially set out to answer including who are geography mentors (and who do they mentor), how do geography mentors currently mentor (and why) and what development and progression opportunities would geography mentors like (and why).
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Powerful Knowledge/ GeoCapabilities theory in Educational Research Circles in Japan
Professor Takashi Shimura
In Japan, M.F.D Young’s powerful knowledge theory was first introduced in the sociology of knowledge field, in sociology of education, around 2012. After this, research has been developed by researchers especially interested in vocational education.
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How can student teachers plan for epistemic quality in geography?
Dr Alex Standish
Building on the work of Hudson (2019), Biesta (2010/2017) and William (2013) the aim of this presentation was to examine how we can characterise and plan for epistemic quality in the geography curriculum. Because knowledge in school is linked to wider educational purposes, the qualities of the curriculum must be linked to their potential to realise educational goals, hence taking a normative form.
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Nature Friendly Schools – a model for (teacher) change?
Sam Thurston and Janine Maddison
Nature Friendly Schools (NFS) is a four-year DfE-funded national partnership project, awarded to The Wildlife Trusts in partnership with the Resilience Through Nature Consortium: Young Minds, Field Studies Council, The Sensory Trust and Groundwork UK. The project targets schools with the highest proportion of disadvantaged pupils and works with pupils identified as ‘most in need’.
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Are teachers part of the problem? Should we approach climate change education differently?
Paul Turner
Following the increased prominence of climate change in international media and national discussions, this session explores the role of teachers in providing effective climate change education. Beginning with the statement that teachers are in fact part of the reason we’re in the climate and ecological emergency we currently find ourselves, this session introduces an alternative scheme of work which approaches the theme through a creative lens and explores broad societal questions whilst remaining within the most up to date scientific consensus. The session also explores the role of human agency and climate activism in a changing world. Whilst explaining the key ideas behind the teaching materials, the session also aims to discuss the role of teachers in climate change education and the increased sense of urgency and importance which is needed in the face of the catastrophic climate crisis.
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Transformative geography education: A critical analysis of pedagogies for environmental and sustainability education
Dr Nicola Walshe
Children today face significant challenges in response to living in a globalised world and the predicted environmental threats to the planet. However, implementing environmental and sustainability education (ESE) within schools can be complex and is often ignored in initial teacher education (ITE) within and beyond geography. In response, this project aimed to evaluate transformative pedagogies for ESE within ITE.
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Using evidence informed research to develop learning resources on climate action
Sarah Whitehouse and Dr Verity Jones
While we often bemoan the seemingly non-stop rain, we overlook the consequences of local drought. Drawing on evidence-based research from across the UK, this session considered how geography lessons can bring these consequences into the classroom. A free bespoke children’s book and associated teaching materials were introduced that give teachers the tools to tackle this controversial issue.
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GeoCapabilities: Implications for ITE
Dr Richard Bustin
The concept of ‘GeoCapabilities’ expresses the potential value of a geography education; the ‘powerful knowledge’ of geography enables young people to develop the ‘capabilities’ needed to live a fulfilling and free life. This session, based on Doctoral research, the first 2 funded projects (GeoCapabilities 1 and 2) and recent book, unpicked many of the central concepts underpinning the approach: powerful knowledge, ideological perspectives, capabilities, and Future 3 thinking. A model of GeoCapabilities curriculum thinking is proposed, with some thoughts about how the ideas could be integrated into an ITE course. The workshop element invited participants to explore some activities which are designed to provide a framework for beginning teachers to think about critical curriculum making.
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Policy changes in England and their likely impacts on ITE
Alan Kinder and Andrea Tapsfield
The publication of the Early Careers Framework (January 2019) signalled the Government’s intent to significantly rework the first two years of a teacher’s professional experience and created implications for ITE providers and school mentors. Subsequent policy developments, especially the reform of the ‘ITT’ core content framework, carry additional implications for the near future. This session traced the direction of DfE policy in England and explored some of the implications for ITE. It also providided an opportunity for delegates to share their perspectives and experiences as we attempt, collectively, to find ways to work effectively within new policy contexts.
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Exploring early-career teachers’ perspectives of geographical knowledge and their practice in China
Xin Miao
This presentation shared research on western-rooted conceptual models. By doing so, the English and European audience gained a different insight to understand school geography and teacher education in the Chinese context.
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Beyond the Map: To what extent can the use of GIS support Powerful Geographical Thinking?
Sophie Wilson
The aim of this research was to see how GIS can be used as a pedagogical tool to support powerful geographical thinking, by drawing on the classroom experience of practitioners and stake holders with a specific interest in using GIS.
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Paying attention to more-than-human; thinking differently with fieldwork spaces
Dr Sharon Witt
This presentation introduced the notion of paying attention to more-than-human dimensions within fieldwork spaces, suggesting this may offer possibilities for an animated geography fieldwork pedagogy. In seeking to adopt post humanist and new materialist practices, fieldwork spaces are positioned as active and agential rather than passive and inert. This presentation concluded by considering more-than-human/human entanglements as potential geographical educational assemblages where impactful connections can be co-created.
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2019
The 2019 GTE Conference took place from Friday 25 January to Sunday 27 January in Bristol.
Constructions of ‘good teaching’ in written lesson observation feedback
Steve Puttick
What is the purpose of lesson observation feedback? This presentation focuses specifically on written feedback and asks whether this is predominantly generic. It then suggests that, given that there are different perspectives of what it means to be a ‘good teacher’, whether some of this partiality can come through.
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Mentors in Geography Education – An under-used resource and an under represented community?
Maria Palombo
In this presentation, Maria asks important questions about geography mentoring including whether mentors have been given a voice to share their experiences and how we can utilise our disciplinary knowledge to support the development and progression of high quality subject mentors. This session also launches the National Geography Mentor survey which can be accessed
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How the Earth System works – and what it means for people
Rich Pancost, University of Bristol
Rich Pancost, Head of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol, presents a biogeochemist and palaeoclimatologist’s view of climate change. It highlights what we know, as well as what we don’t and raises questions about how we can teach these issues in a climate of global uncertainty.
Download coming soon
Crossing ‘borders’ in children’s geographies
John McKendrick and Lauren Hammond
This presentation reflects on children’s geographies and argues that if we want education to be transformative then we need to involve children so that they can contribute to these debates. John and Lauren suggest that how and why we include children’s geography has not been unpicked enough and identify a gap between children’s everyday experience of the world and formal geography.
John and Lauren have asked that If you didn’t get chance to complete the ‘opt in’ form and response sheet at the Conference, and are happy and able to do so, they would gratefully receive any further responses emailed to them before 15 February 2019.
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Download: Response sheet
Download: Opt in form
Epistemic Quality and Curriculum Planning in ITE
Alex Standish
Alex Standish explains that we need to focus on the students, the teacher and the geography in a balanced way and asks what epistemic quality looks like in a lesson sequence. By looking at different examples of lesson sequences, conceptual, contextual and procedural knowledge can be identified and critiqued.
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Can ‘Geocapabilities’ improve curriculum quality in challenging school contexts?
David Mitchell
As the Geocapabilities project moves into phase 3, David Mitchell reminds us of the contribution that it can make to curriculum quality in challenging school contexts. While he identifies some opportunities that exist in a hyper-socialised world, such as sharing teaching resources online, he also asks how easy is it in this landscape, to be a curriculum maker?
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Looking abroad: the problem of Geography Teacher Educator status
Victor Salinas-Silva and Xin Miao
In this presentation, Victor and Xin explore the relationship between geography and education in their respective countries – Chile and China – and conclude that the influence of education is stronger than that of geography in preparing teachers.
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Recontexualising disciplinary knowledge in geography curricula
Grace Healy
Grace explores different curriculum traditions of Powerful Knowledge, Curriculum Making and Subject Didactics and argues that although they originate in different societal contexts they are complementary.
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From the Bearpit to The Circle – A changing urban place in central Bristol
Simon Green
This contribution from Simon, a geography teacher turned owner of Bearritos bus restaurant, describes the story of the St James Barton roundabout in the city centre. Known locally as ‘the bearpit’, he explains how the interplay of stakeholders and social enterprise has influenced the changing nature of this urban space.
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Recontextualisation, geography and lesson planning: how does geography teacher education support a subject pedagogical approach to trainee practice?
Nicola Walshe and Alison Dunphy
In this workshop, Alison describes a project to explore how the analysis of lesson plans and observation can support teachers in the reflection of teaching geography.
Download coming soon
‘Connecting Geography’: Developing links between schools and universities
Gemma Collins
Gemma explains how she is addressing the gap between schools and universities by refocusing an existing PGDipEd assignment. She describes how academics from the University of Birmingham geography department are partnering student teachers to co-create curriculum resources.
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Thinking critically about data to raise achievement
Rebecca Kitchen
In this presentation, Becky outlines the GA’s Critical Thinking for Achievement project and puts forward a model for critical thinking in geography. She also explores the link between critical thinking and achievement and explains how the enhanced course can support teachers in thinking critically about geo-located and fieldwork data. More information here
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Geography ITT Scholarships
Steve Brace
This presentation provides an update on the Geography Initial Teacher Training Scholarship scheme. Steve updates the data for 2018 / 2019 and paints a picture of teacher recruitment and the process of applying for a scholarship.
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Politics, Pedagogies and Possibilities – Geography in the Irish Education System Polaitíocht, Oideachas agus Féidearthachtaí – Tíreolaíocht i gCóras Oideachais na hÉireann
Susan Pike
Susan begins her presentation by identifying some of the similarities and differences between the Irish and UK education systems. She then traces the history of geography within the Irish Education System and considers what it might look like in the future.
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Geography Education Research Challenges and Opportunities at Masters Level: A Case Study
Mary Fargher
In the Masters in Geography Education’s 50th year, Mary considers how alumni of the programme can be engaged to support current students in their research.
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How well do degrees prepare trainees for geography teaching during their PGCE year?
Charles Rawding
This presentation reports findings from a survey which asks geography trainees to reflect on how their degree has prepared them for teaching. While trainees feel relatively well prepared to teach climate change, plate tectonics and GIS, they feel less secure about regional geography and the different sectors of the economy.
