School and Academic Geographers

School and Academic Geography have not always been as closely linked as they might have.
There are obvious connections between the two, and synergies to be gained, but these are not always explored. While most teachers are graduates, not all geography teachers are necessarily geography graduates.
There are a few efforts being made to break down the boundaries.
In truth, many universities have always had connections with particular school departments, and these projects continue.
I would be happy to publicise any of this work via this blog and other online projects.

There are further steps being taken to explore relationships between schools and academics.
One project that I have been involved with is the MISSION EXPLORE project. This involves Duncan Fuller and Kye Askins from NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY: the folks behind MY WALKS.
The Open University invited a number of teachers to an event that they hosted in May 2008. I was one of the teachers invited, but it clashed with a fieldtrip that had been organised previously.
REDISCOVERING SCHOOL GEOGRAPHIES WORKSHOP (PDF download) is a document summarising the discussions that took place at the workshop, complete with some images - it is well worth reading. David Rogers, one of the participants, blogged his IMPRESSIONS of the workshop here.
Keep an eye out for further related projects in this area.


Last week David Lambert, the Chief Executive of the GA spent 2 days in Liverpool at the Herodot conference. Herodot is a network for Geography in Higher Education
Some of the resources are hosted on the website, although the links are not all working properly at the moment...

Another journal that contains academic material is the Geographical Journal, which is sent to fellows of the Royal Geographical Society.
The latest issue features a report on the Annual General Meeting of the RGS-IBG that was held in June. It features the President's (Sir Gordon Conway) address which was on the issue of the world's FOOD CRISIS.
It features a report on the AGM, which included the presentation of the Ordnance Survey award for "excellence in the teaching of geography in secondary education" to, er, me....

Here is an extract from the text of the citation, read by Dr Vanessa Lawrence CB, Director General of the Ordnance Survey, for those who don't have access to the journal.

"A Chartered Geographer, he is an excellent and accomplished classroom teacher, who has been highly effective at integrating his teaching of geography with his expertise in Information and Communications technology. With a commitment to collaboration and creativity, his website GeographyPages is a fascinating and most helpful resource for other teachers... Alan is well known for his generosity in sharing his expertise with other teachers to encourage their involvement in innovation in teaching and learning..."

The culmination of 20 years of effort, and the perfect moment to take on my fresh challenge at the Geographical Association.

It's also worth noting that all RGS members can log in to the members area to hear the lecture, complete with slides.


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