Geographical Association

Complementing our established programme of one-day CPD courses and popular Annual Conference, the GA's new consultancy and training service has been designed to give you the support you need at a time and place of your choosing.

Read on to find out more or contact John Lyon on 0114 296 0088 for an informal chat.

Arrange for a GA consultant to visit your school if you need help with a particular problem or if you're after some general geographical advice.

• Making judgements - our primary and secondary experts can support you in judging the quality and standard of your teaching and provide detailed feedback on how to improve
• You choose the theme - curriculum, resources, knowledge and skills progression... tell us what you need help with and we'll give you tailored advice
• Cost effective - our consultant will come to you so you don't need to worry about your travel expenses or supply cover costs

The whole process can take as long as you need it to, from a half day session targeting a specific issue to a series of regular consultant visits taking you through a structured improvement plan until you reach your goals.

You'll also receive a detailed report containing analysis and recommendations for you to work through at your own pace.

If you and your colleagues need training on a specific area, why not organise an in-house CPD day through the GA?

• Flexible course content - fieldwork, physical processes, GIS... tell us what you're working to improve and our trainers will create a bespoke programme for you
• CPD in your area - join forces with other schools to create a local training day
• Save time and money - just like our consultancy service, our team will come to you so you don't need to pay travel expenses or supply cover costs

Our tailor-made CPD days are ideal for training a group of teachers in your own school. And better still, we'll arrange a session at a time and date that suits you.

'Fantastic! Great source of new ideas, pushing the creative aspect of geography and very well informed with buckets loads of passion for the subject!'

We have an extensive database of consultants combining years of experience as geography teachers, examiners, authors and advisors. When you arrange for a consultant to visit your school we'll pair you with someone who has the expertise to give you the support you need.

Here are some of the experts you could work with:

Primary - Dr Paula Owens

Paula worked for many years as a primary teacher, deputy head and acting head before joining the Geographical Association as Primary Curriculum Development Leader. As a teacher Paula led on a variety of whole school areas including curriculum, assessment, educational visits and sustainability and successfully steered her school towards a number of awards.

Paula is now a respected training course leader for the GA and Institute of Education and has worked with teachers across the UK and Europe. She has authored and edited a number of primary publications and is currently co-editor of the GA's Primary Toolkit series and a member of the Primary Geography editorial board. Paula has worked with Ofsted and the former QCA and participated in the recent primary curriculum reviews led by Sir Jim Rose and Sir Robin Alexander.

Primary - Jeff Stanfield

Jeff taught in the Southampton area for over 20 years prior to becoming the geography adviser in Hampshire. Since then he has held the post of county inspector / adviser for geography, overseeing subject provision and standards across all key stages. This includes supporting over 450 primary schools, ranging from small rural to large urban.

He has been involved in subject development at a national level for many years and is well known for his challenging and inspiring keynote addresses and professional development days. The latter focus in particular on expanding geographical enquiry, investigation, problem solving and decision making. Ensuring that every child has access to a meaningful and progressive geography entitlement and to raising the quality of learning, teaching and standards of attainment / achievement in this subject area is central to his work.

Jeff regularly contributes articles to periodicals such Mapping News and has written a number of texts including See For Yourself (Our Local Area) - Wayland and Thinking Through Geography - Longman.

Primary & Secondary - David Weatherly

David has wide-ranging experience in teaching, subject co-ordination and senior management roles in urban and rural schools and most recently worked as Adviser for Geography and Education for Sustainability within a large LA school improvement team. He has a proven track record of inspiring and supporting colleagues in EYFS, Primary and Secondary schools to design innovative curricula, broaden pedagogy and raise performance through engaging and challenging geographical learning.

David has particular expertise in establishing sustainability in schools and developing learning outside the classroom as an integral aspect of education. He currently works nationally and internationally with an extensive range of educational providers and his support is always tailored to the particular needs of schools and their communities.

Primary & Secondary - Dick Palfrey

Dick is an independent education consultant specialising in Humanities, Education for Sustainable Development, Global Citizenship, Outdoor Learning and Philosophy for Children. Until recently he worked as a School Improvement Partner for nine primary schools in West Yorkshire and was the specialist for History, Geography and Environmental Education. Dick was also the lead LA officer for Sustainable Schools and has supported various initiatives such as Eco-Schools, Forest Schools and Kirklees Environment Youth Forum.

Dick is particularly interested in local studies, teaching and learning styles and global citizenship and is a registered trainer in Philosophy for Children (P4C) with the national body SAPERE. He also acts as a moderator for the GA's Primary Quality Mark.

Primary & Secondary - John Lyon

John Lyon is currently Programme Manager at the Geographical Association (GA) and formally an Assistant head at a large 11-18 comprehensive school in Rotherham. He taught geography for almost 30 years, is a Chartered Geographer and has an NPQH qualification. He is responsible for the leadership and management of the GA’s programme of support for teachers’ professional development, including a range of recent projects such as the Paul Hamlyn ‘Making My Place in the World’ project and the development of the Secondary Geography Quality Mark. He has created and presented numerous CPD sessions for primary and secondary schools, has contributed articles to journals and magazines, developed teaching resource packs and authored a chapters in two current publications; ‘Living Geography’ and ‘Debates in Geography’.

Secondary & Post-16 - Alan Kinder

Alan, the GA's Chief Executive, has worked in geographical education for more than twenty years, as a geography teacher, curriculum leader, field studies officer, adviser, PGCE tutor and consultant. His work has taken him all over the world and has allowed him to work with hundreds of schools across the UK and further afield. Key achievements include his work on the national curriculum, as an assessment project co-ordinator for the QCDA and as a regional subject adviser for the CfBT project to support the implementation of a new KS3 curriculum in England. He is a long-standing GA member, author and volunteer, his most recent role being Chair of the Education Committee from 2009-12.

Secondary & Post-16 - Iain Palôt

Iain first started teaching in 1964 and has taught almost exclusively in the 11-18 sector in a variety of positions including Head of Department, Head of Faculty and Senior teacher. He has also worked with several awarding bodies.

Iain has witnessed many changes to education, particularly geography, during this time and his breadth of experience has given him a broad overview of the subject, its needs and potential. Having taught for so long he is also well aware of the pressure put on students by their teachers, parents and peers and has devised a number of strategies for easing exam nerves. His classroom interest is in the practical nature of the subject and getting students out to see geography in the real world. Coasts and urban issues are high on his list as is China and the many intriguing aspects to its geography, economy and culture.

As chair of the GA Post 16 & HE Committee his interests lie with this particular group and the cross-phase links to HE. He is a regular contributor to Teaching Geography and the GA Annual Conference.

Contact John Lyon on 0114 296 0088 to find out more.