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Action Plan for Geography
Further Action Plan funding was announced by Minister for Schools and Learners Jim Knight MP at the GA Annual Conference on 27 March 2008. Following the enormous success of the first round of funding, a further £1.8m will ensure that dedicated support for geography teachers will continue for an additional three years. Jointly led by the GA and RGS-IBG, major strands will include:
- Enhancement of the Geography Teaching Today website including resources and online tutorials
- Local networks for primary and secondary teachers
- Development of the Ambassadors programme
- Continuation of the Quality Mark schemes and Chartered Geographer status
Further information about the second phase of the Action Plan will be added soon, in the meantime you can read the official press release on the DCSF website.
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The Action Plan for Geography (APG) is a two year programme funded by the Department for Education and Skills and led jointly and equally by the GA and RGS-IBG. It aims to inspire and support teachers in their task to inform, engage and enthuse young people with geography, and its activities and resources will be available for all primary and secondary teachers in England.
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Further details on the Action Plan are provided in the Full Proposals document, and a summary is given in the Geography in Action leaflet. You can download a Course and Events booklet above.
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The GA's planned contributions to the Action Plan for Geography were featured in the Autumn 2006 edition of GA Magazine. Download the article below or if you're a GA member, log in to download the whole magazine.
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As the Action Plan for Geography enters the second half of its second year of funding, you may be interested in reading a progress report. This formed part of an interim evaluation for the DCSF, submitted in October 2007.
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The goal of the Action Plan is: |
‘To provide everyone - opinion formers, policy makers, schools, parents and pupils - with a clear vision of geography as a relevant and powerful 21st century subject; and to equip teachers with the professional skills and support they need so that pupils enjoy and succeed in geography.’
This recognises the need for well trained, up-to-date and enthusiastic teachers who understand and can use geography to help young people become confident in their learning, informed about the world around them, and responsible, productive, active citizens.
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| What makes geography’s contribution to the curriculum distinctive? |
It educates young people about:
- Place: Where places are and why they are different – showing how social, economic and environmental forces combine to create distinctive and diverse localities.
- Connectedness: How physical and human environments are related and how human actions impact on the environment, so helping young people to understand the need for a sustainable future.
- Scale: Understanding different scales – from local to national to worldwide – which is essential in understanding interdependence and global change.
- Process: Why and how the world’s environments, societies and landscapes are changing – geography is dynamic.
- Skills: How to investigate the world for themselves – team work in the field, using maps, analysing data, problem solving and using ICT – and an awareness of social and environmental responsibility.
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| Action Plan Overview – what will we be doing? |
The GA’s Action Plan Team will champion a variety of projects which aim to improve Subject Leadership and Curriculum Making:
Subject Leadership is a matter for all teachers. It involves a re-emphasis on using the subject creatively. Subject expertise is not all that matters, but it is an essential component of purposeful teaching. What shall we teach and how shall we organise it? These are essential questions.
The APG features the key concepts of place, connectedness, and scale. It emphasises the distinctiveness of geographical processes; why and how the world’s environments, societies and landscapes are changing. Geography is dynamic and future oriented. Skills are also featured, including the significance of ‘team work in the field, using maps, analysing data, problem solving and using ICT, and an awareness of social and environmental responsibility.’
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Curriculum Making is the creative process by which classroom teachers use the subject to excite, stimulate and lead the learning. They literally make the curriculum. Local curriculum variation gives relevance and is essential to a ‘living’ discipline such as geography.
The Action Plan will create the time and opportunities for teachers to lift their heads and really think about the purpose and power of teaching geography. Ours is a discipline that is essential to young citizens’ informed understanding of their world. Perhaps the key point from the APG is to celebrate the way that geography emphasises connectedness – for example, the connections and links between the local and the global, and the way the physical and human worlds are interlinked. Places are where all these connections ‘happen’, which is why the study of place is essential.
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| Communication, Support, Development |
The Action Plan for Geography is divided into three strands - Communication, Support and Development. Click on the coloured flags to find out more about each of these categories:
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Communication
"The Communication strand will inform and advise people in all walks of life about geography..."
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Support
"The Support strand will provide resources, guidance and training for teachers..."
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Development
"The Development strand will build the capacity to secure geography for the longer term..."
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If you have any comments or questions relating to the GA's contribution to the Action Plan, please contact Julie Beattie
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The Action Plan for Geography is a two-year funded project and the support of our membership has been essential in securing and developing this. The GA's projects are informed by and involve a wide range of people from the geography teaching community. All project resources and their outcomes are shared freely for everyone with an interest in geographical education. If you have found something to be of help, interest or value then please consider becoming a member. The GA will continue with a wide range of project and volunteer activity in addition to the Action Plan. |
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