Fieldwork is one current issue that is facing Geography today. Fieldwork tends to highly valued by pupils: it transports them out of the classroom; its allows them to work collaboratively; it is often very much ‘hands on’ work; pupils are involved in formulating questions to investigate and identify the possible routes of enquiry and residential work in particular often provides intense group feelings of achievement and togetherness.( Lambert and Balderstone 2002). However, in recent year’s fieldwork has been feeling the squeeze as teachers shy away from the pressure of preparation, the apprehension over the issues of health and safety and the demands of the school timetable (Holmes and Walker, 2006). Also with the climate we are in today schools are cutting back on fieldtrips to save the hassle of paying cover teachers and also putting the cost towards other matters .Consequently in the only subject where the provision of fieldwork is statutory, it is often ignored, used only to meet Key Stage 4 exam criteria or carried out under the guise of mundane boring tasks (OfSTED, 2005).
Therefore, it is important for some fresh inspirational and rejuvenating strategies to be put in place in order to “add value to this vital aspect of geography” (Holmes and Walker, 2006. p210). These strategies should see the inclusion of quality fieldwork experiences in each year of the Key Stage 3 schemes of work. Furthermore fieldwork methodology needs to equip pupils with a range of skills needed to develop their understanding of ‘real world’ questions or issues (Lambert and Balderstone 2000), whilst developing their sense of place (Fisher, 1998).
As and when I have been fortunate enough to participate within a fieldwork activity I have noted that its occurrence has fallen within a clearly established context. For example, whilst at my second placement I helped in the preparation and execution of a fieldtrip to a portion of the East Sussex coastline. This trip came during a year ten unit of work looking at coastal management. It followed work conducted by the year in school, into the types of sea management defenses that they may find along the coast. Then once out in the field the pupils went about proving and/or disproving the prescribed hypotheses by carrying out a series of transects. Such an activity ensured that the pupils developed a range of skills appropriate to their ability, whilst allowing them to develop their understanding of coastal defenses. In conjunction with this achievement the pupils were also encouraged to think about the places they had visited in order to allow them to develop a sense of place. This was carried out by asking the pupils to write a Haiku, a short Japanese poem, it provided the pupils with the opportunity to think about, describe and express their feels about the places they had visited. Following our visit future lessons explored what it was that pupils had found out and understood from their work along the coast.
However, despite the success of this outdoor learning experience in reflection I fear that the emphasis on quantification, through the need to prove and/or disprove a hypothesis may have at times, “cut off the pupil from his or her feelings for the environment” (Lambert and Balderstone, 2000. p27). As a consequence I must ensure that future opportunities for fieldwork build on my inclusion of the Haiku. I feel by doing so it will ensure that pupils are encouraged to develop independent thinking skills, whilst broadening their holistic feelings for the environment and an improved sense of place (Lambert and Balderstone, 2000).
I also feel that assessment is another current issue facing Geography today sometimes seen as a thorn in Geography’s side. Assessment is never to far from the spotlight when it comes to education(Fisher, 1998). In the case of Geography assessment is an important topic and is embedded in the New National Curriculum. Improvements surrounding the use of assessment centre away from the traditional summative methods that are assessments of learning, and towards those formative methods that form assessment for learning (Lambert & Balderstone, 2000). By encouraging this transition it is hoped that the needs of the pupil will be met, as they take on an active role in their learning through methods of self and peer assessment (Lambert & Balderstone, 2000). Through doing so, the pupils are then able to identify their strengths, whilst also understanding what it is and how they may go about tackling areas in which they need to improve (Fisher, 1998). Therefore assessment for learning is an important tool in helping to encourage pupils to pursue geography into Key Stage 4.
Throughout my PGCE year I have ensured the day-to-day use of formative assessment for learning strategies in all of my lesson plans. Many strategies have seen the pupils undertaking learning activities that present opportunities to assess pupils, activities such as discussions, role plays, essays and letters to name but a few. In conjunction with these activities I have also been very keen to develop opportunities for pupils to both self and peer assess. In my bid to develop these opportunities I found that some of the best times to allow pupils to self assess was at the end of a unit of work or as we approach the end of term, but most frequently following the marking of the pupils books and work. As well as placing a great emphasis upon the assessment for learning of my pupils, I have also developed into a reflective teacher, keen to self assess my teaching ability through detailed lesson evaluations. This has been essential in order for me to develop as teacher, and has allowed me to change aspects of my teaching that were in need of improvement.