Download coming soon
Creating a sustainable reciprocal international partnership (South Africa)
Sarah Whitehouse
Sarah reflects on post-colonial theories and the power dynamics in a recent partnership project. She discusses how these challenged her pre-conceived ideas about teaching in South Africa and the sustainability of the partnership.
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Reflections on a field trip to Gambia with Secondary PGCE Geography students and Primary BEd students
Kay Chapman
This presentation explores Kay’s reflections on a recent field trip to the Gambia with students. She highlights the variations in experience and how the preparation for the visit may have influenced this.
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Embedding Sustainable Development Goals through Food
Verity Jones
What are the benefits of eating bug burgers? Verity describes a project to bring insect based foods into school canteens to promote sustainable eating habits.
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Reflections on geography Teacher Education
Margaret Roberts
Margaret reflects on the four aspects – Connections, Communication, Choice and Criticality – which should be put at the centre of education. She explores the importance of connections between every day experiences and formal geography education (and back again) and the power of group work.
2018
The 2018 GTE Conference took place from Friday 26 January to Sunday 28 January in Birmingham.
The BIFoR FACE experiment: Plants, Pressure, water and CO2
Professor Jeremy Pritchard
Professor Jeremy Pritchard presents a range of data relating to the Bifor FACE (Free Air CO2 Enrichment) project at the University of Birmingham. This project looks at how forests respond to environmental change, and forms part of the Institute’s ecosystem research, to see how trees respond to elevated levels of CO2.
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Geography SKE
Dr Susan Bermingham and Jo Baynham
In this presentation we looked at the planning and delivery of a Geography Subject Knowledge Enhancement course based on the A-level curriculum. 24 students from a variety of backgrounds attended, carrying out 4 weeks of face to face study and four weeks of self study. There were challenges but an overall positive experience.
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Developing reflective trainee teacher practice with 360 degree video
Dr Nicola Walshe and Paul Driver
This presentation looks at how 360-degree video recording can help trainee teachers to reflect on practice and support their pedagogical development. The hypothesis was tested on a group of 23 second year BA Primary Education Studies students, through initial reflection and post- lesson interviews.
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Exploring the conceptual challenges of sequencing and medium term planning for ITE students
Ian Davison and Gemma Collins
Ian and Gemma provide the results of research into medium term planning among ITE students. The research focused on students preparing a programme of lessons on Coasts and Limestone landscapes for Year 8, and shows the differences between mentor and trainee responses to this challenge.
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The Geographical Association Quality Criteria for ITE: an update
Dr Charles Rawding (TESIG)
The GA launched a subject specific quality mark for ITE at the 2017 conference, in response to a growing generalisation in terms of teacher training and recruitment of geography teachers. This session encouraged input from attendees on good practice in ITE in order to supplement its criteria.
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The anthropocene and the (re)unification of school geography: thinking big geographically.
Dr Charles Rawding
This presentation explores how the concept of the anthropocene, a geological time period where global and environmental systems have been affected by human activity, can help us form ‘big’ geographical questions to use in research and enquiry. It is argued that the connectedness of phenomena may provide a greater purpose to learning.
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Cambridge Teacher Standards
Dr Liz Taylor
Liz Taylor explores how teacher standards are perceived in schools, and the methods used to assess them. She asks how we should create benchmarks of quality for trainees and developing teachers, and uses the Cambridge Teacher Standards as an example of a framework already in use.
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Fieldwork in geography education
Alan Kinder
A stated ‘increased requirement’ for geography fieldwork at GCSE and A-Level is the stimulus of this talk, which presents the results of a GA fieldwork survey in 2016. This provided data on the impact of fieldwork on geographical understanding and the development of key skills, but also the practicalities of implementing fieldwork in schools.
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Geography ITT Scholarships
Maz Sharif Draper and Steve Brace
In this presentation, the benefits of ITT scholarships provided by the RGS are explained. Data on increasing geography uptake in schools, larger class sizes and the need for more subject specialists teaching the EBac show the reasons for promoting more subject-specific ITT.
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The Rocky Road to Future 3
David Lambert
This session considered the challenges teachers face in implementing a Future 3 curriculum, such as cultural norms, political trends and socio-economic pressures. It is argued that F3 teaching provides epistemic access to specialised knowledge and that teachers can make changes if they have good professional knowledge.
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New Places and Spaces: First in Family Teacher’s Experiences in Initial Teacher Education
Dr Susan Pike
Dr Susan Pike explains research into the backgrounds of new student teachers in Ireland, and how their attitudes are changed by being the first in their families to take up teaching. The research looks at personal motivations, challenges faced and experiences of teaching, presented through interview extracts.
Download: PDF Presentation
‘Powerful Knowledge for all’ exploring the social justice dimension of geocapabilities
Dr David Mitchell and Dr Mary Biddulph
This presentation looks at how the GeoCapabilities approach can help schools facing challenging circumstances to improve their teaching and reach higher levels of academic attainment. They describe the damaging language used around the schools, and how a bid has been devised for research into the benefits of GeoCapabilities in these types of schools.
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GA Rex Walford Geography Student Teacher Award
Steve Rawlinson
Steve Rawlinson makes a call for applicants to the Rex Walford award. Detailed in his presentation are the criteria for nominees, the evidence required, such as lesson plans and evidence of impact on pupils, as well as the judging criteria. Applications are encouraged.
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SDGs in ITE
Elena Lengthorn
Elena looks at the impact of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the arguments for their inclusion in further and higher education. She explains how Global Competence can aid in engaging students with a wider worldview, and gives the example of the World’s Largest Lesson.
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Why explore the ‘production of space’ in geography classrooms?
Lauren Hammond
This paper explores Lauren Hammond’s ongoing project of research into the concept of space, as perceived by London school students. Here she presents results from six semi-structured interviews with students, remarking on their attitudes to ‘Britishness’. Excerpts from the interview give an insight into these attitudes and how it reflects on geographical space.
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Critical Thinking: its applicability and contribution to raising achievement in GCSE and A level geography exams
Dr Rebecca Kitchen
This presentation describes the work of the Connecting Classrooms project and the GA in promoting and providing critical thinking training in schools. A two day course helped teachers tackle issues such as digital learning and provided them with classroom tools such as question grids.
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Seeking a methodology for postcolonial research into geography education.
Kay Chapman
Kay presents research into the application of post-colonial theories to the use of Western curricula in Singapore schools, and how we think about the ‘Other’ in this situation. She explains how she will use grounded theory to explore this concept, based on data collection and analysis.
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How does geography justify the claims it makes about the world?
Margaret Roberts
This presentation shows how better use of argumentation research can benefit geography. Using Toulmin as a starting point, Mary suggests that students who learn how to argue have a better understanding of the key concepts of their subject, by examining data and dealing with contrasting viewpoints.
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Primary humanities: a perspective from Wales
Sarah Whitehouse
Sarah looks back at the development of an article she co-authored on the position of humanities in the Welsh primary curriculum. ‘Welshness’ is a focus of this curriculum, and geography is taught at an early stage through experiential learning. A humanities working group will continue to consider the best ways of embedding the Welsh dimension.
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Enhancing Geographical Thinking through Signature Pedagogies
Tricia Seow and Julian Chang
Tricia and Julian explore the idea of ‘signature’ pedagogies and their role in geographical enquiry in Singapore schools. They present the work of the Sustainability Learning Lab via a case study on water supply at the Jurong eco-garden, a project which will contribute to online teaching resources available for teachers planning GI studies.
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Teacher students‘ conceptions of progression in geographic argumentation
Prof-Bbg Dr Anke Uhlenwinkel
The model of argumentation posited by Toulmin is used in this presentation to help students describe the progress of their argumentation. Two students are compared as they develop arguments based on secondary sources about the impact of an ageing population on the world.
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School students’ perceptions of the value and nature of GIS: informing curriculum development, pedagogical practice and the use of industry experts
Grace Healy and Dr Nicola Walshe
This session presented a programme of research, based on A-level students understanding and use of GIS. Fifteen students of varying backgrounds were surveyed for perceptions of GIS before and after being introduced to the technology. Early results suggest a need for a sense of purpose when using the software.
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2017
The 2017 GTE Conference was held between 27-29 January 2017.
GeoCapabilities
David Lambert
David Lambert presents the key information about GeoCapabilities, and its role as an EU project intended to stress the importance of geographical knowledge in the curriculum, and to promote world knowledge and relational thinking from students and pupils.
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Looking through the Arch: Physical geography using the lens of Future 3
Duncan Hawley
This presentation criticises the view that physical geography is too focused on description and subject specific terminology. It argues that by using an F3 approach, for example with the case of the landscapes of Wales, these descriptions can be used as a starting point for wider debate and classroom discussion.
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Developing a lesson sequence with a curriculum artefact
Kelly Butler
Kelly considers the stages of creating a lesson plan using a curriculum artefact, in this example the re-development of the Lea Valley for the 2012 London olympics. This particular example was designed to reflect the AQA GCSE curriculum specification and encourages a variety of student skills.
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Curriculum making through a GeoCapabilities approach: Practical advice for teachers
Richard Bustin
Richard provides practical advice for teachers on the GeoCapabilities approach through a detailed analysis of the benefits and important concepts they should be concentrating on. He presents empirical research carried out with two schools, including a narrative creation workshop with teachers.
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GA support for ITE
Alan Kinder
This presentation covers recent developments in the GA’s work to support geography ITE, focusing especially on the upcoming changes to the ITE section of the GA website. Discussion is encouraged on aspects of most and least benefit to the ITE trainer/trainee, and contributions encouraged for new ideas to add to the existing content.
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Geography Scholarships
Steve Brace
Steve gives an overview of the benefits of the RGS-IBG scholarship fund, for new geography teacher trainees. He also notes the encouraging data reflecting the importance of geography for secondary education and the increase in geography graduate employment.
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Soil as a rich learning environment for multidisciplinary teaching
Eefje Smit
This presentation looks at a multi-national project intended to integrate soil studies into geography teaching, as a cross-curricular subject. European Experiential Learning Labs on Soil Science works across Europe, with the aim of creating multidisciplinary frameworks and projects of learning on soils from the teacher training level down to the learners in school.
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Data, data everywhere but not a geographical thought to think?
