All geography teachers require a strong knowledge of the subject they teach. It is essential that new teachers have a secure understanding of the subject at the start of their teaching careers. However, geography is a dynamic subject, meaning that ongoing subject knowledge enhancement will always be an important element of a geography teacher’s professional development. Geography teachers need to know:

• the ideas and practices of the geography discipline. This is disciplinary subject knowledge and is developed through studying the subject at degree level and subsequently by keeping abreast of academic developments in the subject
• up-to-date subject knowledge of geographical facts, concepts, vocabulary and skills for the topics that make up the geography curriculum to be taught. This is known as substantive subject knowledge
• how to teach geography so that their students learn the disciplinary and substantive subject knowledge required. This is known as pedagogic content knowledge (PCK).

The Department for Education sets out the subject knowledge requirements for ALL teachers in the Teaching Standards: All teachers must:

• ‘have a secure knowledge of the relevant subject(s) and curriculum areas, foster and maintain students’ interest in the subject, and address misunderstandings’
• ‘demonstrate a critical understanding of developments in the subject and curriculum areas, and promote the value of scholarship’ (Teachers’ Standards, DfE, 2012).

Different aspects of subject knowledge are covered in these pages: