It’s been a while since the Conference, and I’ve been on some annual leave and playing catch up with work afterwards. But I thought I’d share some reflections and learning – and now that the session downloads are starting to come through, I’ve got time to explore some of the sessions I didn’t get to. First, congratulations to the whole team – from President to Chief Exec and all at HQ. I think it was a pretty packed conference, and it was delivered smoothly. There were a lot of amazing sessions and speakers, and I felt that most of the timetable blocks had four or five people that I could have ..read more

With the teacher recruitment offering worrying times for schools and ITE providers alike, it’s already quite common – and likely to become more important – that HoDs and Departments have a considered approach to supporting non-specialists with teaching in Geography. It’s probably wise to focus this on supporting at KS3 in the first instance – if you are having non-specialists delivering KS4 or above, then it might be a different set of conversations! I’ve recently been introduced to these as “TWOS” – teachers with other specialisms – by Dawn Cox, and I like this a lot! Over my time as a HoD, I ..read more

As Geographers, we want to support great scholarship and geography, and invite our students to share their experiences and perspectives on the world. I’ve talked about some of the principles in this blog series aimed at supporting high-aspiring Sixth Form students, which may offer some interesting insights beyond this scope! Some may feel comfortable doing that in school societies and environments – but how do we encourage and support them to step beyond the scope of their school context to explore and tell their story?  For some student membership of the Royal Geographical Society (with ..read more

While I’ve previously written about coaching and supporting interviews for parents & teachers, this is a short bit of quick advice for students preparing for interviews in the next few days and weeks. The purpose of interviews is to figure out if you suit the teaching style of the universities. It’s about how you think, explain and discuss Geography with another interested person. It’s not about what you know and can remember – it’s about how you articulate ideas when you have new information, sources, or are challenged. You are there as an interesting and interested person. Own that. You ..read more

As Storm Babet brings challenging circumstances and significant negative impacts – including tragic loss of life – to the UK in mid-October, it’s an opportunity for teachers to do a bit of ‘live Geography’ and explore some impacts and approaches. I thought it might help to bring together some helpful resources and ideas of what to do to bring the data and content alive in your classroom, beyond just collating images from the news! Flood maps & risks: Worth looking at the Environment Agency’s flooding website: https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/. You can find local alerts, river func ..read more

Let’s lay good foundations first. First, show mastery. Don’t leave implicit information; show that you know it, explain it, and understand it. You are explaining things to a professional Geographer, and someone who knows the subject in depth – so you don’t have to give a definition for key terminology that you use unless it’s important to your essay (e.g. “weather” versus “climate” as part of the exam question). This needs to be done with expert subject knowledge from the teacher – the security of vocabulary and technical knowledge is key. Second, I think it’s worth identifying “what else coul ..read more

With incredible heatwaves, record-breaking high temperatures and lows of Antarctic sea ice, the potential failure of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and wildfires across Europe, this has been a summer where climate change has been on the global agenda – even if we haven’t forced it on to the UK radar through our own heatwaves. There’s a few great resources and materials that have come out in the last few months, so I thought I’d pull some together for people to dip in to! New Paper by Maslin, Lang & Harvey – Great Resource for Evaluation of Climate Change Solutions Professo ..read more

I want to be clear, and put this up front. I’ve been involved with the Royal Geographical Society as a Fellow for many years, and then more recently as a Trustee and an elected member of Council. I’ve been a Chartered Geographer (Teacher) for a number of years, and an assessor too. This post is my personal opinion. It’s not been directed by the RGS, and all opinions here are mine – not the Society’s! I wanted to ensure that people felt I was being honest and open about my position here, and there was full transparency! As a teacher in the early phase of your career, a lot of your profession ..read more

Having taught secondary Geography for most of my professional life post-academia, the decision to leave classroom teaching was a difficult one for me. While the COVID pandemic and the challenges for teachers was undoubtedly a factor, I think I’d also come to the conclusion that I loved my subject (and/or was more capable of it) more than I loved leadership and management. I knew that anything above being a Head of Department was going to take me away from subject; and while that’s a really exciting prospect for many people, it wasn’t the right choice for me. I’d started to explore my options ..read more

In between other headlines this week, you may have seen that the IPCC has published their Sixth Assessment Report. While the headlines have rapidly faded in to other news, and even the publication of other reports, it’s a critical piece of work that points the direction of global agreements and international bodies in the next few years. But what does it mean for classroom teachers, and what should you do with it? What is it? Who wrote it? Where does it come from? What’s it for? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a body of the United Nations. Since 1988, they’ve been getting the ..read more