1. Building Outstanding Geography Departments
STANDING OUT
Building Outstanding Geography Departments
This CPD unit aims to help geography teachers develop an approach to geography, teaching, resources and planning that will help their departments move from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’. This is the language of OfSTED and this unit will help teachers deal with inspection but the real intention is to help teachers build departments that exactly and successfully meet the needs of their young geographers, of which an outstanding inspection would be happy evidence.
This CPD unit consists of a series of slides that emphasise the characteristics of an outstanding department and suggests ideas for discussion and action that might help a department review its position and to become, or remain, outstanding.
A View From King Edward VI Five Ways School

2. Things to think about #1…. Having a VISION
What exactly are you doing and why?
What philosophy or rationale informs
everything you do?
What is the point of you and your
Geography department?
What kind of geographer do you want your pupils
to be?
It is vital that every department has a shared idea of what it is doing and why, that is, have a shared vision that informs planning and decision-making. The vision statement of KEFW is given below. Review it during a department meeting. How would yours be different?
KING EDWARD VI FIVE WAYS SCHOOL
GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
OUR VISION
The geography department has a shared vision. This informs our endeavours as a department and as geography teachers.
The Geographers at King Edward VI Five Ways School aim to:
Be the best Geography Department in the UK
Build an extraordinary learning community that goes beyond the curriculum.
Foster a spirit of enquiry and continual improvement.
Draw on the rich variety of experience and views to support a coherent and collegiate approach to teaching and learning
Nurture links with other schools and departments locally, nationally and globally
Enable each person’s continued personal and professional development
For pupils we seek to engender:
Knowledge and understanding of the planet Earth and its peoples.
Lasting awareness of the world around us.
Sensitivity and empathy towards all others.
Tolerance and independent thinking.
Preparedness for an active citizen’s role in a changing world.
In our department every person’s opinion counts and is valued, the pupil voice is encouraged and listened to.
Draft and share your vision for your department

3. Things to think about #2…. The Importance of Geography
What is Geography?
Why does it matter?
The distinctiveness of Geography
Do we need to be geographers and teachers?
It is interesting to consider whether the teachers in your department have a personal view on what geography is and why it is important, and to consider whether there is or can be a shared departmental view. Geography is dynamic, complex and exciting subject and an outstanding department will be one that acknowledges and communicates this. Ask teachers to consider whether the geography they teach ‘brings the real world into the classroom’ or takes pupils out of the ‘classroom’.
Outstanding geography brings the real world, with all its excitement, complexity and challenges, into the classroom. It also takes students and teachers out of the classroom!

4. The Importance of Geography
Geography stimulates an interest in and a sense of wonder about places and….
helps young people make sense of a complex and dynamically changing world
explains where places are, how places and landscapes are formed, how people and their environment interact, and how a diverse range of economies, societies and environments are interconnected ….
builds on pupils’ own experiences to investigate all scales, from the personal to the global.
encourages questioning, investigation and critical thinking about issues affecting the world and people’s lives, now and in the future….
inspires pupils to become global citizens by exploring their own place in the world, their values and their responsibilities to other people, to the environment and to the sustainability of the planet.
This slide covers the importance statement from the current KS3 National Curriculum for geography. Do your geography teachers agree? How far do you already teach a geography that matches this statement?

5. An exercise in exploring your department’s view of geography – ask your teachers to study the pics and for each one identify the place, the geographical concept and a way of using it with pupils.
Clockwise the photos show:
European Space Agency image of space debris, a litterpicker from the Phillipines ( ), child soldier in Congo ( Stromboli Volcano, Aeolian Islands Italy ( tourists in flooded St Mark’s Square, Venice ( Norfolk coastal erosion ( a refugee family in Chad and their weekly food; and centre – a German family and their weekly food.

6. Things to think about #3…. Your PUPILS and your PLACE
The distinctiveness of Geography (again)
The need to be pupil-centred
Distinct social, economic, environmental and political settings
Available resources
Plan for and recognise outstanding performance in geography
Your pupils will live in and experience a distinct geography that is different from that of other pupils in other places. Are your pupils rural or urban dwellers? In the North or South? What economic, political, social and environmental settings is your school in? what type of school is it? What resources are available to them and to you? How good at geography are they already? What do they already know? Different departments will have different answers to these questions and each department must consider these answers if they are to meet their pupils’ needs and be an outstanding departments. Outstanding departments are not all the same.