Dr Mary Fargher
A critical overview of the use of GI data in geography is given by Mary Fargher, with the aim of showing how the use of data has moved from purely quantitative to qualitative study. She expresses that with more open source, multi platform software and information, the way teachers use data has changed.
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Geography Teachers’ subject identity also matters in China
Gong Qian
A perspective on the challenges of teaching geography in China is presented here. China’s educational background focuses heavily on test results and less on overall competencies therefore creating a challenge for teachers aiming for an F3 classroom. In an educational culture based on test scores, how can progress be made?
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Beyond a cookbook approach to GIS: Developing trainee teachers’ pedagogy and practice across a PGCE year
Dr Nicola Walshe
This presentation provides case study based information on how trainee teachers learn to use and implement GIS in their lessons over the course of their training. The demands of using the software in the classroom are also considered, from the point of view of student participation and faculty involvement.
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(Building) Theoretical assumptions on curricular change in Initial Teacher Education
Victor Salinas Silva
In this presentation, Victor collects data from ITE students in Valparaiso, Chile, to explore the effects curriculum change can have on teachers and how capable they feel of adapting. He looks at the overall effects of curriculum change, including how teachers’ knowledge can become obsolete, requiring skills to be refreshed.
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Using Geographical Information Technology to capture phenological phenomena in European schools
Andrew Edwards-Jones
Andrew presents an ongoing project at Plymouth University in partnership with the Erasmus programme and other European Universities to create phenological mapping software for pilot in schools. Phenology has implications for climate change and environmental studies in geography, and incorporation with GIT is intended to benefit staff and pupils alike.
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What has geography education research ever done for us? 10 years of GEReCo
Clare Brooks
A review of the past ten years of activity from the Geography Education Research Collective is presented in this session. The beginnings of the group from a small research field facing decreasing ITT in higher education led to the development of an extended network focusing on various policy and pedagogical areas.
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On the importance of history in Geography
Dr Charles Rawding
Dr Charles Rawding looks at the correlation between poor knowledge of history and poorly informed geographies. He argues that ignorance of previous natural and man-made trends in climate change lead to climate change deniers gaining the upper hand. The conclusion is that topics cannot be considered in isolation.
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Personal geographies: developing curriculum planning skills through personal experiences of a visit to India
Jane Ferretti
This presentation looked at a field trip by a group of trainee teachers to Bangalore and the effects it had on their geographical understanding. Personal experience of the area taught in the national curriculum proved enlightening for the trainees in terms of place and cultural knowledge, and ideas to take back for classroom topics.
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Towards A Sustainable Earth – the geo-education challenge
Kay Chapman
Kay surveys the key attitudes and concepts behind the idea of a sustainable world. She compares attitudes to scientific advancement among the Australian community, showing that there are equal amounts of interest and disinterest in society, and that people’s interest is often governed by personal values rather than facts.
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2016
The 2016 conference took place from 22-24 January 2016 at the University of Manchester.
Data Skills in Geography
Steve Brace
Steve Brace looks at how data skills are acquired by trainee teachers, and if these skills are covered sufficiently as part of their training programmes. He explains how mathematics can be applied to graphical, cartographic and statistical skills, as well as GIS, making them important learning points. He includes some humorous examples of correlation vs. causation.
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Another quantitative revolution
Dr Nicola Walshe
Although there has been an increased emphasis on numeracy in curricula, there has not been a subject-specific focus on quantitative methods in geography. This presentation looks at a project of maths integration with trainee teachers, collaborating with maths students, and carrying out fieldwork with GIS to increase their practical knowledge of statistical methods.
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Is there a subject-specific pedagogy for geography?
Dr Clare Brooks
Dr Brooks attempts to develop a description for pedagogy in geography through comparisons with other subjects such as English, maths, science and even art. She explains that to know how to construct a subject pedagogy we must understand the academic knowledge required and its practical application, as well as its cultural context, in and outside of school boundaries.
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Are there Threshold Concepts to develop when learning to become a geography teacher?
David Lambert
A threshold concept is one which allows a student or pupil to open up a new way of thinking. David Lambert looks at the challenges geography teachers need to consider when teaching a modern geography curriculum such as culture shifts and the digital age, and how they can help students navigate this in relation to geography.
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Place, powerful knowledge, and powerful pedagogies
Lauren Hammond
Lauren explores the nature of ‘place’ as an important threshold concept in geography curriculum and pedagogy. She compares different curriculum specifications and descriptions of the concept, as both a physical quality and a subjective idea based around student perceptions and critical reasoning.
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Marketing geography through geography education
Arkadiusz Głowacz
A representative from the University of Lodz considers the commercialisation of knowledge in the modern day educational system and the effects it has on geography teaching. He approaches geography as a commodity, which can be marketed and sold, from the point of production (research) in universities, down to the consumer (pupils) and looks at how these processes can be optimised.
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Toward an inferential approach to teaching and learning in geography developing a research project
Roger Firth
Roger reports on the development of his research into inferentialism, stating that there has been investigation into both knowledge and pedagogy but not the relationship between them. He argues that knowledge is treated too much as a representational quality, and that we should look for more complex student thought in connecting concepts and reasons.
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Pedagogical networks a contribution to curriculum making
Uwe Krause and Hans Palings
In this presentation, pedagogical networks in Tilburg, Netherlands, were situated within their local context and the effects on teachers were described. Focusing on 4th year education students going into teaching, they noted the benefits for teaching strategies and tools produced by engaging with a network.
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Exploring Teachers’ Geographical Identities Why it matters
Emma Till
This session by Emma Till focuses on her doctoral project, which concerns primary school teachers’ subject identities. The aim of her research was to develop geography teaching in primary schools, through understanding how teachers perceive the role of geography in their schools and their own experiences.
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Web GIS, knowledge and critical geography education
Mary Fargher
Mary looks back at the impact of GIS on geography teaching over the past fifty years, and considers the challenges and benefits of implementing geographical information systems in the classroom today. On one hand, access to GIS is becoming more accessible and less software based, but schools need to allow for IT use throughout all subjects so it can be applied.
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Developing the Curriculum for Secondary Geography Initial Teacher
Alex Standish
Alex presents the key questions to consider when looking towards secondary school training for teachers. He considers the aims of education, the interaction between curriculum and pedagogy, as well as how children learn, in terms of key concepts and skills they need to acquire.
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Thoughtful lesson planning
Leigh Flaxman
Leigh looks at the different approaches to lesson planning, beginning with observations on how student teachers tend to plan, with pedagogy prioritised over content. She suggests that a more effective approach would be to reverse these two points and encourage trainee teachers to use a ‘messy lesson plan’, then reporting on teacher feedback.
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Cross-curricular workshop on climate change
Kate Hawkey, Jon James and Celia Tidmarsh
In this presentation, the potential for the subject of climate change to encourage inter-curricular collaboration was examined. The subject is described as a threshold concept, as it has applications for geography, history and science, and allowed both students and teachers the opportunity to explore different perspectives.
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Weather subject knowledge for trainees and teachers
Dr. Sylvia Knight
Dr Knight, a member of the Royal Meteorological Society, presents the group’s work with universities to improve subject knowledge on weather. She presents a potential future expansion of the courses they provide, based on online teaching, and due to an increased use of weather subjects in national curriculum specifications.
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Geographical inequalities and young lives
Liz Newbon and Caroline Knowles
Oxfam research into inequality in education provides a background for this project, which concentrates on the presentation of world inequality in schools. The Young Lives project allows classrooms to access information on children’s lives in different countries and encourages pupils to consider subjects like relative poverty at home and internationally.
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What does geographical knowledge consist of from ethnic minority student perspectives
Rebecca Kitchen
A project of research into ethnic minority perspectives on subject choice between GCSE and A Level was presented in this session. The project explored how different backgrounds could affect personal geographies. Initial findings on student perceptions of what geography represents are presented and analysed.
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Developing quality criteria for Geography ITE
Charles Rawding and Andrea Tapsfield (TESIG)
In this session, a discussion was held over the development of qualitative assessment of early teacher education. They considered issues such as areas for modification in the criteria, as well as materials which could be added to their website for the teaching community. They also looked to the future, and how these criteria could continue to be adapted.
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GeoCap GTE 2016 F3 curriculum
Duncan Hawley
This presentation began with the consideration that many early career teachers feel they can only change how they teach a subject, and they have no impact on subject choice. It goes on to show how a geocapabilities approach can help students acquire descriptive, relational and applied thinking, and develop a critical approach within this framework of curriculum versus pedagogy.
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Place responsive fieldwork: exploring geographical curriculum making possibilities
Sharon Witt (with Dr Helen Clarke)
Fourth year B.Ed and M.Ed students were involved in a fieldwork exercise in Selborne, looking at immersive outdoor activity. Data was collected in the form of photographs, field notes and discussion sessions, as students built their confidence working in fieldwork situations with primary age children.
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Exploring and expanding the understanding of place
Emma Rawlings Smith
Emma presents a programme of research centred on students beginning from Year 9, based on the theories of threshold concepts and variation theory, with the aim of exploring how the understanding of place emerges over time. All students completed concept maps and Q-sort activities. Finally a website was generated to show the study as a whole.
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Where is Greenland geographical significance
Dr Charles Rawding
This paper looks at the idea of geographical significance, in order to tie together two main points. First of all, there is a discussion of Greenland and its representation in graphic media such as maps and research images; secondly, Russia is used as an example of potential study materials for geography, and is analysed for its ‘significance’ to the curriculum.
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Perceptions of progress: do trainees and mentors agree
Gemma Collins
This presentation builds on the research carried out in a previous talk on ‘stuck places’ for geography teacher trainees. It looks into the issues faced by new teachers in the classroom, putting across key ideas and making the first steps in classroom management, but also investigates the differential between trainees’ and mentors’ perceptions of their progress.
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Leading the geography curriculum what is needed
David Mitchell
The concept of geography curriculum makers as ‘boundary workers’ is approached in this presentation. Various aspects of curriculum making are discussed, including the threats such as globalisation and accountability, as well as aspects which support it such as team building and incorporating outside influences.
