Date: 28th Mar 2008

Category: National News

 

KNIGHT: ‘SEISMIC SHIFT’ TO MAKE GEOGRAPHY SUSTAINABLE

27 March 2008

- Action Plan For Geography To Be Extended By Three Years -

A package of measures designed to revitalise geography in schools and sit alongside the new more flexible curriculum was announced by Schools Minister Jim Knight today, in a bid to reverse the declining numbers studying the subject. Teachers will be provided with interactive resources to bring to life ‘hard to teach’ topics like fieldwork, and subjects such as climate change, diversity and social cohesion. Knight said he would extend the Action Plan for Geography, with £1.8 million investment over the next three years and announced that the Royal Geographical Society and the Geographical Association had won the contract to deliver the next phase of the Plan. Knight paid tribute to the excellent work already achieved by the Royal Geographical Society and the Geographical Association in the first phase of the Action Plan, which has already had a significant impact on geography teaching in schools. The second phase of the plan will embed and develop successes so far. Other major strands of the second phase of the Action Plan will include: • Continued development and enhancement of the Geography Teaching Today website through targeted new resources, tutorials and CPD modules;
• Local networks of support for primary and secondary teachers will be developed in areas with no existing networking opportunities;
• Expansion of the Geography Ambassadors programme to cover the whole country by 2011. This means graduate and professional geographers working with schools to demonstrate to pupils the importance and relevance of geography beyond the classroom. So far, Ambassadors’ presentations have reached 17,500 pupils in four regions;
• Target teachers and schools not yet engaged with the Action Plan to encourage them to participate in the Action Plan and to join local networks. User guides for teachers not previously engaged will be included on the Geography Teaching Today website;
• Continued development and expansion of the two professional recognition schemes - Chartered Geographer Teacher status and the Geography Quality Mark. The schemes provide robust and nationally available opportunities to support departments, schools and teachers in their professional development, and to recognise good practice. The new Key Stage 3 geography curriculum will start from September 2008. It will offer teachers greater freedom to teach topical, contemporary and relevant issues like climate change and globalisation to engage pupils and encourage them to continue studying geography at GCSE and beyond. Teachers will have more flexibility to teach topical issues relevant to young people’s lives and to make links with other curriculum subjects. Pupils will continue to learn about the location of places and environments and will still be taught to use atlases, globes and maps to help them develop their geographical skills.

The Action Plan for Geography has developed resources to support the new curriculum, including support for teachers to make use of the new flexibilities, and support for non specialist subject teachers. This support will continue and develop over the second phase of the Action Plan.

For full statement:

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2008_0061