Curriculum change: implications for teaching and learning in geography

1. Curriculum change: implications for teaching and learning in geography Steve Brace Head of Education and Outdoor Learning Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) www.rgs.org s.brace@rgs.org

2. Where is geography heading?

3. The geographical terrain5-16 • National Curriculum • Statutory status at KS1, 2 and 3 • Draft proposals for Geography programme of study Feb 2012 • Final NC to be published autumn 2013 for teaching 2014 • Current NC (with exceptions at KS1 and KS4 in English, maths and science) as been dis-applied from September 2013. • GCSE & EBac • 2011/12 4% rise. Highest for 13 years, 180K entries • But it’s possible not to study a humanity for the ‘Measure of 8’

4. 16-18 and beyond • A Level • AS  A2 76% students progress, second highest level • Geography as a ‘facilitating subject’ (Russell Group:Informed Choices) • A Level entries increasing, 32K entries • (Distribution of entries) • Further study at HE and employment • ESRC review: UK human geography ranked first internationally • Geog. has second lowest level of graduate unemployment • Entry to geography degree courses is holding up well

5. Setting the scene for KS3

6. The National Curriculum. RGS-IBG views • Explicit geographical place knowledge, alongside skills & understanding • Rebalancing human and physical geography • Geographical skills, maps, globes & GIS • Progression (not repetition), • KS1 vocab KS2 features  KS3 processes • Fieldwork at all stages • It ‘looks like geography’ to non-specialists • Firmer underpinning for more complex study at GCSE & A Level • (Shorter!)

7. Draft National Curriculum • Purpose of study: A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world & its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources & environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical & human processes. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world helps them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical & human processes, and of the formation of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge provides the tools and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

8. Aims • Develop knowledge of the location of places of global significance, their defining physical and human characteristics and how they relate to one another; this place knowledge should provide a sound context for understanding geographical processes • Understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time • Skills: collect, analyse & communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes & interpret a range of sources of geographical information, inc. maps, globes, aerial photographs & GIS, communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, maps & writing at length.

9. Progression through the primary • Key Stage 1. Pupils should develop knowledge about the world, the UK and their locality. They should understand basic subject-specific vocabulary relating to human and physical geography and begin to use geographical skills, including first-hand observation, to enhance their locational awareness. • Key Stage 2. Pupils should extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area and the UK to include Europe, N&S America. This will include the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features. They should develop their use of geographical tools and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge.

10. Progression into KS3 • Key Stage 3. • Pupils should consolidate and extend their knowledge of the world’s major countries and their physical and human features. • They should understand how geographical processes interact to create distinctive human and physical landscapes that change over time. • In doing so, they should become aware of increasingly complex geographical systems in the world around them. • They should develop greater competence in using geographical tools and skills, including analysing and interpreting different data sources, and so continue to enrich their locational knowledge and spatial awareness.

11. Progression in locational knowledge • KS1. Name and locate the world’s continents and oceans. • KS2. Locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe and North and South America and concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries & major cities • KS3. Extend their locational knowledge and deepen their spatial awareness of the world’s countries using maps of the world to focus on Africa, South and East Asia (inc China and India), the Middle East and Russia, focusing on their environmental regions, including polar and hot deserts, key physical and human characteristics, countries and major cities

12. Locational knowledge: the UK • KS1. Name, locate and identify characteristics of the four countries and capital cities of the UK and its surrounding seas • KS2. Name and locate counties and cities of the UK, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, including hills, mountains, cities, rivers, key topographical features and land-use patterns; & understand how some of these aspects have changed over time • KS3. Not specified … but as a context for human and physical processes

13. As geographers we know where places are … • Table groups • At registration • Geog in the news • Y5 ‘champion’ 135 capitals and their countries

14. Progressions in fieldwork • KS1. Simple fieldwork & observational skills to study the geography of their school and the key human and physical features of its surrounding environment. • KS2. Fieldwork to observe, measure & record the human & physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans & graphs, & digital technologies. • KS3. Fieldwork to collect, analyse & draw conclusions from geographical data, using multiple sources of increasingly complex information.

15. Key Stage 3Processes • understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region or area within Africa and a region or area within Asia • understand, through the use of detailed place-based exemplars at a variety of scales, the key processes in: • physical geography relating to: glaciation, plate tectonics, rocks, soils, weathering, geological timescales, weather and climate, rivers and coasts • human geography relating to: population, international development, economic activity in the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors, urbanisation, and the use of natural resources • understand how human and physical processes interact to have an impact on and form distinctive landscapes

16. Key Stage 3:Skills • build on their knowledge of globes, maps and atlases and use these geographical tools routinely in the classroom and in the field • interpret OS maps in the classroom and the field, including using six-figure coordinates and scale, topographical and other thematic mapping, and aerial and satellite photographs • use GIS to view, analyse and interpret places and data • use fieldwork to collect, analyse and draw conclusions from geographical data, using multiple sources of increasingly complex information.

17. Consultation Feedback • Geography has generally been seen to be in a good place • Some suggestions for reordering content • Clear need for exemplification alongside the curriculum • “Climate change” • July 2nd drafts to be published (TBC)

18. Implications #1 Potential to strengthen geographical knowledge, understanding and skills of pupils at Y6 – 7 transition • But primary colleagues will need subject knowledge and pedagogical support Explicit fieldwork (& reduced H&S red tape) • Convincing SMT teams • (Transition through fieldwork)

19. Implications #2 GIS in Key Stage 3 • Using GIS technologies (not just Google Earth) Setting case studies in a locational (geographical) content • Not just a series of seemingly unconnected case studies

20. Implications #3 • Strengthening physical processes ‘What I now have to teach about glaciers and soils!’ • The ‘what’ not the ‘how’ It is a teacher, not content, that makes a lesson boring or interesting

21. Implications #4 • Teacher choice over breadth, depth and range • But pressures on KS3 • Written as a full 3 year course • Preparation for GCSE • Consultations proposed in June for GCSE content (for first teaching in 2015) • Likely greater prescription in criteria, CA?

22. RGS-IBG: what support is available • Online education resources • CPD including GIS and Fieldwork • Professional accreditation. FRGS, CGeog • Promoting further study and careers with geography • The ‘home of geography’ www.rgs.org/schools

23. The most important resource? • No one forgets a good (geography) teacher. I didn’t • Mr Faulkner & Mr (John) Benson • William Farr CE Comp School, Welton • Lincoln Christ Hospital School, Lincoln

24. Thank you • Steve Brace • Head of Education & Outdoor Learning • S.brace@rgs.org