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The new Berlin Brandenburg syllabus and its potential in relation to the GeoCapabilities Approach
Prof. Dr. Anke Uhlenwinkel
Professor Uhlenwinkel assesses the Berlin Brandenburg syllabus, with its twin pillars of competence and content, in order to see if the GeoCapabilities approach is compatible with its core principles. The emphasis on judgement and evaluation in the prescribed curriculum as well as the focus on climate-related subjects is discussed.
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What are abilities of geographical thinking in Social Studies education in Japan
Dr. Takashi Shimura
This presentation focused on the educational system in Japan, and the possibility of integrating geographical thinking into the curriculum, based on the NIER report of 2015. It looks at the challenges of the current Japanese geography framework and goes on to describe a project developing a new matrix of key concepts for social studies.
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Reflections on using a postcolonial theoretical framework to analyse geography education in international schools in Sri Lanka
Kay Chapman
The Sri Lankan education system is explored with the aim of applying postcolonial theories to the observation of geographical education. The presentation explores notions of the cultural power of the English language and culture in the education system, and its ongoing impact on curriculum.
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Developing a learning line on GIS science in education
Luc Zwartjes
This presentation looks at the importance of spatial thinking in geography and the ways it can be implemented. It discusses the benefits of using GIS in the classroom as a scientific and geographical tool, but also considers the reasons why teachers are not implementing these technologies.
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The changing landscape of Teaching Geography
Dr Melanie Norman
Dr Norman looks back on the history of the Teaching Geography publication. She focuses on changes in gendering, terminology, content and design since the 80s, and notes that certain issues such as managing curriculum change remain a central idea in editorials.
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2015
The 2015 GTE Conference took place from Friday 30 January to Sunday 1 February in Oxford.
Downloads:
Conference Programme: GTE conference programme
Can powerful pedagogies be used to support powerful knowledge in geography education?
Lauren Hammond
In this talk, the subject of powerful knowledge and the futures dimension of the national curriculum are examined. Lauren Hammond points toward a gap between schools and university education as a factor restricting the futures dimension of geography.
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Curriculum making in changing times
David Mitchell
David Mitchell uses examples from four schools in London with different curriculum approaches to show how they are adapting to curriculum change and new pedagogical demands. He points to ‘socialised’ curriculum making between teachers and a sense of accountability for the perceived changes.
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Developing trainee engagement with GIS
Nicola Walshe
This presentation discusses the need for increased engagement with GIS for trainee teachers, due to the new national curriculum requirements. It uses examples from different trainees using GIS to create ‘story maps’, and explores the opportunities for using GIS to develop geographical understanding in schools.
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Geographical argumentation
Prof Dr Anke Uhlenwinkel
This presentation looks at a case study on developing argumentation among a group of 92 student teachers in the first year of their BA programme. The case study used the example of presenting arguments for and against the development of a wind farm in Togo and recorded the ability of the students to formulate detailed and evidence based discussions.
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Greenwashing Gaia and the absence of holistic geographies
Dr Charles Rawding
Charles considers whether the stance of ‘green geographies’ in promoting an outright rejection of the industrial model is positive for the study of world issues. He looks at key concepts taught in geography such as pollution and sustainable development and questions whether the viewpoint presented is too simplistic and ‘doom-laden.’
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How and in what ways do universities contribute to the education, training and development of primary and secondary geography teachers?
Leigh Flaxman
This session argues that the value of University involvement in Teacher Education needs to be recognised as an important part of improving teacher quality. He argues that not enough time has been spent on arguing the case for the importance of HEI involvement in research and development.
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How scary is student teachers’ subject knowledge
Ian Selmes
In this presentation, teacher subject knowledge is explored. Gaps in knowledge are addressed and teachers are encouraged to reflect on their understanding, especially in areas such as GIS and fieldwork experience. It is noted that despite fieldwork being important in geography, less students are experiencing nature as part of their school and home lives.
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Adoption of student-centred active learning strategies in Korean secondary schools
Dr Jongwon Lee
Dr Lee from Ewha Womans University, Seoul looks at the development of new geography activities through use with 66 secondary geography teachers across a series of training events. After two years the teachers involved were surveyed for their use and adaptation of the new materials in class, and the reasons behind their adoption and adaptation were explored.
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‘Stuck Places’: Are there threshold concepts in learning to teach geography?
Gemma Collins
This presentation and handout explore the concept of ‘stuck places’ among trainees on a postgraduate diploma in education course. It looks at the areas of most difficulty among the students, referring to the language in use in the classroom and how to present complex topics. It looks at the processes through which trainees improve understanding and knowledge through observation.
Download: Presentation (PDF)
Download: Handout (PDF)
Inferentialism and teaching and learning geography
Dr Roger Firth
This session highlighted some of the practical applications of recent research into philosophy, and the philosophy of education in particular. It looked at the concept of ‘inferentialism’ and how it could be used to improve the student experience, by putting reasoning skills ahead of content absorption in the classroom.
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I-Use: I Use Statistics in Education
Luc Zwartjes
This talk makes the case for statistical literacy in education, citing its importance in most subjects, especially STEM. As teachers tend to present statistics rather than carry out quantitative investigations in the classroom, it is important that they are skilled in interpreting them, so it is suggested more training for teachers and students alike in handling data could be beneficial. The I-Use website provides a key resource for this.
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Recontextualisation of knowledge for school geography
Steve Puttick
In this presentation Steve Puttick considers how geography teachers re-use information taken from different sources in order to inform their subject teaching. He questions how re-contextualised information from different media can inform the beliefs students have about different phenomena and whether taking data out of context can change beliefs.
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School geography in England
David Lambert
David Lambert reviews changes in the national curriculum since 2010 with the introduction of the international baccalaureate and an increase in child-centred teaching in schools. He discusses the futures aspect of teaching geography and the need for ‘powerful disciplinary knowledge’ in schools.
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Teachers as curriculum leaders
Duncan Hawley & Alan Parkinson
This session began by reviewing the capabilities approach to (geography) education. It presented preliminary findings from a teacher/teacher educator survey across several European countries and introduced the approaches devised to ‘connect with teachers’. Finally they discuss the merits and potential use of activities designed to engage teachers in the geocapabilities approach.
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Teachers envisioning future geography education in their school
Tine Béneker & Hans Palings
Research into the way geography teachers think about and plan for future pathways in teaching was presented in this talk by representatives from Fontys University in the Netherlands. The research was in the context of the masters course in teaching at the university where trainees prepared a five year plan as part of their studies.
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The future of research in geography education?
Clare Brooks
Clare Brooks presents the activities and profile of the Geography Education Research Collective. She mentions the dissonance between rhetoric on research informed practice and decreasing higher education involvement in teacher education. She suggests areas the collective has yet to explore and asks for contributions.
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Implications of the professional compass for geography teacher education
Dr Clare Brooks
Building on research presented at the previous year’s GTE conference, Clare Brooks reflects on the lessons learned from the ‘professional compass’ approach to teacher education. She explains the importance of this approach due to the changes in routes into teaching and the growing importance of knowledge led geography.
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Theory, knowledge and the future of research in geography education – exploring our anxieties about the place of theory
Graham Butt
The future of research in geography education is explored here, as Graham Butt elaborates on issues which could affect the continuation of theoretical investigation in the field. He looks at the problems within the sector as a whole, changes in geography education with the establishment of School Direct and the anxieties around an aging researcher profile.
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What do we know about the geographical understanding of trainee primary teachers?
Professor Simon Catling
Simon Catling reviews the current research into the use of geography by primary school teachers. He explains that though teachers are happy to include geographical subjects, there is little evidence for their knowledge of national curriculum provisions, which can lead to misunderstandings and misconceptions.
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What factors enhance student teacher understanding of tacit knowledge when working with experienced teachers?
Nicola Warren-Lee
Nicola looks at the influence of experiential or implicit knowledge from mentors in the teacher training process. She uses surveys of trainee teachers and their experiences of working with more experienced teachers to show how they gained insight from observation and discussion.
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What is powerful knowledge of regional geography?
Zhang Jianzhen
This presentation provides a framework of five levels which explains how geographical knowledge is developed from a basic informational level up to a more analytical view of geographical features. It is argued that this framework provides a way of structuring regional pedagogy and designing curriculum.
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2014
The 2014 GTE Conference took place in Winchester from 24-26 January.
Downloads:
A futures time perspective in geography in the Netherlands
Tine Béneker, Hans Palings, Iris Pauw
This paper compares English and Dutch education systems to show how a futures perspective could be integrated into teaching practices. It investigates the use of futures perspectives in textbooks as a way of reflecting the educational context in the Netherlands, and describes the other challenges from power structures and policy.
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Changing geography in the Republic of Ireland
Shelagh Waddington
Shelagh outlines the coming changes in the geography curriculum from the level of teacher education, to methods of teaching geography in schools. She focuses particularly on the Junior Cycle, where better connection with learning is targeted, and the inclusion of the new Junior Cycle Student Award (JCSA) allows students to engage with short courses in certain subjects.
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Childrens’ exploration of geographical concepts through literacy
Dr Anne Dolan
In this presentation, Anne Dolan argues that literacy is core to geography studies at a primary level. She shows how literacy could be improved through geographical engagement, giving the examples of diaries, newspaper article writing and story writing about geographical events such as flooding.
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Concepts into practice – pedagogical network geography in South Netherlands
Uwe Krause
Uwe presents a project of research into medium term planning, based on a paper written by Liz Taylor on enquiry-based learning. Research was carried out in two stages, with both teachers and teacher-educators and students and focused on the development of a pedagogical network, where teachers could share knowledge and put it into practice in the classroom.
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Curriculum pedagogy and GIS
Mary Fargher (IoE)
The role of GIS in curriculum development is discussed here. It begins with a review of the relationship between curriculum, pedagogy and GIS and weighs this against classroom findings from recent research. A model of geographical knowledge construction in GIS is presented as a device for supporting and developing teachers’ further engagement with GIS in school geography.
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Developing an international declaration on research in geography education
Simon Catling & Liz Taylor
This presentation argues to promote larger scale studies, and national and international team research, in geographical education and to offer support and encouragement to potential researchers, as it is this research which has a vital role for students, teachers and the wider community.
