Challenges and opportunities in post 16 geography Rita Gardner The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

A personal view What is geography? Why does geography matter? The challenges of teaching relevant geography Joining up geography Challenges & opportunities in the new criteria? Opportunities for your students? Why grasp the challenges and opportunities?

What is geography? The understanding of the worlds peoples, places and environments, locally and globally: their characteristics and distributions, their interconnections, how they are changing and the processes by which these changes are taking place. We live in a constantly changing and interacting world – geography is the study of how political, economic, social and environmental processes shape, differentiate and change places and regions

A world in which >50% people live in cities Mumbai: a global economy worth $65 trillion dollars about 1 billion people live on c. $1 a day

Why does geography matter? To society, which needs: To me, as an individual

Why does geography matter? To society, which needs: –Environmentally responsible young people –Socially aware and culturally tolerant citizens –People to understand inequality and to care about it –People to be English, European and world citizens simultaneously –People who can see interconnections, integrate ideas, appreciate complexity, ask questions, do research, and be adaptable to change To me, as an individual

Why does geography matter? To society, which needs: –Environmentally responsible young people –Socially aware and culturally tolerant citizens –People to understand inequality and to care about it –People to be English, European and world citizens simultaneously –People who can see interconnections, integrate ideas, appreciate complexity, ask questions, do research, and be adaptable to change To me, as an individual –Engages me in understanding what I see around me –Helps me understand my place in the world –Provides me with a world context into which to put my understanding of our rapidly changing society and environment –Helps me to form my views on some big issues facing my generation –I learn a wide set of functional skills through real applications –Encourages me to see others’ perspectives

Real issues in the real world The territory size is proportional to the number of international immigrants that live there

The challenges of teaching relevant geography thinking context –temporal; spatial; economic; social; political; environmental; policy –studying issues needs understanding of processes & concepts keeping up to date –from news to new developments –freely available statistics –Subject associations – GA and RGS-IBG relevance starts at home –your environment / your neighbourhood / your communities –meaningful fieldwork –engaging students’ experiences & different perspectives making the most of technology –GIS; Google Earth; GPS

Joining up geography How to move from modules as disconnected bits of learning ……. to a coherent whole with a clear rationale and intellectual framework for both students and teachers Organising approaches include: 1.Process 2.Landscape or place 3.Concepts 4.Thematic 5.Issues

Tolerance Responsibility Enterprise/Employment Polarisation Regeneration Migration Globalisation Sustainable development Pollution Climate change Energy Economics Devt Studies Business Studies Conservation Environment & land management Sociology/ Politics Planning Local government Temporal Spatial – local to global Dimensions values Hazards Flooding Earth/Environmental Science; Chemistry One of several possible conceptual models Travel & tourism Geographical information science

Challenges and opportunities in the new criteria? Fieldwork mandatory but no coursework 4 modules instead of 6 with fewer, longer exams Far less prescriptive of content Replacing repetition based on content with that on concept? Focus on concepts, processes and skills Introduces diversity as a key concept More flexibility for ABs (and teachers) to be innovative Specific reference to understanding relevance of studies

Opportunities for your students? Onwards and upwards –Geography attainment at A level is above average –4000 enter HE to study geography each year –Geography ranked high in National Student Survey Career stakes –Bridging arts & sciences: geography as a third A level –Wide range of subject-related and ‘generic’ careers –80% graduate jobs require no specific degree –Geographers have good functional skills –Employers seek environmental and social awareness

Why grasp the challenges and opportunities? Be part of revitalising the discipline at school –Bring coherence and purpose –Engage more young people through links to their lives Demonstrate its relevance to wider educational agendas –citizenship; sustainable futures; climate change; social cohesion; learning outside the classroom Ensure the future of your subject –Demographics –New subjects –Vocational strands –Alternative qualifications

Because we need to !