Catherine White Department of Geography,Northumbria Universitycatherine.white@northumbria.ac.uk

Background to developing graduate attributes within and beyond the classroom

Teaching the Geography in Education module

Dissertations on educational subjects

Geographical Association talks on teaching

Geography Ambassadors

Foster (2003) a „Tesco‟ model of education in which

learning is packaged and sold along more „flexible‟ lines

to suit economic need and consumer demand

Lambert et al (2007) the Commodification of

Higher Education

This purely skilled based approach to student

employability undermines the more social aspirations of

the entrepreneurial ideal

Barnett (2000) suggests we need to educate for the formation of the human being in the university in an age of supercomplexity

We need to help students write their own „flexible biographies‟

Lecturers need to step aside to some extent to allow students to be given space in which to develop their own selves in the radical uncertainty posed by supercomplexity

Shulman 2005 :52

Signature pedagogies are the fundamental waysin which practitioners are educated for their new professions.

Emphasis on students‟ active performance

Based on Rawlinson et al (2003) Have Geographers lost their way? Issues relating to the recruitment of geographers into school teaching JGHE 27(1) pp 39-56

Module created to provide a solid grounding in the nature and purpose of geography education to give students confidence to make a decision about entry into the teaching profession.

Topics covered:

What is a geographer?

The National Curriculum

Lesson Planning

Fieldwork

Knowledge

Resources

Geography and Different Localities

Geography and Wider Issues

Geography and Technology

Assessment

Presentations for second and third years

Essay for the third years justifying the place of geography in the curriculum

Factors influencing educational attainment:

A study looking into the factors that influence

educational achievement and aspirations of a year 11

geography class 2002

Does a mainstream or a special school provide the most

inclusive environment for a pupil with special educational needs? 2005

Education in Northern Ireland

Importance of geography in Northern Ireland‟s primary National Curriculum 2005

How has religion affected spatial movements and practices within a microcosm of the education system of Belfast? 2008

Issues of Sectarianism within Sport at Secondary School level in Belfast 2010

Fieldwork

A study into the benefits of using different learning styles during a field trip at St Mary‟s RCVA School Blackhill 2009

Does fieldwork benefit the teaching of geography and does the use of fieldwork appeal to student-centred learning? 2012

7th. November 2010– Louise Marley and Sarah Rusling both our B.A graduates will talk about teaching in Walker Technology College „In the Classroom‟

29th March 2011 –Dr Rachel Lofthouse Head of Teacher Learning and Development in Newcastle University „What is the PGCE?‟

28th September 2011 Lisa Conlan St Roberts School Washington “Teaching – is it for me?”

7th March 2012 Lynn Kennedy a previous BSc Geography and Environmental Management graduate currently studying PGCE Secondary Geography at Durham university will talk about „PGCE the Preconceptions and Misconceptions‟

10th December 2012 Mike Simpson one of our previous B.A graduates will talk about taking the secondary PGCE course at Newcastle University and his experiences as he starts to teach at St Joseph‟s School Hebburn „Doing the secondary PGCE course and starting to teach‟

The Royal Geographical Society has an Ambassadors scheme which recruits, trains and supports undergraduate geographers to act as ambassadors for geography in the classroom. TheAmbassadors are trained to give presentations in schools sharing their enthusiasm for geography and giving information to pupils on careers with geography and studying geographyat university.

In 2012 twenty three Geography Ambassadors were trained from our present second and thirdyear students. Feedback from the Royal Geographical Society rom schools which threeof the Ambassadors visited from September to December 2012.

A teacher from the Geography Department of a school in Nottingham said of a 3rd year BSc Geography student‟s four visits to the school inwhich she went on a field visit to the Burbage Valley in Derbyshire , “Beverley was extremely helpful and knowledgeable; she led three groupsof five students on each of the two days sharingand facilitating students in the collection oftheir fieldwork data. The students reallyenjoyed working with her.”

A teacher from the Geography Department of a school in Sunderland said of a 3rd year BSc Geography student‟s visit “There was strong interaction with the students, and he was able to get involved with every group.”

A teacher from the Geography Department of a school in Peterborough said of a 2nd year BSc Geography student‟s visit “ He was a positive & confident individual who came fully prepared for his first presentation. The presentation was clear & used a range of interactive media which the students engaged with well.”

The module Geography in Education allows students to develop their own reflexive biographies and to examine signature pedagogies in their own way.

By listening to others from outside the academy talk about the teaching experience and by visiting schools to encourage others to take geography they can be given space in which to develop their own selves in the radical uncertainty posed by supercomplexity

1. Banks J A (2001) Citizenship Education and Diversity Implications for Teacher Education Journal of Teacher Education 52(1) pp5-162. Barnett R (2000) Realizing the University in an Age of Supercomplexity Buckingham Open University Press3. Foster J (2002) Sustainability, Higher Education and the learning

society Environmental Education Research 8(1) pp35-414. Hutchings P (2005) Building pedagogical intelligenceCarnegie Perspectives at:

http:www.carnegiefoundation.org/perspectives5. Lambert C, Parker A and Neary M (2007) Entrepreneurialism and critical pedagogy: reinventing the Higher Education Curriculum Teaching in Higher Education 12 (4) pp 525-5376. Loughran J J (2002) Effective Reflective Practice in search ofmeaning in learning about teaching Journal of Teacher Education 53(1) pp 33-43

7. Rawlinson S, Essex-Cater L, Bolden D and Constable H (2003)

Have Geographers lost their way? Issues relating to the

recruitment of geographers into school teaching Journal of

Geography in Higher Education 27 (1) pp39-56

8. Shulman L (2005) Signature Pedagogies in the

professions Daedalus 134 pp 52-59

9. Summerhill A, Matranga M, Peltier G and Hill G (1998) High

School Seniors‟ Perceptions of a Teaching Career Journal of

Teacher Education 49 (3) pp 228-234

10. Walford R (2000) Geography Examined 1850-2000 Geography

85 (4) pp 303 -310