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English school geography from a foreign perspective
Arkadiusz Głowacz
Arkadiusz explores the similarities and differences between the geography school systems in England and other countries (taking for example France, Poland and Germany) through a qualitative analysis of school textbooks. He finds that English textbooks develop the widest range of skills, however learning about different countries is underrepresented.
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Geo capabilities
The benefits of a Geo-capabilities approach are described here as a way of enhancing student knowledge and deepening understanding. The interplay between teacher choices, student experiences and school curriculum is explored as a way of developing ‘powerful knowledge’ about geography.
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Geographical knowledge, curriculum making and recontextualising principles
Steve Puttick
Steve looks at critiques of school geography which rely on formal representations of the subject as relativistic, by taking a real-life look at geography as it is being taught, studying teachers in their environment and following them on their ‘journeys for knowledge.’
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How new will the 2014 national curriculum be at key stage 3
Dr Melanie Norman
This presentation looked at the effectiveness of the national curriculum, by showing how previous specifications were perceived before and after their launch. She explores whether schools truly change their curriculum with each new specification by comparing approaches by schools attended by PGCE students in Sussex and Brighton and Hove regions of England.
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How to teach geography
Marian Blankman
The idea of teaching non specialist trainees to teach geography in primary schools is explore here, through the development of an experimental module. The course was field tested with seven teacher educators, and examples were given of how geographical knowledge could be applied using the new framework.
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In search of a professional compass
Dr Clare Brooks
This presentation explores how teachers negotiate their role as part of the school system, and asks whether they perceive this role as ‘being’ a teacher or ‘doing’ teaching. It looks at perspectives on knowledge, and how these can change the approach to geography in the classroom.
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Influence of concept based curriculum frameworks on teachers’ curriculum making
Elaine Toh (IoE)
Elaine Toh presents the preliminary findings of a PhD study into the influence of concept based frameworks on curriculum in Singapore. She looks at the issues in using imported US teaching frameworks, but also the benefits of using a system based on understanding and learning patterns rather than pure knowledge.
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International mindedness and IB MYP geography
Ms. Oyndrilla Mukherjee
The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme is focused on here, with the purpose of showing how international-mindedness can be incorporated into the curriculum. Ms Mukherjee explores the opportunities in the curriculum for incorporating global issues and understanding of other cultures.
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Investigating authors’ strategies and issues in textbook writing
Dr. Jongwon Lee and Professor Simon Catling
Research into the the expertise, experiences and strategies of textbook authors developing and writing geography textbooks is presented here. They discuss how textbook authors’ expertise is not the same as teachers’ expertise, and how this affects the key features presented in publications.
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Place – the final frontier
Charles Rawding
This presentation looks at different approaches to the concept of place, explained through comparison to different political trends. He makes a case for more focused explorations of places than was prescribed in the contemporary curriculum, making connections to real life experiences rather than pure book learning.
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Social mobility or social reproduction
Graham Butt and Gemma Collins
Graham and Gemma present the results of a case study of the attainment patterns of students according to their social background and ethnicity, carried out in a selective school in Birmingham. They note that levels of social mobility in the UK are significantly lower than in other developed countries, and their data reflects this fact.
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ITE in an age of diminishing space for teacher professionalism
Alex Standish
In this document, Alex looks at the changing culture of the 21st century classroom where the autonomy of the teacher has been eroded by managerial systems and political interference and questions whether teachers can maintain the ideals of professionalism set out by ITE training.
Download: PDF document
Teachers’ curriculum making in changing times
David Mitchell
A pilot case study for a PhD project is presented here by David Mitchell, on the subject of curriculum making. It considers the systems of power behind curriculum making and how personal ideologies can affect this. He proposes an interview system and presents teachers’ own narratives of learning and teaching.
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Thinking about knowledge
This presentation takes discussion by Margaret Roberts and Michael Young on knowledge in education, and explores the influence of constructivist thinking on new trainees. They look at the idea of ‘disciplined knowledge’ and children’s experience in relation to the curriculum and pedagogy, highlighting the importance of ‘ethno-knowledge.’
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What do young peoples’ narratives reveal about their geographies and imagination of London
Lauren Hammond
Lauren looks at the importance of not only showing adult representations of cities as part of geography, but looking at the way cities are experienced by students, as the narratives they are presented with can have a profound impact on their perceptions. It is easy for a child’s voice to go unheard in an urbanized society.
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Who is thinking badly about geography?
Prof. Dr. Anke Uhlenwinkel
Looking at data from a variety of sources in Germany, Professor Uhlenwinkel explores the perception of geography among students and politicians. The presentation shows detailed survey data on opinions of geography as a subject, and also the reasons people go into geography teaching.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
2013
The 2013 Conference took place in Hull from 25-27 January.
Downloads:
Conference Programme:
GTE Conference 2013 Programme
Debates in geography education- book launch
Lambert and Jones
Here you will find the launch information for the publication Debates in Geography Education, showing the contents and intentions of the book.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
How can I be a more effective geography mentor?
Andrea Tapsfield
Andrea Tapsfield proposes an online publication for geography mentors, to support them in all routes of mentorship. It would explore the responsibilities of a mentor and provide a forum for discussion and sharing information. She asks for contributions and feedback.
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Curriculum Update
The results of the 2011 GA consultation on the National Curriculum are presented here, in relation to the 2010 White Paper and the GA proposals about core knowledge provisions in schools, and the development of pupil understanding.
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National Park Links
This document provides a list of different resources which can be used to integrate the National Parks into training and education. It also contains case studies of learning exercises and projects carried out.
Download: Word Document
Why a Successful Geography Curriculum Needs Boundaries
Alex Standish
This presentation discusses the need to be clear on what is defined as geography in the school curriculum. It looks into the way related subjects can benefit the study of geography, but only if the key concepts of geographical study- maps, fieldwork and locational knowledge- are kept at the forefront of the curriculum.
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What is the future for PGCE geography
Jane Ferretti
In this presentation the impact of government changes in funding on the PGCE system is explored. Jane Ferretti focuses on the University of Sheffield to provide examples of cuts in parallel to the expansion of the Schools Direct teacher training programme and looks at the impact of this on university-led teacher training.
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National curriculum: a possibilist interpretation
David Lambert
David Lambert discusses the possible futures for geography teaching, regarding changes in the national curriculum and the emergence of a new ‘knowledge turn’ in education. He considers three possible outcomes of these shifts, and suggests a future focus on the ‘capabilities’ of students is the best way forward.
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How is the geography curriculum made?
David Mitchell
In this presentation David Mitchell looks at the different aspects – local, national and personal – which go into curriculum making and asks how we can create a coherent model which incorporates the different pressures on geography teachers as curriculum makers.
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English and Geography
Nicola Walshe
The opportunities provided by cross-curricular engagement are discussed here, through a project connecting English and Geography. The topic of sustainable development was explored through fieldwork activities, as well as reading and producing poetry.
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The importance of holistic geographies
Charles Rawding (Edge Hill University)
This presentation explores the ability of the trainee geography teacher to provide a compelling narrative for the importance of geography education as a means of investigating the world we live in. Charles recommends a holistic approach to geography education- that the individual parts, or disciplines, are interconnected and can only be fully explained by reference to the whole of the subject.
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Personal geographies & Classroom spaces
Sue Bermingham (MMU)
For this presentation Sue described a further aspect of her ongoing research into education. Here she discussed the effect of standardized space on the development of the student, especially their ability to feel unconstrained in expressing personal beliefs and ideas while within a regulated environment.
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Making my place in the world
Sue Bermingham and John Lyon
Sue and John engaged on a project of research based around students’ concept of place, beginning with the contemporary curriculum. The aim was to expand the framework for enquiry on the subject and develop students’ geographical vocabulary. Progress was made in encouraging students to become more active in discussion on their places.
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What do National Parks do?
Hannah Norton
In this document, you can find a list of the different ways that National Parks can prove useful in geography. This list includes available awards and methods to include National Parks in the curriculum such as outdoor learning opportunities, as well as teacher training opportunities.
Download: Word Document
Brecon; the unexpected journey
Sharon Witt, Paula Owens & Steve Rawlinson
This presentation focused on primary teacher trainees from years 2 and 3 – 7 of which were geography specialists – on a fieldwork trip to Wales. Trainees were taken to three unknown locations and expected to engage in reflective practices, recording their experiences of new landscapes and encounters. This helped them embrace a more flexible attitude to learning.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
2012
The 2012 Conference took place in Swansea from 27-29 January.
Downloads:
Conference programme:
GTE Conference 2012 Programme
Personal Geographies: Discourse analysis of interview data
Sue Bermingham
Sue uses examples of interviews conducted with trainee teachers at the beginning and end of their courses to show how perceptions of teaching changed. She frames this with a discussion of the techniques for analysis, and her techniques when carrying out interviews and transcriptions. She considers the concept of time, and how teachers integrate their past experiences into ongoing practice.
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Concerns about assessment for learning in geography
Clare Brooks
In this presentation, Clare looks at the variety of influences on geography teacher practice. She considers this from a macro-, meso- and micro- view of practices, including influences such as school, personal, geography and education cultures on the overall output and approach of a teacher in a school setting.
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GEReCo update
Graham Butt
An update on activities from the Geography Education Research Collective since the previous GTE conference. Graham spoke about intended expansion of databases on research in progress, the ESRC seminar series and the existing strategic plan. Dates were given for future workshops to be held.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Why teach weather?
Sylvia Knight
Dr Sylvia Knight from the Royal Meteorological society discusses her work providing sessions for teacher trainees on teaching weather subjects as part of geography. She presented examples of feedback from her sessions and notes the differences in opinions about the subject before and after her sessions took place. There was a marked rise in trainees considering the subject.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
School geography, the Geographical Association (GA) and policy making in England (2009-2014)
David Lambert
Using the GA manifesto and White Paper as references, this presentation talked about the role of teachers as curriculum makers and professionals in the school. It also spoke of the role young people have to play in shaping the curriculum, through their investigations and perceptions of the world as developed through lessons and fieldwork.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
On putting geography back into geography education: implications for the preparation of geography teachers
David Mitchell
This presentation looks at the ‘knowledge turn’ in geography and the effects on ITE. It considers how this approach to teaching can take learners beyond existing knowledge while still reinforcing key geography concepts. Teachers become curriculum makers, while engaging with the wider purposes of geography education.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Geography and Science Education – revitalising the dialogue
Alun Morgan
Alun considers the applications of integrating geography and science, so that the common concept of science education can be expanded into other areas such as earth sciences and meteorology, and provide grounds for cooperative curriculum making. This could aid in expanding uptake of the subjects, as links are made to wider societal concerns such as biodiversity and sustainable development.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
What opportunities are there in working with Teaching Schools?
