Secondary Phase Committee
Contacts
Chair: David Rogers
Email: drogersmm@me.com
Visit the members' page to find out who's who on the SPC...
Our Aims
The purpose of the Secondary Phase Committee is to support GA members concerned with geography at Key Stages 3 and 4 and to represent their views and interests.
What we do
- Monitor the views, interests, concerns and issues facing secondary geography members of the GA. In addition, monitor the state of health of secondary geography as indicated by data on numbers and assessment evidence.
- Initiate ideas for engaging and challenging teaching and learning ideas in the secondary geography classroom.
- Disseminate these ideas through workshops at the annual GA Conference, the GA website, and occasional articles and contributions to GA publications such as Teaching Geography.
- Represent the views, interests, concerns and issues facing secondary geography members of the GA at the GA Education Committee and to external bodies.
- Promote geography to teachers, pupils, schools and the wider community as a relevant and exciting subject.
We have led numerous workshops and teacher-to-teacher sessions on a variety of themes at the GA Annual Conference; published articles in Teaching Geography on topics such as team teaching, Valuing Places, the geography of crime, using ICT to enrich geography, leading the geography department/self assessment and fieldwork; represented the GA in the QCDA review of the Key Stage 3 curriculum; and published numerous resources on the GA website.
Top Ten Ideas
Every half term, the GA's secondary phase committee produces a 'top ten' of ideas for helping you teach the secondary curriculum. You can view them in full on the Top Ten Ideas page, or download the basic PDFs here:
Top Ten Ideas: Geography in the Wider Curriculum
Top Ten (35!) Ideas: Exam Revision Time
Top Ten Ideas: Primary-Secondary Transition
Top Ten Ideas for an Exciting Start to Year 7 Geography
Top Ten Ideas for getting your students out of the classroom during the summer term
Top Ten Ideas for promoting GCSE geography
Top Ten Ideas for your new KS3
Notes of Secondary Phase Committee Meeting - 15 October 2011
The Secondary Phase Committee welcomed two new members at our last meeting. Joining the committee are Paul Hunt and Beth Harries whose presence on the team will make the work of the SPC even more effective for GA members.
However, even with two new arrivals the SPC is losing a valued member, David Roberts. After many years volunteering for the GA and working within secondary education currently at Middleton Technology School, David is preparing to focus his efforts leading his school during their current new building phase. All the committee members, past and present, would like to take this opportunity to thank David for all his positive contributions and efforts in helping to support the work of the GA and its members. His presence on the SPC has been very much appreciated and he will be greatly missed.
The GA has been working very hard to respond to and influence changes to the National Curriculum. The SPC spent time during the meeting creating an SPC response to the KS3 proposals and the GA more widely has produced the Geography Curriculum Consultation page. The SPC urge all teachers of geography to take the time to read and respond to this consultation. The second call for evidence as part of the curriculum review will take place in February 2012 and the GA and SPC are all working hard to ensure that the views and voice of GA members are represented.
Running alongside these changes to KS3 are also changes to the assessment arrangements at KS4. The GCSE reform page of the Ofqual website contains documents which outline the proposed changes to KS4. Again, the SPC drafted a response to these changes which we will submit on behalf of GA members.
The reminder of the meeting was spent making arrangements for the three workshops that the SPC will be running at the 2012 GA conference. As always the SPC will be offering conference delegates different, practical, exciting and forward thinking ways of engaging in the teaching and learning of geography. We all very much look forward to seeing you there!
Past meeting reports
Download: 18 June 2011 Meeting Notes
Download: 12 June 2010 Meeting Notes
Download: 27 February 2010 Meeting Notes
Download: 10 October 2009 Meeting Notes
Join the Secondary Phase Committee
If you are interested in becoming involved with the Secondary Phase Committee, please contact the Chair David Rogers.
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