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Secondary Phase Committee

Contacts

Chair: Tom Biebrach

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 in Key Stages 3 and 4 and to represent the views and interests of these members.


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 externally to bodies such as QCA.
  • Promote geography to teachers, pupils, schools and the wider community as a relevant and exciting subject
We have led workshops at GA Conference on Leading the Geography Department and Teaching Exceptional Students; led teacher-to teacher sessions at 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 field work; represented the GA in the QCA review of the Key Stage 3 curriculum; and published numerous resources on the GA website.


Annual Conference 2009

The SPC led three workshops at the 2009 GA Annual Conference held at the University of Manchester on 16 - 18 April 2009.

Doorstep Geography
Emma Johns and Rachel Lawrenson
A practical workshop equipping participants with a range of easy activities for fieldwork on their doorstep.

Transforming Tired Topics
Tom Biebrach, Fred Martin and Alan Parkinson
Offered a range of ideas and opportunities to make these topics more exciting and engaging, transforming that 'tired' topic whilst retaining quality geographical learning.

Creativity and Geographical Investigation
Simon Renshaw and members of the SPC
This session provided delegates with a range of creative thinking techniques and practical examples that highlighted how geographical investigation can serve to promote creative thinking.

Resources from all of these workshops and other conference sessions can be downloaded on the GA Annual Conference page.


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. Here are the ones produced so far:

Ten Top ideas for getting your students out of the classroom during the summer term (added 07.05.09)

Top Ten ideas for promoting GCSE geography (added 19.01.09)

Top ten ideas for your new KS3 (added 28.10.08)


Notes of Secondary Phase Committee Meeting - 7 February 2009

Curriculum change

As always, helping to support GA members with curriculum change within the secondary phase is always a key feature of our meetings. However, during this most recent meeting discussions were held relating to the publication of the recent Rose Report. Key discussion points focused around the place of geography within the proposed Primary curriculum and issues surrounding pupil transition from the primary to secondary phase.

In addition, the committee were able to review the draft version of the new Humanities and Social Science Diploma. Encouragingly, the content of the planned diploma has a strong geographical underpinning and the GA will be working hard to provide its members with quality support, resources and guidance to help deliver the new Humanities Diploma.


Past meeting reports

Download: 4 October 2008 Meeting Notes
Download: 7 June 2008 Meeting Notes
Download: 2 February 2008 Meeting Notes
Download: 13 October 2007 Meeting Notes
Download: 9 June 2007 Meeting Notes
Download: 3 February 2007 Meeting Notes
Download: 14 October 2006 Meeting Notes
Download: 17 June 2006 Meeting Notes
Download: 6 February 2006 Meeting Notes


Join the Secondary Phase Committee

If you are interested in becoming involved with the Secondary Phase Committee, please contact Chair Email: Tom Biebrach.


(Updated 11.06.09)

 
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