Geographical Association

Geography teachers often have to deal with controversial issues in the classroom. It is important that these are investigated, and not shied away from for less-controversial topics. Following the QCA, we have identified controversial issues as being those which:

'have a political, social or personal impact and arouse feeling and/or deal with questions of value or belief'

Citizenship: A scheme of work for key stage 3 Teacher's guide, QCA 2001

Which other issues that you have taught this year could be classed as being 'controversial' using the description above?

Controversial issues involve a 'sensitive' approach to their teaching, as the personal histories of students are not always known. In tackling an issue like food in a UK classroom, there are possible child poverty or child protection issues which need to be considered. Families are unlikely to advertise the fact that they are struggling financially, or that diet and general health are poor. Teachers should therefore be wary of personal data-collection type exercises which might 'uncover' inequalities.

The aim of this course has been to develop ideas for looking at the issue of food security, and resourcing it using authoritative materials, as well as making you aware that this is an evolving issue which has local impacts, but global connections.

Which aspects of the food security issue do you think are 'controversial'?

The unit comes under the 'umbrella' of the global dimension theme. The global dimension explores what connects us to the rest of the world. It enables learners to engage with complex global issues and explore the links between their own lives and people, places and issues throughout the world.

Look at the headings below which form some of the key aims of the global dimension.

Which of these have been 'covered' during the completion of this unit?

• Explore and make sense of the big issues in the world
• Think critically and creatively about topical and controversial issues
• Deconstruct issues and events, and study them from a range of perspectives
• Develop self-awareness and a positive attitude to difference
• Argue a case on behalf of themselves and others
• Reflect on the consequences of their own actions now and in the future
• Link learning to taking responsible action

If there are some elements that you feel are not adequately covered by the activities that have been included so far, why not think through how you would add them to a possible future teaching scheme. For example, there is scope to consider the sustainability of some of the actions that were featured in Units 1 and 2, and also to consider what actions might be taken to alert more people to the issues involved.

For further reading download the QCA's The global dimension in action booklet (PDF)

Throughout the course a range of web based tools have been suggested. Hopefully there has also been an element of CPD in the use of these tools, as well as in the actual 'food security' content.

ICT is likely to provide a way in to exploring the issue with students, and has also been used as a way of offering a range of possible outcomes from a piece of work. It also allows for the sharing of student work with a wider audience, and encouraging the 'remixing' of other content, as well as group work.

How might ICT help you develop the unit further?

Throughout the unit, we have used food analogies. This could be extended into the teaching of the unit. This 'theming' of lesson sequences can help to reinforce the topic that is being covered. Phrases such as 'starter', 'main course', 'hungry for more', 'menu' could all be used during the teaching of the unit. Why not use the Interactive White Board screen as a 'virtual fridge door', and add 'fridge magnet images' that can be moved into place for activities which require classification and sorting?

TASC Wheel. Framework developed by Belle Wallace, President of NACE.

Look at the diagram above which represents the enquiry sequence.

Think back over the units that you have just worked through. How does the sequence reflect an enquiry approach to learning?

Living Geography also involves connecting pupils with the global as well as the local: food is clearly a good context for doing this. One teacher who did this was Mark Ollis, who teaches at St. Bees school in Cumbria. Inspired by the images at a website which looked at families and their food he took a picture of a weekly food shop, and followed up the sources of each item. View Mark's photo below.

The Ollis family with their weekly food shopping. Photo Credit: Mark Ollis

Students could deconstruct the process of acquiring food in different scenarios and begin to empathise with the situation that faces some families. There is also an opportunity to explore food insecurity and its link to structural problems - these might include underinvestment in agriculture and infrastructure, the dominance in global supply chains of big companies, and potential mismanagement of food and agricultural policies in some parts of the world.

What fieldwork would be appropriate with this unit?

Fieldwork could be done on a more informal basis. There are plenty of opportunities for data collection in the students' own homes, and contact could be made with local supermarkets, such as the Co-op, who would perhaps be receptive of students exploring how they source the products that they sell. Local market (or farmers' market) day would also be a useful location to canvass public opinion on the issue of food prices. There may also be community action by local groups which students could get involved with, as well as events organised on a larger scale, such as World Food Day.

Although this is not the main focus of the course, any sequence of learning generally needs to be assessed at some point, if only in a self-evaluative way at the end, considering questions such as 'what could I have done better? This unit offers several opportunities for assessment as part of the activities, which could be adapted by teachers for use in the classroom. Although units could be taken as 'stand-alone' pieces of work, it is the combination of tasks which may produce the 'perfect-storm' of a memorable lesson sequence.

The final assessment opportunity in this course is a presentation, and a number of possible outcomes might occur. Teachers could consider other assessments that might arise from the earlier work that are more suitable for the particular groups of students that they teach.

Food is a commodity which connects all humans through the basic daily requirement to eat. There are values attached to the uneven distribution: some areas have a surplus of food, leading to a growing obesity problem, and others have a deficit.

Consider the famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi:

'There is enough for everyone's need but not enough for everyone's greed.'

What are your thoughts on this statement?

Teachers should reflect on their own values, as a unit on a topic as powerful as food cannot be taught in isolation from the teacher's own thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Teachers are seldom neutral or impartial.

The final consideration should be about the values that students bring to the lesson. There are no 'impartial' views: they are all partial to some extent. It is important to have consideration for these values, and also guide students towards the key questions that form part of the Global Dimension themes, which were mentioned earlier.

We have not gone into much detail around the topic of Food Miles, but this would be a further area to discuss as the issue is not as straight-forward as 'food that has travelled further is bad...'.

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