CHILDREN, PLACE AND ENVIRONMENT

1. Westminster Institute of Education CHILDREN, PLACE AND ENVIRONMENT Professor Simon Catling

2. Six Sections • Children bring their experience of the world into school from the day they arrive • Children’s experience of places appears to be changing • Children have perspectives on their experience in their school grounds • Children live in the wider world and it impacts on their lives • The context of primary geography • Moving forward: Five questions Westminster Institute of Education

3. The youngest children coming into school • Their awareness of the features and layout of aspects of the local environment • Their awareness of the wider environment • Their awareness of environmental matters • Their representations of places • Their imagining of ‘being in places and events’ Westminster Institute of Education

4. Children’schanging direct experience of places • Learning about places • Children’s local knowledge • Sites of personal and social attachment • Place use and avoidance • Children’s safety in the environment • Declining accessible spaces • Changing modes of travel • Teachers’ knowledge about the local area Westminster Institute of Education

5. Children in school playgrounds • Children’s views on their school playgrounds • Playgrounds children desire • Children’s perspectives on teachers’ values • Creating better school playgrounds • Children’s active involvement • Children’s interest in their own playground needs Westminster Institute of Education

6. Children in the wider world • Children live in particular places, and places differ • Children are a market • The reality of children’s lives across the world is not always comfortable • Increasingly, children travel abroad • The world ‘beyond home’ affects children’s lives Westminster Institute of Education

7. The context for primary geography • Primary geography in trouble • Views of geography are at odds with perspectives on children’s learning • Primary geography’s needs • Good primary geography exists and should be emulated Westminster Institute of Education

8. Moving forward: Five questions • Does the whole child’s experience and education - and thus geographical education - matter? • What is the confidence issue about geography for primary teachers? • Has serious thought been given to the school as a place and environment for children? • Can we really avoid helping children to understand the nature and impact of the world about us? • Should we rethink the basis for our primary geography curriculum? Westminster Institute of Education

9. 10 suggested threads for a primary geography curriculum • Me in the world • Neighbourhood and community • Connecting with the wider world • Other people, places and me • Seeing and representing the world • Encountering ‘big issues’ • Seeing change and its effects • Caring for the world • Heading for the future • The world today - near and far Westminster Institute of Education

10. In conclusion • Children bring place and environmental experience into school • Think more of school as a place and environment • We need to engage with children about the benefits and issues in the world, locally and globally • Our responsibilities in primary schools is to teach geography well and have high expectations • It is done; we can all do it Westminster Institute of Education