So, for a subject seen to be taught by a lack of specialist staff and the reluctance by many to allow pupils to experience what they are studying first hand. Is it any wonder there are declining numbers of pupils opting to take this once very popular subject? Therefore perhaps, in light of these difficulties it is time to stand back, take stock, and ask what is the true value of geography and does it have a place in tomorrow’s school curriculum?
The answer to such a question is easy, for I wouldn’t be here ready to embark on the career path I have chosen if I didn’t believe like so many others that geography “is and will be the dominant subject of the twenty-first century’ (Cameron, 2005. p.80). Such a statement comes at a time when the world is becoming increasingly smaller and the issues of citizenship, environmental degradation, resource management and climate change, to name but a few are becoming ever greater (Cameron, 2005). Consequently, it is difficult to see the end, for a subject in the school curriculum that possesses the ability to bridge and explore, such a great diversity of important global issues facing young people. However, in light of geography’s great value in addressing all of these issues, how can we stop this decline and secure a place in tomorrow’s school curriculum for a subject blighted by problems, and whose numbers have been in decline for over a decade?
Perhaps we should start of by trying to avoid such traditional topics like weather and climate and landform developments both of which are disliked by pupils of today. This I discovered during my second placement when my Head of Department conducted a survey on topics to be studied across Key Stage 3and 4 next year and the topics mentioned above came out on the bottom of the table. Instead the subject must focus its attention towards those more relevant issues, such as migration. This will allow pupils to relate to these issues and draw on them from experience. A good example of this was when I was teaching Polish Migration to my Year 10’s in my first placement, the pupils could draw from their own experiences in the discussions allowing them to form opinions regarding this topic and share them with the class.
Furthermore, the study of such issues is important that pupils have the opportunity to satisfy the basic requirements of the subject. This allows them to improve their geographical understanding, whilst increasing their curiosity for the world in which we live today. By doing so we allow students to develop their geographical enquiry, geographical communication and cultural understanding and diversity, these are all key concepts that are some of the fundamental ideas in geography which underlie geographical work at Key Stage 3. They are the framework of geography in which students will gradually understand them better as they study the geographical topic such as Migration. I believe it is important that pupils understand these concepts in order to deepen and broaden their knowledge, skills and understanding.
Thus ending with a statement I began with; there is no doubt that the subject of geography, as we know it now is enduring a difficult and uncertain time within the school curriculum. However, as described above, the subject is and will dominate the rapidly changing world of the twenty-first century. This subsequently leaves just one unanswered question, will policy makers be able to act fast enough to halt the subject’s downward spiral. Or will the subject be lost, only to assume a role in the school curriculum of tomorrow, as a subject of many discrete guises, perhaps as environmental science, citizenship and/or global politics?
Bibliography
-
Binns, T. (1997). School geography: the key questions for discussion. In. Rawling, E.M. & Daugherty, R.A. (eds.). Geography into the Twenty-First Century. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester.
-
Cameron, J. 2005. A personal rationale for the inclusion of geography in the school curriculum. Geography 90 (1): 79-83.
-
Fisher, T. (1998). Developing as a Teacher of Geography. Chris Kington Publishing, Cambridge.
-
Fisher, C. & Binns, T. (2000). Introduction. In. Fisher, C. & Binns, T. (eds.) Issues in geography teaching. RoutledgeFalmer, London.
-
Holmes, D. & Walker, M. (2006). Planning geographical fieldwork. In. Balderstone, D. (eds.) Secondary Geography Handbook. Geographical Association, Sheffield.
-
Lambert, D. & Balderstone, D. (2000). Learning to Teacher Geography in the Secondary School. RoutledgeFalmer, London.
-
OfSTED. (2005). Geography in secondary schools. (24/12/2006).
-
Walford, R. (2001) ¹. Geography in British Schools 1850-2000. Woburn Press, London.
-
Walford, R. (2001) ². Geography’s Odyssey: The Journey So Far. Geography 86 (4): 305-317.
-
Weeden, P. (2006). Pupils’ perceptions of geography a literature review. (24/12/2006).