Mel Norman
The benefits of working with teaching schools were explored in this presentation. These included creating partnerships with universities, involvement in research and professional development. Sunnyside was used as an example of how NQTs can find this sort of partnership useful in developing subject knowledge and pedagogy.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Teachers’ conceptions of knowledge in secondary school geography
Steve Puttick
Steve used this presentation to consider how teachers perceive knowledge is acquired and imparted in schools. He makes comparisons between physical and human geography, different streams of teaching, and also where knowledge is drawn from. He asks how geography teachers construct a relationship between the academic discipline and school subject.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Carboniferous limestone and the search for relevance
Charles Rawding
In this presentation, Charles discusses how to create the necessary mechanisms for ensuring that geography trainees are equipped for future change in the subject in order to ensure that their departments remain up-to-date and topical as they progress through their careers. He uses examples of urban development and industrial decline to exemplify the necessity of remaining up to date.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Global Educational Partnerships and Community Cohesion
Jim Rogers
Jim Rogers uses examples from two secondary schools to look at the mutual areas of global partnerships and community cohesion in the geography curriculum. He asks to what extent teachers are aware of and involved in these aspects, and whether they are incorporated effectively.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Using dialogic diaries to develop student understanding and trainee practice
Nicola Walshe
This presentation builds on the results of a survey of diary use as a pedagogical tool, which Nicola Walshe presented at the previous conference in Cambridge (see below). Beginning with her discussion of using dialogic diaries and as a method of improving student engagement, she also looks at how trainees involved in the project used blogging as a way of improving critical assessment of their practices.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Download: Video and audio clips
Using texts as a stimulus for outdoor learning: an Early Years – Secondary Collaboration
Sarah Whitehouse & Mark Jones
This presentation explores the efficacy of group reading with primary school children as an opener to geographical study. The project worked with Early Years pupils and Secondary trainees to assess transferable skills: using reading as a focus and then related tasks, fieldwork and role plays.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Urban Drifting; a playful approach to geographical fieldwork
Sharon Witt
A discussion of a fieldwork activity where students were encouraged to freely explore their local environment. This paper explores the efficacy of the dérive approach with 15 year 2 primary subject specialists. Improvements in observation and critical thinking skills were noted.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
2010
The 2010 GTE Conference took place in Cambridge from 29-31 January.
Downloads:
The Role of Practitioner Research in Geography Teacher Education
Clare Brooks
Clare discusses the link between practitioner research and wider research in geography education. To what extent is research allowing trainees to question their understanding? Are they engaging in research purely to gain qualifications?
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
The Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum Final Report
Simon Catling
This presentation began with an overview of previous curriculum and moved forward to give information about the 2010 curriculum and focus on new aspects. Concepts such as place, space, scale and interdependence as well as cultural understanding were key.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
The Young Geographer’s Project 2008: Curriculum making with primary teachers
Simon Catling
The young geographers project emphasised curriculum making, learning outside the classroom and education for sustainable development. This presentation used the example of film making in a Southborough school to show how it enhanced children’s learning about their local environment.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Assessing Trainee Outcomes
Steve Ellis
This session approached the ways trainees are assessed. It covered the importance of the Self Evaluation Document (SED), progress indicators and Ofsted criteria in providing a framework for assessment of trainees.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Going Mobile
Mark Jones
Mark discussed research into the benefits, challenges and possible opportunities of using PDAs among trainee teachers, and went on to look at further applications for digital learning in the classroom. He questioned how ICT skills are audited and developed in schools.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Geography in Schools: what are we fighting for?
David Lambert
David looked at the changing attitudes to geography from a political stance, how national politics has an effect on curriculum and views toward education. He spoke about the manifesto for geography ‘A different view’ and how it reflects a new approach to pedagogy.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
The Futures Dimension in Education
David Mitchell
This presentation highlighted the purpose of geography education, and its changing role in schools and society. A timeline of past, present and suggested future pathways for geography education was used to show how we have moved on from a ‘production line’ style of pedagogy to more sustainable and individual patterned learning.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
A Different View: a manifesto by the GA. A powerful tool for reaffirming geography’s potential in the curriculum or another sexy gimmick by the GA?
Debbie Moss
Debbie Moss carried out a qualitative evaluation of the GA’s manifesto for geography. She considered the overall impact of the manifesto, making a survey of the awareness of sample primary and secondary schools, as well as their expectations of the new approaches to pedagogy in schools and training. More secondary than primary schools noted interest.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
NQT 2.0: Online support networks for new geography teachers
Alan Parkinson
This paper discussed the different resources available to NQTs today which allow them to connect and share knowledge. It went into detail on the applications of new technologies for resource sharing, community building and the development of interactive teaching aids such as apps for the geography teacher and student.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Reconstructing the Rural: contemporary approaches to the British Countryside
Charles Rawding
In this presentation, Charles Rawding challenged the traditional perceptions of the countryside. He considered changing land use and farm diversification, alongside economic concerns. Key to this issue was the rise of middle class influence regarding land use and the rural economy.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
The Impact of Experiential Fieldwork on Learning
Robert Rosenthal
An A2 Geography group were taken on a fieldtrip to Marrakech, in order to enhance their first hand experience of geography. A comparative analysis was made of work written before the trip, development during the trip through reflective journals and videos, and final assessments on their return. A marked improvement was seen in the use of key terminology and empathy.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Using Dialogic Diaries to Explore and Develop Student Understanding
Nicola Walshe
A teacher gave her perspective on using dialogic diaries to help students engage with geography topics (sustainable development) on a more personal level, showing how they developed reasoning skills over time. Personal reflection proved a positive way of reinforcing classwork.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
GCSE: Patterns of Entry
Paul Weeden
In a report which combined comprehensive analysis of data from the University of Birmingham and the results of an Ipsos Mori survey carried out for the GA, Paul Weeden attempted to contextualise GCSE subject choice for geography, and provided his own analytical framework, incorporating local and national influences.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Residential Fieldwork: Mutual Benefits within an ITT Partnership
Paul Weeden and Graham Butt
This presentation looked at the benefits of residential fieldwork courses for both students and PGCE students. The focus was on a program of training carried out by the University of Birmingham in the Lake district, in which trainee teachers were expected to devise and implement formal and informal activities.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
2009
The 2009 Conference took place from 30 January – 1 February in Southport.
Friday 30 January 2009
The TTRB, Subject Engagement and GTIP
David Lambert
Chief Executive of the GA, Professor David Lambert, talked about the changing geography curriculum and how the Teacher Training Resource Bank can support geography teacher educators. The PowerPoint Presentation and an MP3 of David’s keynote speech, given at the TTRB London Roadshow, can be downloaded from the TTRB website.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
How can PGCE tutors get their students involved in the Geographical Association?
Margaret Roberts
Margaret Roberts, GA President for 2008/09, explored the various ways in which the GA offers support to trainee teachers.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Download: Handout
The social web: new media in the geography classroom
Alan Parkinson
Alan outlined the new tools and networks available to geography teachers as part of the growing ‘social web’. A wide range of web-based tools were introduced and demonstrated, followed by a discussion of the possible uses for them in the classroom, and the impact they might have on teaching and learning. Further information is available on Alan’s Living Geography Blog.
View: Edited PowerPoint Presentation (Slideshare)
Is a PGCE assessed at Masters level developing ‘better’ geography teachers?
Clare Brooks
This session explored the relationship between Masters level assessment and notions of quality in teaching and learning. What is the impact of studying at Masters Level on the student teachers we are working with?
Download: PowerPoint Presentation 1
Download: PowerPoint Presentation 2
Cautious revolution? Redesigning the KS3 Geography curriculum
Steven Chubb
Steven reported on research conducted in partnership schools with Heads of Department discussing how and why they have redesigned the Year 7 or KS3 curriculum.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Reflections on being a PGCE tutor: Educator or trainer?
Margaret Roberts
In this session Margaret talked about how she saw her role as a PGCE tutor and discussed some of the dilemmas she faced in that role.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Feet, Sand and Muddy Bottoms
Ann Worsley
In this session, Ann discussed the ‘crowded’ Sefton Coast, covering sand dune systems and tourism with a particular focus on the impact Antony Gormley’s art installation ‘Another Place’ has had on the Crosby area.
View: Presentation Summary (by Alan Parkinson)
Saturday 31 January 2009
Children’s Voices and Global School Partnerships
Fran Martin
What do children’s voices tell us about their views of distant people and places? How does this differ in schools with a GSP? What role might geography play in GSPs?
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
TEWG Update
Mel Norman
Mel presented the results of a survey of PGCE Geography departments. Although 606 people are on Geography PGCE courses this year, many schools are still using non-specialist geographers.
Download: PGCE Geography Employment & Recruitment Stats
GTIP Update
Margaret Roberts
An update on recent additions to the GTIP website.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
How can the Peak District be represented as a Place? Cross-Curricular Fieldwork in Geography and English
Debbie Moss
Nine groups of English and Geography ATs looked at nine different ways of representing the Peak District as part of their residential fieldwork near beginning of their PGCE course. Studying place through a range of perspectives and media moved both sets of students outside their comfort zones.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Incorporating the Cultural Turn into Geographies of Mobility
Charles Rawding
Charles discussed some alternative approaches to transport geographies in the classroom which reflect recent trends in academic geography.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
View: ‘Motorway at last’, British Pathe News, 29 October 1959, film no. 1599.04.