7. Your geography Your pupil
Give your teachers an A4 copy of this slide, ask them to note down the specific geographical needs of your pupil in the pupil box and then note the specific characteristics of the geography of your place. Consider how your curriculum caters to these geographies. Does anything need to change? Are you missing any opportunities?
Can you use this information to decide what kind of geographer you want your pupils to be and give the guidance?
What do you think of the guidance given to geographers at KEFW:
HOW TO BE A KEFW GEOGRAPHER
At KEFW, we strive to be thoughtful and brilliant geographers at all times. You can help achieve this when you:
Note and credit all sources.
Feel their opinion is valued but it must be informed.
Ask questions and keep asking questions.
Be aware of the reliability and bias of all sources.
Appreciate the nature of data, the need to use judgement and informed guesstimates.
Be aware of stereotypes and generalisations.
Avoid oversimplification of complex issues.
Be aware of current issues and topical events.
Appreciate that there isn’t always a clear answer or one answer.
Accept uncertainty.
Appreciate an understanding of Geography is necessary to understanding and participating in the world at large, whether one studies Geography further or not.
Appreciate teachers do not have the answers.
Issues are not ‘black and white’.
Develop empathy.
Appreciate that Geographers can and should change the World.
Try to make sure you do all of these when:
In discussion (class, small group and one-to-one)
Asking and answering questions
Writing comments about your work
Researching
Completing homework
Working with others or independently

8. Things to think about #4…. OfSTED and SMT - ‘From good to outstanding’
All students make satisfactory progress; most make good progress.
Most know what they are doing and why.
Students behave well - little time is lost to behavioural issues.
The classroom is a friendly and safe place - relationships are good.
The teacher knows his/her subject and strategies for teaching it well; the teaching methods used are appropriate for the content.
The teaching is well-matched to the learners' needs; most are stretched by the teaching.
The teacher encourages and praises frequently.
Available resources (time, staff etc) are well used.
Assessment is regular and supports progress - most pupils know what they need to do to improve.
Compare this description of a ‘good’ OfSTED lesson with the description of an ’outstanding’ OfSTED lesson on the following page. What are the key differences? How is the outstanding lesson distinct from the good?

9. Things to think about #4…. OfSTED and SMT - ‘From good to outstanding’
All students are challenged and make good progress, especially those at the ends of the ability range and those who lack confidence; some make exceptional progress;
Enthusiasm and enjoyment pervade the classroom.
The teaching is exciting and interesting (for example, through use of stimulating resources or other adults in the lesson), it may be inspired. All the students are involved in the lesson and all contribute.
Teaching methods are very well matched to the content and to the learners - some may be original or innovative
The teacher checks progress throughout the lesson; assessment is regular and helpful.
Students evaluate their own and others' progress accurately and constructively.
All students know how to improve as a result of regular and constructive feedback; where appropriate this is linked to national criteria or examination requirements.
The teacher develops students' basic and other cross-curricular skills
Students have easy access to, and make use of, additional resources
The classroom is a lively and interesting place
Buddy up with a colleague and visit each other’s lessons. Give each other informal feedback on how lessons fit this description of an outstanding lesson. It may help to agree a focus first. Use the feedback to set learning objectives for following lessons.

10. Things to think about #5…. The Geography
What are you teaching and why?
Get it right
Make it current
Update it
How are you teaching it?
Challenge
Pupil or teacher centred?
Critical
Is this the outstanding department in a nutshell? To what extent can you answer these questions for your department?

11. Which country has the highest fertility rate – Israel, Saudi Arabia or
Which country spends the highest proportion of its income on education – Lesotho, Botswana or Denmark?
Which country has the highest fertility
rate – Israel, Saudi Arabia or
Bangladesh?
Getting our facts right and teaching accurately about the world when it is changing is the eternal challenge of the geography teacher, yet it may also be the subject’s greatest strength. Are we currently giving our pupils an accurate view of the world? Have we changed what we teach and how we talk about the world over time as the world has changed? Development is a topic that requires teachers to be current. Outstanding departments will use facts and knowledge that are accurate and updated. Ask your teachers to answer the questions above and on the following slides. 11

12. Thailand or South Africa
Which country has the highest child mortality rate?
Sri Lanka or Turkey
Poland or South Korea
Malaysia or Russia
Pakistan or Vietnam
Thailand or South Africa 12

13. Answer: Lesotho spent 13%, Botswana 8.7%, and Denmark 8.3%
Which country spends the highest proportion of its income on education – Lesotho, Botswana or Denmark?
Answer: Lesotho spent 13%,
Botswana 8.7%, and Denmark 8.3%
Which country has the highest fertility rate –
Israel, Saudi Arabia or Bangladesh?
Answer: Saudi Arabia – it has a rate of 3,
Israel’s is 2.6 and Bangladesh’s is 2.6 13

14. Q5: Which country has the highest child mortality rate?
Answers:
Sri Lanka or Turkey
Poland or South Korea
Malaysia or Russia
Pakistan or Vietnam
Thailand or South Africa
How did your answers match up?
The answers are taken from the Gapminder website and the Economist Pocket Figures book of They show that the poorest do not always receive the most aid, that Europe may not be as developed as we might think when compared to other places and that higher fertility is not always directly associated with poorer countries. Teachers cannot know everything all of the time but on outstanding departments they might check and use current data to give an accurate and fact-based world view. 14

