Geographical Association

Oxfam is a development and aid charity that works in locations around the world. It is often called upon to help groups of people who are unable to feed themselves for a variety of reasons. It started out as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief in 1942, at a meeting organised by Canon Milford of Oxford University. It opened its first charity shops in 1948. In 1995, it joined with a range of other organisations and became Oxfam International. Food security is one issue that Oxfam has engaged with throughout its history.

During 2008 and 2009, the term 'the perfect storm' became widespread in the media with respect to a combination of factors that included the need to increase food production against a backdrop of worsening environmental factors. In this course we are going to view a few case studies related to the work of Oxfam which are connected with this idea of the perfect storm. We are going to think about their possible use with students.

Completion of this course is intended to be a CPD activity, rather than a 'resource grab'. You are encouraged to adapt the ideas presented here to develop your own resources or unit of work. The intention is that completion of the unit will result in the development of new skills and pedagogical techniques, and offer opportunities for reflection.

If you are working through this course as part of a TLA learning journey at Stage One or Two it will be assumed that you have already completed Getting Started, where you will have decided upon a learning and change focus for your journey. Completing this course should enable you to refine this focus. As you work through this course keep referring to section two of the learning journal,
in which you create anaction plan for your
learning journey.

View TLA Stage One Writing Frame
View TLA Stage Two Writing Frame

'Food security' is said to exist when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active healthy life.

(Food and Agriculture Organisation)

Professor John Beddington is the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser and he began to use the phrase 'a perfect storm' during this period. The term relates to a combination of factors which are happening simultaneously:

• World food reserves are at a 50-year low

• By 2030 we need to be producing 50% more food to feed the growing population

• At the same time, we will need 50% more energy

• We will also need 30% more fresh water
• We must do all this while, at the same time, reducing carbon emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050.  

Visit Oxfam's page on the World Food Crisis at their website.

Identify four key activities that Oxfam is involved in which are related to food.

This page provides a link to much of Oxfam's work in different areas of the world. What is fascinating, and worthy of further investigation is the extent to which food insecurity and the impact of the food crisis manifests itself in different areas of the world.

Now view this interactive map of the World Food Crisis.

Consider the information that it provides about the inequalities that exist in food supply around the world. Is this something that you could use as a teaching resource?

The work of Oxfam has to be responsive and flexible in order to provide appropriate support. Three video 'food stories' provided by Oxfam will now be highlighted. These are taken from the following locations:

• Cambodia
• Haiti
• Tajikistan

Below are three case studies on the web page related to the World Food Crisis, and its impact on people around the world.

Choose one of them:

Identify the impact that food shortages are having in the chosen location, and then identify at least two other sources of information about this part of the world that would confirm or contradict the picture that we recieve from the video clips.

Imagine that you are employed by the government of your chosen location.

What aspects of the videos' contents would you be happy or unhappy with?

Can you source appropriate 'evidence' that all is not as it is being portrayed in the video clip and perhaps produce a short video as a 'response' to the Oxfam stimulus clip?

How else might you make use of the video clips as a teaching stimulus?

As the previous activity began to explore, Oxfam is not impartial. As with any charity or organisation, it has a particular 'point of view' on world issues and takes a particular stance with relation to its operations in other countries. This is not a criticism of Oxfam's work, but a fact that must be taken into account if information from a single source is used with students. Geographers need to develop a 'critical' eye.

On the Oxfam Education website there are a number of food related resources with various age ranges in mind. 

How might you make use of this website with students?

What preparations would you need to do to ensure that an issue such as Fair Trade was presented in a balanced way?

Discuss with your year group partner(s) and / or mentor what ideas you might develop and how you will do this.

• How have these examples and ideas help you to plan coherent and relevant learning for your pupils?
• How did you adapt them?
• What curriculum links did you focus on to link with the geography? Why did you choose them?
• How have you enabled pupils to make connections between the local and the global?
• How did you place value pupils' contributions and personal geographies? How did this impact on their self esteem and the value they place on themselves as individuals and as a group?
• How do you think these activities contribute to your pupils' understanding of issues around food, sustainability and interdependence, and in particular the work of organisations like Oxfam? 

On your learning journey

• What changes, if any did you make to your original plan? How did professional learning conversations with your coach or learning mentor influence this and the outcomes of your learning?
• How did you evaluate your own learning?
• What feedback did you receive from pupils or colleagues?
• How did you share this learning with others? What feedback have you had?

You may now wish to move on to another course in this family in order to widen and deepen your knowledge base. The courses explore a range of supporting areas and can be completed in any order you wish. You may wish to take a quick look at them before going any further.

It is important that you end by completing the Plenary section, as this allows you to reflect on your learning and fill in part three of the TLA writing frame (and part four if you are working towards Stage Two verification).

Acknowledgements to Oxfam for their cooperation in the production of this course.

Main Image: tuesday storm by Flickr user foreversouls, made available under Creative Commons