Blurring boundaries: creating critical balances between pedagogic and content knowledge in ITE
Claire Whewell & Allen Thurston
In this session, Claire and Allen talked about the new concurrent degree programme at The Stirling Institute of Education which aims to maximize impact on initial teacher education and lead to more effective learning and teaching by ensuring that students develop both content and pedagogic knowledge and skills.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Download: Paper
Overview of PhD Research on GIS and Teaching and Learning about Place in Schools
Mary Fargher
Mary gave an overview of her PhD research on GIS and teaching and learning about place in schools.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
GA Resources on Teacher Action Research
David Leat
David outlined a publication proposal developed by the Teacher Education Working Group and then invited discussion and feedback on the proposal to help shape it.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Sunday 1 February 2009
Working with Gifted and Talented Children: a Case Study
Stephen Pickering
Stephen talked about his involvement in an LA/Uni/School project working with G&T children in primary schools identified by the LA as being, ‘low aspiring schools’. The aim was to provide children with the opportunity to work in the University and contribute to its future plans based on completing a sustainability audit.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Engaging Geography and A Different View
David Lambert
David spoke about the ESRC seminar series Engaging Geography and its potential relevance to the GTE community. He linked themes from the series with issues and concerns in relation to the ‘health’ of school geography and the forthcoming ‘Manifesto’ from the GA.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Imperial War Museum Fellowship in Holocaust Education: potential contribution of geographers
Debbie Moss
In this session Debbie talked about her Fellowship in Holocaust Education and explored how and why the Holocaust should be taught in geography lessons.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
How New is the New KS3 Geography Curriculum?
Mel Norman
Mel provided some interpretations of the revised KS3 geography curriculum based on research in four secondary schools.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Developing Trainee Teachers’ Awareness of Personal Geographies
Sue Bermingham
During the Autumn Term Sue conducted research into trainee teachers’ awareness of personal geographies (their own and that of their pupils). By the ninth week of the course five types of personal geographies had emerged, and by the twelfth week the trainees had a discussion on the five types. Their comments have added new directions to Sue’s growing understanding of this area of geography.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Download: Handout
Professional Updating: Sharing Best Practice
Teresa Lenton
How do ITE Tutors stay up to date in the fast moving world of education? Where/how does this happen? Could the GA through GTIP or the GTE Conference have a role?
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
2008
The 2008 Conference took place from 25 – 27 January in Bristol.
Friday 25 January
Transition from School to HE
Jean Dourneen
Jean shared her own experience of transition from teaching in secondary school to working in Higher Education with beginning teachers. She provided a useful theoretical overview to help analyse key aspects of transition, supported by examples of beginning teachers’ work in the classroom.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Download: Pupils’ PowerPoint Presentation
Download: PDF Handout
The Role of the Geographical Association
David Lambert
David started by identifying delegates’ perceptions of the role of the GA, before outlining the numerous and varied activities beyond the Action Plan for Geography which the GA is currently undertaking. These include subject support, resources, networking, and specific projects such as Living Geography, Places People Want and GIS.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Weblink: About Us
Subjects to Change
David Lambert
David provided a critical overview of the curriculum, identifying three essential contributions to curriculum making: students, teachers and the subject. He suggested ‘Living Geography’ and ‘Young People’s Geographies’ as useful to the critical debate with young people about how to live.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Download: Doreen Massey – Is The World Really Shrinking (MP3)
Weblink: Living Geography
Making Connections: Working with Subject Knowledge
Clare Brooks
Clare shared her research findings on teachers’ subject knowledge, making bridges between her research and what is needed in relation to curriculum planning. She suggested how it could be possible to psychologise the subject rather than merely receive it.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Context and Power: The Subject Conceptions and Practice of Pre-service Geography Teachers in Singapore
Tricia Seow
Tricia shared her early research which explores the extent to which pre-service teachers’ embodiment, and societal regulation of their bodies, affects their conceptions of Geography and their practice.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Saturday 26 January
Care, Well-being, Sustainability and Geography: What is this really about?
Simon Catling
Simon explored the concept of ‘care’ set in the context of the sustainability agenda, ECM, and Sustainable Schools. He argued that The ECM, Sustainable Schools and Children’s Plan agendas provide a rationale for geography as an essential curriculum – indeed, whole school – subject.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Understanding Student Conceptions of Sustainability
Nicola Walshe
Nicola shared her research findings based on Year 8 students’ conceptions of sustainability. A key method was the use of concept mapping and pupils’ understanding in relation to the three concepts of environmental, social and economic sustainability.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Places People Want
Angus Willson
Angus argued the need for a more critical use of multimedia resources in relation to the settlement study. Through ‘unsettling settlement’ using a new DVD on sustainable communities, he explored how we can introduce and involve young people in developing a critical perspective on what makes a sustainable community.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Weblink: Building Sustainable Communities
Weblink: Places People Want – online CPD unit
Curriculum Making – Issues for Using Teacher Created Resources Effectively
John Lyon & Nicky Reckless
John and Nicky brought delegates right up to date with the outcomes of the popular Action Plan ‘curriculum-making’ courses. A wealth of teacher-created resources have been produced and key issues were discussed in relation to teachers’ CPD and future dissemination of materials.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Young People
Mary Biddulph
Mary’s session stressed the importance of young people in the curriculum-making process and shared the outcomes of the Young People’s Geographies project led by herself and Roger Firth.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Weblink: Young People’s Geographies
Teacher-to-Teacher: Young People’s Geographies – Mary Biddulph & Emily Arnold, GA Annual Conference, Friday 28 March 2008, 15:10-15:30
Geography for Weekenders
Mark Jones
Mark presented a post-modernist perspective on Bristol’s city centre suggesting different perspectives through which to view the city such as ‘city as consumption’, ‘city as surveillance’ and ‘city as defensible space’.
Download: Word Handout
Geography of Sport
Steve Chubb
Steve shared his research findings which show an increasing recognition in schools of the value of using sport as way of engaging pupils in geography at KS3.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Shopping: Some Options from an Expert
Charles Rawding
Charles emphasised the dynamic nature of shopping’s location and operation through notions of geographies of consumption – presenting shopping (like tourism) as one branch of consumption embedded in modernity.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Weblink: Charles Rawding on Developing Cultural Geography – GA ‘Think Piece’
Sunday 27 January
E-Learning
David Mitchell
David presented an argument for e-learning, in particular GIS and its contribution to developing students’ spatial thinking and other learning in geography.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Download: GA Magazine PDF – Get started with GIS… on the internet… for free
Weblink: Spatially Speaking – GA Project
Weblink: GIS: Training the Trainers – GA GTE Project
Weblink: GIS in Geography Teaching and Learning – GA ‘Think Piece’
ITT Exchange to Poland
Helen Gadsby
Helen presented an overview of the experiences gained through using the international dimension to promote active and reflective learning for both staff and students.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Trainee Teachers: Changing Perspectives on Outdoor Education
Maureen O’Shaughnessy
Maureen analysed the value of an outdoor activity weekend in North Wales for both experienced teachers and beginning teachers.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Weblink: Fieldwork (Primary) – GA ‘Think Piece’
Weblink: Fieldwork (Secondary) – GA ‘Think Piece’
Action Plan for Geography – An Update
John Lyon & Nicky Reckless
Nicky and John gave an update on the three interlinked programmes of the APG: Communication, Support and Development.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Weblink: Geography Teaching Today Website
Weblink: About the Action Plan
New GCSEs and Controlled Assessment
Paul Weeden
Paul presented an update on the development of Controlled Assessments, identifying how the level of control teachers might have (High – Medium – Low) could be applied to different aspects of the task: setting, taking and marking. Classroom examples were provided by Fred Martin.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Download: PowerPoint Presentation – Classroom Examples
Weblink: GA Assessment & Examinations Working Group
Teacher-to-Teacher: GCSE Controlled Assessment Goes Digital – Fred Martin, GA Annual Conference, Friday 28 March 2008, 11:50-12:10
Lecture: Introducing Controlled Assessments – Paul Weeden, GA Annual Conference, Saturday 29 March 2008, 15:10-16:00
2007
Subject Choice at A-level
Jane Ferretti, University of Sheffield
Jane talked about the reasons why Year 12 students had chosen to study A-level geography compared to the reasons their teachers thought had affected their choice.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Young People
Roger Firth and Mary Biddulph, University of Nottingham
Roger and Mary spoke about their initial work with the Young People’s Geographies Project, a collaborative project involving academic geographers, eight geography teachers, geography teacher educators and pupils.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Pupils, Controversial Issues and Geography
Nick Hopwood, University of Oxford
Nick presented some of the data from his research into pupils’ understanding of geography, focusing on what pupils found controversial and how they handled controversial issues in the classroom.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Download: Handout
Download: Accompanying Notes
Download more of Nick’s work from his website.
Was it Something I Said?
Rachel Lofthouse, University of Newcastle
Rachel presented examples from an early stage of a research project in which she is exploring the value of PGCE students videoing their lessons and using these as a basis for reflection and learning.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
The Action Plan for Geography
Di Swift, The Geographical Association
Di gave us a report on the implementation of the Action Plan for Geography and its approach to ‘curriculum making’.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation (2M)
Reflections on the Ofsted Years
Andrea Tapsfield, ex HMI
Andrea reflected on changes to the inspection process and to Initial Teacher Education geography courses which had taken place during her years as an Inspector.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Developments in ITE
Sheila King, University of London Institute of Education
Sheila gave an overview of developments in ITE with a focus on how ULIE had adapted the course to enable PGCE students to gain Masters Credits for their work during the course.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Assessing the Potential of Interviewees for Teaching Geography – the Use of Mini Teaching Tasks in Schools
Debbie Moss, Keele University
Debbie provided information about the procedures used at Keele University for selecting PGCE students. The procedures included a written task, a presentation, an interview and micro-teaching in a local school.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Perceptions of Geography – Cross-Phase Project
John Cook, University of London Institute of Education
John reported findings from a cross phase (KS2-KS3) project on pupil perceptions of geography which involved surveys and interviews with Year 6 and Year 7 pupils about geography and their knowledge of places.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
What is the GA for?