15. Teachers in outstanding departments might use varied and current resources when teaching and planning lessons and to update their own knowledge. This is a way of making lessons exciting, motivating and the classroom an interesting place. An example of such a current resource is the website from which the chart above is taken. The Gapminder Foundation is a non-profit venture that makes current data about the world freely available in a format that is accessible, meaningful and dynamic, a kind of modern ‘museum’ on the internet. Its aim is to ‘fight the most devastating myths by building a fact-based world view that everyone understands’ and to promote sustainable global development.
The website is a phenomenal and invaluable resource for Geography teachers and pupils and is free to use. The website uses its innovative Trendalyzer software to produce animated ‘bubble graphs’ that show how the countries of the world have changed, users can change the parameters and so create their own graphs and animations. The website also has a download page with a wide range of engaging videos that illuminate the data and emphasise the fact-based world view. Gapminder is accessible to pupils and teachers alike and is an invaluable resource to help pupils make sense of contested concepts like uneven development, inequality and change.
How would you use the chart on this slide in lessons?

16. The Wretched Dollar (up to $1 a day)
is a fantastic collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest. It is the collaborative work of researchers, including Prof Danny Dorling, at the Universities of Sheffield and Michigan. The maps give powerful visual impact and clarity to current patterns in development and present an accessible and knowledge based view of the world as it is now. Compare this cartogram to the one on the next slide.
Territory size shows the proportion of all people living on
less than or equal to US$1 in purchasing power parity a day.

17. Development Increase
These maps are up-to-date, visually striking and enable pupils to see and compare spatial contrasts. They are also a key resource for teachers in outstanding departments. Comparing the two maps shows that those regions where many live in poverty are also the places where development is increasing (India and China). How do you teach about these changes?
Territory size shows the proportion of worldwide human development that occurred there between 1975 and 2002 (calculated by multiplying human development index by population).

18. The HDI scores of 7 territories fell between 1975 and 2002
Development Decrease
Afghanistan
the DRC,
Iraq
Somalia,
Timor-Leste,
Zambia,
Zimbabwe.
How do you refer to rich and poor countries? Only 7 countries on Earth have shown a decrease in development in recent times. The global picture has been one of progress. Do your teachers share this when teaching about development and places? Are you prepared to change your teaching as the world changes?
Territory size shows the proportion of worldwide human un-development that occurred there between 1975 and 2002 (calculated as the fall in Human Development Index multiplied by population).
The HDI scores of 7 territories fell between 1975 and 2002

19. Photographs are a powerful resource for teaching geography
Photographs are a powerful resource for teaching geography. These are taken from a Sunday Times magazine in March They show some African children with all they possess. Do these images affect how you think and teach about geography?

20. Are we still talking about Kobe?
What places and cases are we teaching? An outstanding department might use a range and definitely refer to recent events and places in the news.
The Kobe Earthquake of 1995 was a devastating event that killed over 6000 people in Japan. It has featured in many geography schemes as case study. Case study choice and the places we teach about in lessons fundamentally influence our pupils’ world view. The Kobe quake is not an unimportant event but if in the 21st century we only refer to it because we have resources on it and don’t refer to more recent events as well then we may not be giving our pupils a current view. The photos on the left are of the Chilean quake of 2010 and those on the left of the Haiti quake of 2010.

21. Outstanding resources
Current
Web-based
Varied, visual, audio and kinaesthetic
ICT, graphs, data
Inside and outside classroom
Literature, film, imagery, newspapers
Visitors
Food and props
The power of geography is that it is all around us all of the time and so the scope of resources that we can use in lessons is huge, from images to maps to film to poetry, GIS to fieldwork and news sources. How many of the resource types listed above does your department use? An outstanding department might use such an outstanding range of resources. Challenge members of your department to discover and share resources for each of the types listed.

22. Things to think about #6…. The Geography Curriculum
KS3 – is up to you!
KS4 – choose an exam board, best-fit!
KS5 – choose an exam board, best-fit!
Uptake (results!) at KS4 and KS5 depends
on pupil experience of KS3
So, an outstanding department uses current case studies and imparts and accurate and fact-based world view, and knows the characteristics and needs of its pupils, and brings these together by planning a an outstanding curriculum across the Key Stages.

23. An ‘outstanding’ curriculum or A curriculum that inspires outstanding learning, ensures progress and has the WOW factor
Bespoke
Pupil-centred
Resourced, shared, ensures pupil parity
Matches KS3 guidance/exam specification
Plays to strengths
Innovative technologies
GIS
Fieldwork
Enquiry
Use fieldwork and enquiry
Write a curriculum that suits YOU and your PUPILS
How far do you and your department agree with the characteristics listed on the slide? Which do you already do? Which do you need to work on? Have you got a curriculum that suits you and your pupils?

