Aspects of Teaching Secondary Geography

Perspectives on Practice

Margaret Smith

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2003
• eBook ISBN:
  9781134508587
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book provides a practical illustration of the skills, knowledge and understanding required to teach in the secondary classroom. As well as discussing concepts and ideas, the book gives a critical examination of some of the key issues, and will encourage the reader to engage with the ideas and consider their views and beliefs. It is an invaluable resource for those who are learning to teach or for those teachers who wish to reflect on their teaching practice.

1 Geography in the school curriculum

This section explores the complexities of the frameworks within which geography teachers work in the school or college setting. The four authors look at the constraints and opportunities provided by Geography as set out currently in the National Curriculum at Key Stage 3, at GCSE, in the new specifications for AS and A2, and in the vocational pathway. The background to each of these developments is explained so that each can be set in context – as one author stated, it is important to understand the past history of curriculum developments in order to appreciate fully the impacts that the past has had on the current state and status of Geography in the 11–18 sector of education. The authors in this section are all experienced teachers who, from being ‘at the chalk face’, are familiar with the practicalities of implementing the curriculum requirements at a period of time in which the goalposts are frequently changing.

1 Working with the National Curriculum

Mark Jones

Key Stage 3 (KS3) is an important period in the development of young geographers.
It builds on their varied experience at primary school and encourages a broader and more in-depth understanding of the subject. For some pupils who choose not to continue with Geography at GCSE, KS3 may provide their last formal geographical experience. It is important for trainee teachers to understand the impact that the Geography National Curriculum (GNC) had at KS3 and how theGNChas evolved since its introduction in 1991.

Pre-National Curriculum teaching of Geography in secondary schools (pre-1991)

Prior to the Education Reform Act 1988 there was no requirement to follow a nationally agreed syllabus at KS3. Geography departments were free to decide on content, method of delivery and the nature of assessment that fitted their localities and needs.
Much of the innovative curriculum development of the 1970s and 1980s had led departments to develop a humanities course at KS3. This topic-, theme- or issues-based style of delivery involved elements of History, Geography and Religious Studies either being taught together or as separate units. A variety of approaches existed, with teachers of Geography delivering a range of subjects at KS3. Figure 1.1 shows Humanities being delivered in Years 7 and 8, with core Geography, History and Religious Education courses taught in Year 9 by subject specialists. Ofsted reported that such an approach was the case in a quarter of the schools it visited in 1991 to 1992 (Ofsted 1993). This allowed for greater flexibility but often led to Geography being taught by non-specialists and a danger that instead of it being a discrete subject it would be lost within broader-based humanities teaching.

In the 1980s geographers had to defend their subject as the Department of Education and Science (DES) suggested a more peripheral role for the subject in the curriculum (DES 1980). The Geographical Association was proactive in leading the campaign to keep Geography firmly on the school curriculum agenda. Having invited the then Education Secretary, Sir Keith Joseph, to address the Association, they published ‘A Case for Geography’ (1987), which promoted the essential skills, attitudes and values that Geography contributes to the curriculum. This emphasized the importance for Geography at a time when the government was reviewing the school curriculum as part of education reform.
Continuing discussion then revolved around the final content and assessment of Geography, and by 1991 the place of Geography had been secured in the National Curriculum.

Figure 1.1 Example of a geography department KS3 curriculum plan (1980s)

First version (1991–5)

The Education Reform Act 1988 required that all state schools in England and Wales were to provide a broad and balanced curriculum for pupils aged 5–16. This new National Curriculum introduced a framework for the teaching of three core and seven foundation subjects.

The individual subject documents contained the Attainment Targets, Programmes of Study and assessment arrangements for the four Key Stages. This first version of the National Curriculum for Geography (DES 1991) consisted of five Attainment Targets, made up of 17 strands (Figure 1.2). Within each Attainment Target (AT) were the Statements of Attainment (SOAs), 183 in total. The SOAs represented the knowledge, skills and understanding that pupils were expected to have acquired by the end of each Key Stage. Pupils were to be assessed against these SOAs through ongoing teacher assessment and externally marked tests – Standard Assessment Tasks or SATs. The expected range of levels of attainment within the ten-level scale that pupils should be working within were specified as follows:

• Key Stage 1: levels 1–3
• Key Stage 2: levels 2–5
• Key Stage 3: levels 3–7
• Key Stage 4: levels 4–10

The separate Programme of Study (PoS; see Figure 1.3) represented the matters, skills and processes which had to be taught during the different Key Stages. The arrival of this document in school had a number of positive impacts. Geography clearly had to be taught to all pupils aged 5 to 16; this was particularly important in terms of its status in primary schools. The content also encouraged a balance between skills, the study of place, environ - mental issues and human and physical geography. In response departments reviewed their existing KS3 courses. At this time the key issues faced in geography departments were:

1. Content changes – what topics to lose, adapt or add to existing schemes of work?
2. Teaching and learning styles – what impact would the GNC have on the way Geography was taught?
3. Assessment strategies – how was assessment of the 183 SOAs to be achieved? What methods would be used? How much and when?
4. Recording and reporting – how was student progress to be monitored and the teacher assessment recorded and reported?

