This page contains biographies, photographs and quotes for key GA staff and officers. The information and photographs can be used in print and online publications as required provided that the Geographical Association is acknowledged as the source. If you require information about someone not featured on this page, please contact Nicola Donkin.
Press & Media: Key People
Professor David Lambert - GA Chief Executive
David Lambert was a comprehensive school geography teacher for 12 years culminating in a Deputy Headship in 1985. He joined the Institute of Education in 1987, becoming Reader in Education in 1999. In 2002 he joined the Geographical Association as Chief Executive and since 2007 has combined this role with a Professorship at the IOE.
Download: David Lambert Biography
Download: David Lambert Photograph 1 (4256 x 2832, 300dpi)
Download: David Lambert Photograph 2 (3872 x 2592, 300dpi)
Quote: "If we think education in its broadest sense is important, then geography is important too. Thinking geographically helps us understand ourselves in the world... or, as our manifesto says, helps us travel with a different view. If geography, as it is laid out in the manifesto, were not part of the curriculum then we'd risk turning out young people who were only partially educated." - July 2009
John Lyon - GA Programme Director
John Lyon taught Geography at Aston Comprehensive in Rotherham from 1977 until 2005. His last role was Assistant Head in charge of the Maths and Computing Specialism at Aston where he also ran the Training School programme. In his current role John oversees all activities at HQ and leads the GA's Action Plan for Geography team.
Download: John Lyon Biography
Download: John Lyon Photograph (3872 x 2592, 300dpi)
Quote: "The best part of geography for me is that is gives us the opportunity to get 'out there', to experience and sense the world and to interpret what we see. This is a good starting point for understanding our world and our role in helping to shape the future, as well as providing the basis for imagining alternative futures." - July 2009
John Hopkin - GA President 2010/11
John Hopkin is a School Improvement Adviser with Birmingham City Council. Prior to that he worked as teacher of geography and head of department in a number of Birmingham schools. He has written and edited several geography textbooks and has a particular interest in teaching about global geography, development and the environment.
Download: John Hopkin Biography
Download: John Hopkin Photograph (1728 x 2304, 72dpi)
Quote: Geography is the 'world subject': it helps us develop knowledge and understanding of the world, and our place in it. Through its study we develop the knowledge, understanding and skills that enable us to grasp our common humanity and our relationships - with each other and the environmental resources on which life depends. By thinking geographically about the past and the present we are better equipped to imagine our possible futures. It should be an entitlement for all young people.
Taken from 'One of humanity's big ideas: why school geography matters' , John Hopkin and David Lambert, 2010.
Alan Kinder - Chair, GA Education Committee
Alan has worked as an advisory teacher for geography with the London borough of Barking and Dagenham since 2003. Prior to that, he worked for 12 years as a teacher of geography, Head of Geography, Field Studies Officer and Head of Humanities across London, south east England, the south of France and Malaysia. He served on the GA's Secondary Phase Committee between 1998 and 2008 – the last three years as Co-Chair.
Download: Alan Kinder Biography
Download: Alan Kinder Photograph (1536 x 2048, 144dpi)
Quote: "Geography teachers are currently facing an almost unprecedented series of challenges in terms of curriculum planning – with recent or upcoming changes being made to all phases and key stages of the curriculum. The new Key Stage 3 Programme of Study, for example, is intended to 'introduce greater flexibility and allow the development of a "local curriculum" within a national framework'... This 'One Programme, many geographies' approach is more challenging than earlier versions as it is less prescriptive and returns responsibility for detailed curriculum development, quite rightly, to teachers." - July 2009
Alan Parkinson - Curriculum Development Leader (Secondary)
Alan joined the GA as Secondary Curriculum Development Leader in September 2008 after teaching for twenty years in Norfolk and Derbyshire. He developed the popular GeographyPages website in 2001, and is a prolific blogger, running a total of eight blogs on various aspects of geographical education. He has also been awarded two Innovative Geography Teaching grants by the RGS-IBG.
Download: Alan Parkinson Biography
Download: Alan Parkinson Photograph (2592 x 3872, 300dpi)
Quote: "Social media is changing the way that teachers interact with students, as we move towards more participative models of learning. We have new tools and new opportunities that the new curriculum has provided us with, but it is time to embrace new behaviours."
- July 2009
Dr Paula Owens - Curriculum Development Leader (Primary)
Paula is a former deputy head with many years' experience teaching children from Foundation to Key Stage 2. She completed a PhD that focused on how children develop environmental values in the early school years (ages 4– 7) and lectured part time on primary geography courses for students completing QTS and PGCE.
Download: Paula Owens Biography
Download: Paula Owens Photograph (2592 x 3872, 240dpi)
Quote: "I am passionate about the need for all children to have adequate opportunities to develop their 'geographical capability' from the earliest years of formal education. From my teaching and research experience, I know that through engaging with quality geography, children become better equipped to negotiate the ever more complex and changing world in which we live, and make sense of their place within it." - July 2009
Wendy North - Curriculum Development Leader (Primary)
Wendy has worked in both primary and middle schools and was acting head of a 3-11 primary school before becoming centre co-ordinator of the Wakefield Urban Studies Centre. When the centre closed she joined the Wakefield Advisory Service as an advisory teacher for assessment and humanities.
Download: Wendy North Biography
Download: Wendy North Photograph (855 x 1098, 180dpi)
Quote: "Geography is crucial in helping young people make sense of our increasingly globalised world. We all need to understand what connects us to others, how the world's resources are finite and that without true understanding of global citizenship and sustainability we are likely to find ourselves living on a very volatile and environmentally unstable planet." - July 2009
Justin Woolliscroft - Secondary Geography Quality Mark Co-ordinator
Justin Woolliscroft was, until 2007, Head of Geography and Curriculum Enrichment Co-ordinator in an 11-18 Technology College in Staffordshire. Now living in Brigg, North Lincolnshire, he co-ordinates the Secondary Geography Quality Mark for the Geographical Association and also acts as one of the GA's Regional Subject Advisors to support the implementation of the revised KS3.
Download: Justin Woolliscroft Biography
Download: Justin Woolliscroft Photograph (2136 x 2848, 72dpi)
Quote: "The Secondary Geography Quality Mark is pivotal to supporting the revitalisation of geography at key stage 3. The award promotes effective subject leadership and encourages geographers to collaboratively reflect upon how geography is taught in their school. It provides national acknowledgment of quality teaching and learning and is rapidly becoming recognised as the national standard for the teaching of geography in schools." - July 2009
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