David Lambert, The Geographical Association
David presented information about the present roles of the Geographical Association and raised questions about its changing roles and functions.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Download: Paper
Animated Discussion
Mark Jones, University of the West of England
Mark reported on how his PGCE students had made plasticine models and animated them to show complex landforms and processes. The activity had encouraged discussion which promoted deeper understanding of processes.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation (523k)
Keeping Butler on the Beach: Embedding Tourism in Modernity
Charles Rawding, Edge Hill University
Charles discussed the blurring of distinctions between tourism and leisure activities. He illustrated his presentation with case studies of literary and television tourism.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Download: Accompanying Notes
Influencing the Research and Policy Agenda in Geography Education
Graham Butt, University of Birmingham
Graham spoke about the importance of quality research in geographical education. If we want our research to inform policy then it would be an advantage to collaborate, decide on priorities and to develop an action plan.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
School Linking as a Controversial Issue
Fran Martin, The University of Exeter
Fran spoke about the possible negative effects of schools in the UK linking with places in the South and about ways in which more positive mutual relationships could develop.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
ESC, GIS, Teaching Geography with All Kinds of Technology
David Mitchell, GA and University of London Institute of Education
David showed how it was easy to access worthwhile ‘ready to use’ GIS online. He also demonstrated the continuing relevance to a changing geography of a ‘low-tech’ approach with process models of sand and water.
See the Spatially Speaking Project for more ideas.
Research in Geographical Education
David Lambert, The Geographical Association
In a special session held to discuss research in geographical education, David Lambert discussed research priorities. He identified characteristics of the current context and discussed issues that could be the focus of the type of research that would interest and influence policy makers.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Does Place Matter?
Sue Bermingham, Manchester Metropolitan University and John Lyon, the Geographical Association
Sue and John discussed how PGCE students could improve their knowledge and understanding of the localities in which their placement schools were situated, and how they might use this information to promote pupils’ interest in their local areas.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
How do Geography Teachers Construct the Geography Curriculum at Key Stage
Melanie Norman, University of Brighton
Mel reported on her research, based on semi-structured interviews, into how the KS3 curriculum was constructed in three contrasting schools. The research raised issues about both geographical content and pedagogy.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Teach Global
Maggie Smith, the Open University and Di Swift, the Geographical Association
Maggie and Di showed extracts of this online resource and discussed how it might be used with PGCE students.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
The Representation of Southern Italy in Textbooks
Margaret Roberts, the Geographical Association
Margaret Roberts presented data from her research into the representation of Southern Italy in KS3 textbooks. She examined photographs, text and activities and compared them with those in an atlas for Italian primary schools.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
2006
The Role of the GA and the GTE
Dr David Lambert, Chief Executive of the Geographical Association
David Lambert outlined the significance of the GA as a community of practice in a learning society and underlined the importance of the GTE professional network. Both the GA and the GTE are mutually supportive and the importance of both groups is recognised by the TDA.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Boosting Geographical Knowledge
Clare Brooks, Institute of Education, University of London
Clare asked questions about subject knowledge booster courses and the way ITE can affect the ‘gap’ between university and school geography.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Running a Subject Knowledge Booster Course
Mark Jones, University of the West of England
Mark shared experiences of running a TDA funded Subject Knowledge Booster course – now in its third year – from auditing subject knowledge, selection of trainees to attend, teaching and learning approaches, trainee feedback and changes to the courses as a result. He then explored different stakeholders’ views about the necessary Degree requirements needed for entry to a PGCE in Geography and how a booster course can compensate for perceived inadequacies in Degrees such as Archaeology, Mineral Mining, Tourism Studies, Town Planning and Coastal Leisure Studies.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Learning Journals as a Tool to Develop Subject Pedagogy – an Initial Review
Simon Hoult, Canterbury Christ Church University
Simon considered the use of Geography PGCE students’ learning journals as a means to develop their subject pedagogy (as distinct from their general development towards QTS). The session presented work in progress and started from considering whether journals should reflect subject pedagogy, comparing Geography students’ work with other subject areas. Sample reflective pieces were shared to consider the key question.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
A Story of Transition PGCE to M.Ed
Rachel Lofthouse, Newcastle University
Rachel offered a chance to share experiences of upgrading PGCE courses to M. level, discussing the new programme and assessment procedures in terms of their impact on the teaching and learning opportunities provided by the Newcastle University partnership. The main change at Newcastle has been the way in which tutors and students engage with research processes.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Year 9 Pupils Conception of Geography
Nick Hopwood, University of Oxford
Six Year 9 pupils, two from each of three schools, have been the centre of in an in-depth case study. Research questions focused on the content and nature of their conceptions of geography. This lecture presented findings with respect to the ways pupils describe geography, aspects of geography they value, and relationships between these aspects and the ways they interpret their learning experiences.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Pupil Choice at 14: Geography: A Case Study
Paul Weeden, University of Birmingham
Numbers opting to study geography at GCSE have been falling and Paul’s research has looked at the possible reasons for this decline. A model to describe the different factors has been developed that attempts to explain the uniqueness of individual school situations. Some preliminary findings about the trends in different locations and types of school were outlined.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
An Action Plan for Geography
Dr David Lambert, Chief Executive of the Geographical Association
The recent and current challenges facing geography, across the sectors, have been acknowledged by the DfES. There is a strong possibility of support from the DfES to underpin a plan devised by the GA & RGS/IBG (in conjunction with the DfES) to stimulate the ‘recovery’ of geography. This session outlined progress made so far and invited discussion.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Strange Bedfellows: Emerging Relationships Between Geography and English
Mark Jones, University of the West of England
Mark shared his experience of a collaborative approach to teaching KS3 English lessons post SATs where geographical themes provided the context for a series of lessons. The lessons were team-taught by the PGCE Tutors in a local partnership school to a Year 9 English set and trainees from the University worked collaboratively on developing lessons with joint English and geography objectives.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Making Sense of Geography in Commercial Geography Books for Children
Professor Simon Catling, Oxford Brookes University
Various single volume publications entitled ‘Geography’ can be found on the children’s bookshelves of many high street bookshops. This lecture considered what sense of geography they portray. Is it the same idea of geography as that conveyed in the primary national curriculum? How might it be described?
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Ethnogeography: A Future for Primary Geography?
Dr Fran Martin, University of Worcester
Fran discussed what emerged from her PhD research and asked if ethnogeography could be the new paradigm for primary geography.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Download: Paper
Does Every Child Matter?
Jeff Battersby, Dean of the Faculty of Education, College of St Mark & St John
Developments in the ECM agenda and how ITT provision is accommodating this. How are we addressing the personalised learning, extended schools and workforce remodelling agendas on our ITT courses, specifically in preparing trainees to experience and contribute effectively to these developments? What are the implications for the Standards? What are implications for the geography curriculum?
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Exploring Geographical Significance
Professor Simon Catling, Oxford Brookes University and Liz Taylor, University of Cambridge
‘Significance’ is a useful concept in history, enabling consideration of what might be worthy of focus and study. There is passing reference in geography to this term in the context of ‘significant’ places to locate on maps of the British Isles, Europe and the World. Might this concept have a stronger role to play in geography? What might be significant in geographical study? What might be significant geography for pupils? The intention is to explore the potential of this notion of significance in geography education.
Download: PowerPoint Presentation
Generalist Geography in Primary PGCE Courses: An Update
Professor Simon Catling, Oxford Brookes University
At the last GTE Conference an interim report was presented on an investigation into the geography component provided for all trainees in Primary PGCE courses. This session briefly updated that report (using responses from 50 HEIs) and indicated what is now being investigated in this area.
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Geography Teachers as Strategic Decision Makers
Clare Brooks, Institute of Education, University of London
Using Moore’s notion that ‘good’ teachers act strategically, by choosing an appropriate range of strategies and techniques that are relevant to their students and their learning needs, this session questioned to what extent the subject of geography has a role to play within that. To what extent are teachers influenced by geography in their planning and teaching and to what extent to do they allow other concerns to take precedence?
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How Do We Determine Quality in Geography Education Research?
Dr Graham Butt, University of Birmingham
An attempt to explore what constitutes quality in our research with particular reference to what might be considered (or rejected) by educational journals for publication.
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GIS in Initial Teacher Education
David Mitchell, Institute of Education, University of London
In this presentation, David examined some possible approaches to introducing and embedding GIS into geography ITE. The IOE, London’s Geography PGCE is used as a case study of one approach to GIS. A current GA/OS project to support and develop approaches to GIS in Geography ITE was also discussed.
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Seeking Ubuntu
Sue Bermingham, Manchester Metropolitan University; Linda Clarke, University of Ulster; Doreen Oakley, University of Leeds and Jeff Serf, University of Wolverhampton
Jeff and Sue spoke about the ‘Seeking Ubuntu’ project and their involvement in a study tour last year. ‘Seeking Ubuntu: education for democratic citizenship-learning from South Africa’, a study visit course organised by TIDE, Teachers in Development Education based in Birmingham. The project builds on the experience of earlier TIDE work and the publications Towards Ubuntu and Exploring Ubuntu co-authored by Jeff Serf, Clive Harber and Charlotte Carter.
Linda Clarke illustrated her experiences of the study visit with the PowerPoint Presentation called ‘I would like to ask you two questions: Voices from South Africa’, five slides with photos and a commentary on her study visit to South Africa.
Doreen Oakley presented images from her experiences in South Africa and added: ‘…At the end of a week when all my senses seemed to have been assaulted by this incredible experience, I left South Africa reflecting on what similarities and what differences existed between that country and the UK as well as within the country itself. The slides were an attempt to give a feeling of those similarities and differences…’
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Putting Burgess in the Bin
Charles Rawding, Edge Hill University College
Charles asked us all to think again about approaches to urban geography by insisting we ‘put Burgess in the bin’. He offered a reconstruction of the urban geographies of Brighton to support his case.
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Geography
Andrew Church, Professor of Human Geography, University of Brighton
Andrew Church gave the after-dinner talk on the first night on the GTE conference. Due to some catering difficulties Andrew did not start his lecture until much later than planned but still spoke to a full gathering of delegates who were very interested in Andrew’s ‘nature-culture binary’ which was frequently referred to throughout the conference. Andrew joined delegates in the bar after his lecture where debate and discussion continued, setting the context for the rest of the weekend.
Andrew joined the University of Brighton from Kings College, London; before following the research route, he completed a PGCE and takes a lively interest in geography at school level. Andrew is the President of the Brighton and District local branch of the GA and also a Fellow of the RGS/IBG.
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