Figure 1.2 National Curriculum for Geography 1991

One outcome of this self-review was that some departments decided, in order to deliver the History and Geography National Curriculums, that these should be taught separately (see Figure 1.4). While some opted out of the humanities approach, others continued with it. In making these decisions, departments were working with a document that was content-heavy and it soon became clear that to cover all the PoS in detail was simply not possible (the recommendation was for between 7.5 and 10 per cent of curriculum time). Successful units of work that had been developed before the National Curriculum now had to be omitted or justified in relation to the PoS. This was a period of trying to avoid overloading pupils with content whilst still developing their skills, understanding, values and attitudes. The latter was a particular strength of the previous ‘humanities-style’ curriculum.

Figure 1.3 Comparison of the Programmes of Study for Geography

Figure 1.4 Example of a geography department curriculum plan (1991–5)

Restructuring of the curriculum plan and the more detailed planning of schemes of work (see Figure 1.5) brought productive discussion about the subject at KS3 but increased the workload of teachers in terms of curriculum review and development. Updated schemes of work, primarily a teacher resource, were also available to outside visitors – particularly LEA advisors, HMIs and Ofsted inspectors – as one source of evidence that the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum were being met.

Figure 1.5 Levels of department and teacher planning

While curriculum plans had been drawn up by schools there was little detailed planning beyond Year 7 as departments devised new schemes of work and sequences of lessons. Variation between schools in terms of extra funding meant that some departments faced resources problems, reverting to a reliance on the in-house production of worksheets. Where funding allowed, key texts were purchased and became the basis for the three-year course. One series in particular tended to dominate the market in those early stages of the GNC.

There were issues with the content. Problems encountered included how the Programme of Study and the Statements of Attainment fitted together, as there seemed to be overlap:

Example

PoS: To investigate and compare the colour, texture and organic content of different types of soil (DES 1991:45)

AT3 Statement of Attainment level 4e: Compare characteristics of different types of soil

This was a level 4 statement but there were no other levelled statements relating to this aspect of the curriculum, apart from one relating to a different aspect of pedology.

AT3 level 4e: Compare characteristics of different types of soil

AT3 level 7d: Explain the causes and effects of soil erosion, and explain why some places are especially vulnerable

So once they had written an enquiry comparing soils around the school site – how did one assess a mixed-ability class of 30 Year 9 students? Clearly there would be a wide range of abilities and variation in the projects produced. This became frustrating for teachers as it became clear that the assessment aspect of the geography order was in need of urgent revision.

There was a danger that departments would become assessment led. With the prospect of Standard Assessment Tasks (SATs) in the summer of 1994, there was a concern that teachers would succumb to teaching to these tests, as schools and departments would be judged on their results – i.e. the number of students achieving the nationally expected standards by the end of Key Stage 3. Geography departments were left to work with a content-heavy curriculum that had a confusing and disjointed assessment element. The 183 Statements of Attainment meant that some departments developed tick-box recording systems to show individual pupil achievement against every Statement of Attainment. The School Curriculum and Assessment Authority (SCAA) emphasized that there was no requirement for such elaborate tick-lists as a basis for assessment. The curriculum was becoming assessment- driven. Assessment was a problem because some of the strands in the Attainment Targets lacked clear progression (SCAA 1993). Missing levelled Statements of Attainment made the notion of progression difficult. Here is an example.

Taking the theme of earth processes from the Programme of Study levels 3–7 (DES 1991: 44):

17 Pupils should be taught:

The nature and effects of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and how the latter produce craters, cones and lava flows; and to investigate the global distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes and how this relates to the boundaries of the crustal plates.

Figure 1.6 AT3 – The levelled statements that relate to physical geography

Departments planned their delivery of the unit incorporating an end-of-unit test or activity that could then be assessed against the assessment criteria – the Statements of Attainment (see Figure 1.6). In this example pupils could achieve levels 4 to...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Aspects of Teaching Secondary Geography
• Figures
• Tables
• Abbreviations
• Sources
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1: Geography in the school curriculum
• 1: Working with the National Curriculum
• 2: Geography At Gcse Level Nick Rowles
• 3: The New As And A2 Specifications For Geography Sheila Morris
• 4: The contribution of Geography to vocational courses post-16 Alan Marvell
• 2: Geography in (and out of) the classroom
• 5: Continuity across the primary–secondary interface
• II Some curriculum initiatives in Hampshire
• 6: Planning for enquiry
• 7: Talking, reading and writing Language and literacy in Geography
• 8: Thinking through Geography
• 9: Teaching about the language of maps
• 10: Towards deeper fieldwork
• 11: Inclusive geographies
• II Disability and inclusive landscapes
• 12: Assessment in practice
• II: Assessing students’ thinking
• III: Marking and homework Sunday evening at the kitchen table
• 13: Evaluating and using resources
• 14: Teaching Geography with televisual resources
• 15: Ict In Geography
• I Using Ict To Raise achievement
• II Gis in school Geography
• III: Using presentation packages for collaborative work
• 3: Geography for the twenty-first century
• 16: Geography and ‘race’1
• 17: Geography and Citizenship
• 18: Teaching and learning about development
• 19: Envisioning a better world Sustainable development in school Geography
• 20: Young people’s geovisions Linda Thompson
• 21: Image and reality How do others see us?
• 4: Research geography and professional development
• 22: An overview of research in geographical education Rod Gerber and Michael Williams
• 23: Corked hats and Coronation Street Children’s imaginative geographies
• 24: The worlds of girls and boys Geographic experience and informal learning opportunities
• 25: Facilitating research in geographical and environmental education