24. At KS3, the Key Concepts are..
The Geography Curriculum
At KS3, the Key Concepts are..
Place
Space
Scale
Interdependence
Physical and Human Processes
Environmental Interaction and
Sustainable Development
Cultural Understanding and Diversity
CURRICULUM
DESIGN
WHAT are we trying to achieve?
HOW do we organise learning?
HOW well are we achieving our aims?

25. 3 Planning With Concepts A scheme of work on one page
DYNAMIC POPULATION AND THE PLANET
Key concepts: Place, space, physical and human processes, interdependence cultural understanding and diversity 1
3 Planning With Concepts
A scheme of work on one page
KEY QUESTION
AIMS TO UNDERSTAND
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
SKILLS
RESOURCES
What can we find out about population?
Information sources can be used to begin investigating a topic and establish understanding and familiarity.
Introductory lesson using the website ‘six billion human beings’ to begin investigating the breadth of the topic.
Present pupils with questions that they must find the answers to by searching the website. Design the questions to ensure they search the site.
Interrogating a website
Locating and selecting information
Six billion human beings website (use Google search to find it)
Question sheet
Where do people live?
Global population distribution is uneven. Some parts are very crowded and some are not. There are physical and human reasons for the uneven distribution. Some areas are densely populated and some areas are sparsely populated.
Visit worldmapper site and select and annotate maps to demonstrate population features
Map selection and interpretation
Identification and description of pattern
Photos in various texts and internet
World 2000 video ‘Population’ or similar
Now you have considered the needs of your pupils, the significance of an accurate fact-based world view, case study choice, and resources – how are these reflected in a curriculum?
This slide offers some ideas on presenting a curriculum
What does your curriculum look like?
1 represents an innovative ‘circular’ curriculum in which units in each year are linked by themes to other years
2 represents a traditional scheme of work
3 offers the idea of planning with concepts (after Prof David Lambert) specifying key aspects of a scheme of work, these aspects are listed below but does not prescribe all activities so that it can be updated every year without lots of work.
Overall purpose of the learning
The place, theme or issue to be used (content)
Key understandings learners will develop (drawn from the key concepts)
Key processes learners will draw upon and develop
Key questions that relate to key understandings
Range of sources of information
Assessment activity
Curriculum statement (what learners know, understand and are able to do)
Would any of these ideas suit you? 2

26. Support Join the Geographical Association Join the RGS (continue to!)
Be a CGeog
Go to the GA conference
Use the APG opportunities (continue to!)
Enable others by supporting CPD
Write and update a departmental handbook
Take advantage of the professional community (as you are doing right now!) for the best advice, support and CPD on building an outstanding department. How many of the above have you done?

27. SO…..
You have a shared vision and a clear understanding of the
meaning and power geography.
You understand your pupils and their geographical context.
You have designed an innovative, bespoke curriculum that
enables pupils to make great progress and involves GIS
and fieldwork and visitors.
Your lessons are hugely interesting – WOW - and your
resources are current and accurate
Hopefully, this unit will help you achieve or maintain an outstanding department that matches this description
OUTSTANDING!

28. SO WHAT? The big question is… How do you know? How do your SMT know?
How does OfSTED know?
How your department operates will fundamentally influence whether it can move from good to outstanding or maintain outstanding characteristics. There are many ways of running an outstanding department but all would assess, monitor and evidence their pupils’ progress, communicate this effectively and teach a curriculum that was created and ‘owned’ by the staff for their pupils. It is important for you and other stakeholders (pupils, parents, Governors, SMT) to know that you are outstanding, or that you are striving to be outstanding. Knowing how your pupils are doing is a crucial aspect of an outstanding department.
Ask your teachers to consider these questions in relation to your department and bring their responses for discussion at a department meeting. This could form the basis of an analysis of your department’s strengths and needs. Consider whether or how your department does the following:
Assess pupil progress – do you have regular, common, challenging and varied assessment activities for pupils? How are these assessments administered and marked? (measure progress)
Record pupil progress- do you centrally record, share and review pupil attainment? Do all staff support and understand this? (evidence of progress)
Communicate pupil progress- do the SMT/parents/pupils know how pupils are doing? (knowledge of progress)
Are schemes of work and learning resources shared? Do all staff have the chance to comment on and contribute to current resources that suit the needs of your pupils?
Are meetings, communications and CPD within your department conducive to progress for and involving all?
There is no one model of achieving these, rather, it is the departments that address these questions in a way that suits their pupils, staff and resources that are more likely to become and remain outstanding.
How do your pupils (and parents) know?
PRACTICALITIES
ASSESSMENT, MONITORING, RECORD-KEEPING, EVIDENCE, MEETINGS CPD, SYSTEMS…. IDEAS TO CONSIDER