A Personal Rationale For Geography In The School Curriculum

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Title: A Personal Rationale For Geography In The School Curriculum

              Geography is an exciting, all encompassing discipline that allows one to understand “the earth and everything in, under, over and on it. It is reminders of yesterday, realities of today, and dreams of tomorrow” (Walford, 2001¹. p7), but at a time of great change in geographical education (Fisher & Binns, 2000), will future national curriculums see a tomorrow for a subject whose teachings date back to the time of the Greeks (Walford, 2001¹; Walford, 2001²). To contemplate such a thought as I stand at the threshold of my career, as a geography teacher fills me with great concern. However, it is not a thought to be rubbished, as a large variety of issues facing the subject, could see it squeezed to the outer echelons of the national curriculum (Binns, 1997), or perhaps out of existence altogether (Walford, 2001²).

                 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, I believe, 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? In this rationale I will discuss current issues facing geography today and investigate how these issues can prevent Geography becoming a subject of tomorrow.

             Despite being identified as a key factor in shaping a pupils experience to allow them to investigate the world, its physical systems and human activity within a special framework at Key Stage 3, Geography finds itself at the bottom of the league table. Is the reason for this because it is being taught by non specialists who have no passion or enthusiasm from the subject and lack the knowledge to engage and captivate the pupils? From my experience during my first placement this was evident as teachers from other humanities subjects were teaching Geography from books and evidentially lacking in the passion they would have for their own specialised subject. Therefore, as a consequence pupils see the subject as boring and irrelevant (OfSTED, 2005), and it is pupil’s perceptions that are deemed to be influential in persuading them to pursue the subject at Key Stage 4 and beyond (Weeden, 2001).

          Also contributing to this is the tired and content-heavy programme for Key Stage 3’ (OfSTED, 2005). Rarely are pupils required to develop a higher order of thinking, instead they are filled with abstract facts that are reinforced not by fieldwork, but with closed questions, short written answers that offer a lack of challenge (OfSTED, 2005). I believe it to be my role as a Geography teacher to help improve Geography as a subject by incorporating the new criteria of the National Curriculum into my lesson. It is down to me and my fellow colleagues who embark on the same path as I, to help share our enthusiasm, passion and knowledge for the subject with our pupils, in a way that will ensure that they enjoy a positive experience of geography at Key Stage 3. In order to achieve this I must address relevant and topical issues through creative, imaginative and challenging methods of teaching. In doing so I must also look to teach effectively and enhance learning skills through a higher order level of thinking. This is something that I have aspired to throughout my PGCE year and looking through my lesson plans one may find numerous examples of where such methods and skills have been used effectively. For example in my second placement I had the opportunity to teach a topic which incorporated thinking skills activities allowing pupils to become engaged in the topic while also developing new skills in becoming independent learners.

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             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 ...

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