My Place, Your Place, Our Place
Sustainability and community cohesion are ideas at the forefront of educational agendas but what do they mean in practice for learners in primary education? This family of courses explores the relationships between identity and place by drawing on some key geographical processes and understanding.
By engaging with these courses, you will be able to develop and extend your geographical expertise in both stand-alone and inter-disciplinary contexts. You will better understand how quality geography can contribute to excellence and enjoyment, the wider curriculum and whole school ethos. The courses touch on a very wide agenda, including:
- New Primary curriculum
- National framework for sustainable schools
- Sustainable schools evaluation form
- Eco schools framework
- DCSF and the guide to community cohesion
- Every child matters
- Excellence and enjoyment
- Fieldwork and risk assessment
- Maps and stories
- Literacy
- Personalised learning
- Sharing and networking
- Links to further CPD
You can complete all of the courses or alternatively you may wish to select the courses which suit your particular needs.
Each course is made up of smaller components and resources that can be developed as stand-alone activities for personal and/or staff development. The scale of your involvement could range from 15 minutes to several weeks.
The Courses
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Getting Started My learning journey: Deciding upon a learning and change focus. Expected course duration: 6 - 10 hours |
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Special people, special places How and why do we connect to people and places? What makes them special to us? Expected course duration: 6 - 12.5 hours |
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Taking Risks Identifying hazards; doing a risk assessment with your pupils; blindfold buddies. Expected course duration: 5.5 - 11 hours |
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Mywalks and messy maps Using mapping and graphicacy techniques to understand shared space. Expected course duration: 5 - 9 hours |
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There's a place for us: Improving Environments Improving the school grounds; Making decisions; Being the expert. Expected course duration: 5.5 - 11 hours |
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Plenary Sharing and Reflecting on your Learning Expected course duration: 2 - 4 hours |
TLA Compatible
These courses have been created specifically to be compatible with the Teacher Learning Academy (TLA) criteria. This means that if you are working towards a TLA Stage One or Two accreditation you can use one or more of these courses to provide the focus for your learning journey.
As you work through the courses, look out for text accompanied by the TLA logo, this will identify connections with the TLA criteria.
What is the TLA and how do I enrol?
Note: Even if you do not intend to work through all of the courses, it is strongly advised that you first read Getting Started before moving onto any of the other courses in the family. This will provide a firm grounding for your subsequent learning journey. You should also view the Plenary because this allows you to reflect on your learning journey, an essential part of the TLA process, and it also provides links to other websites and resources.
Who might use these courses?
New and becoming teachers: these courses provide activities to develop subject knowledge and teaching standards.
Non-specialist teachers of geography: these courses provide a better understanding of what geography is, how it can be taught in relevant and exciting ways and how it links with the wider curriculum.
Geography subject and Areas of Learning leaders: these courses provide material to help you tackle CPD needs in your school, lead staff meetings, meet whole school agendas and further develop your expertise.
Senior Managers: these courses provide material about whole school issues for staff development days.
Governors: these courses develop your understanding of geography and how it contributes to the wider school agenda.
