Planning a new Geography Curriculum for the 21st Century
A new framework for teaching and learning came into place for all National Curriculum Foundation Subjects from September 2008, one that provides "greater flexibility for schools to tailor teacher and learning" (QCA, 2008).
The revised curriculum document begins with some common aims for all subjects, stating the intention to develop successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve; confident individuals who lead safe and healthy lives; and responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society. Geographers must start their planning process by asking how well our subject matches up to these broad curriculum aims.
Following the general aims for the whole curriculum, the new programmes of study follow a common format. Each subject area is set out in the same way, starting with an importance statement, and then followed by key concepts, key processes, range and content, curriculum opportunities, finishing with level descriptions for assessment. The revised geography programme presents many refreshing opportunities for teachers. It is intended to introduce greater flexibility and allow the development of a 'local curriculum' within a national framework. There is an intention to provide opportunity to personalise the curriculum by allowing students to 'dig deeper' on some parts of the curriculum, or 'linger longer' when more time is needed to secure the learning. Teachers have been able to choose to either change the whole curriculum at once, or roll out changes from September 2008, taking one year in the key stage at a time.
The main change in the new programme of study is a reduction in content, and more explicit reference to the key concepts of geography. These are the 'Magnificent Seven', identified as: place, space, scale, interdependence, physical and human processes, environmental interaction and sustainable development, and cultural understanding and diversity. A great deal of misunderstanding and confusion has emerged with regards to the concepts. They summarise the 'big ideas' that underpin the whole curriculum, but are certainly not new. They have always been present in early incarnations of the curriculum, but are often hidden under different names and titles. Taylor says: "At a basic level, concepts are classifiers - ways of dividing up our experiences of a complex and messy world into more manageable units, enabling us to communicate about things we can't immediately see".
However, the inclusion of clearly stated concepts was never intended to provide the organisational framework for a geography curriculum. They have not been highlighted in order to teach them separately or directly, and they are not necessarily the place to start designing a curriculum. Rather, they are the key building blocks of a student's geographical entitlement, underpinning the learning and bringing coherence and meaning to the selected content. For many teachers, the greater emphasis on the concepts has provided the greatest challenge for curriculum planning.
So, where do we start the process of planning a key stage three curriculum? Departments might choose to begin with a reflective defining activity, which poses some key questions such as: 'What do you want your students to gain from their geography lessons in key stage three?', or 'What places, themes or issues should students study in order to give them a solid grounding in the geography of the twenty first century?' This exercise promotes a self-awareness about the subject, and will throw up a multitude of interesting questions. The general curriculum aims and the subject importance statement can help with this, and it is possible to place the importance statement under the departmental microscope to more closely examine its content. By breaking the statement up into small, bite-sized chunks, it is possible to critically examine existing schemes of work to see how well they shape up. Are there any aspects that are not covered very well? Are there any that are absent all together? A framework to assist this process can be downloaded at the end of this article. It is also important in this exercise to consider other information such as the context of your department, learners' strengths and weaknesses, as well as the general school ethos. It is possible to fashion a 'mission statement' to define the purpose of studying geography in key stage three, along with its key characteristics and contribution to learning.
Another way to begin is to perform a 'curriculum audit' of existing schemes of work. A prompt sheet to assist this process can be downloaded at the end of this article, and it provides a framework to identify areas to review, remove, or keep in place. Consideration should also be given at this stage to any new areas that might need to be included. After putting together a curriculum plan, I still have a 'replacement bench' of possible topics to include such as wild weather and migration, and am also still looking how to find a place for some selected locations that I feel currently have relevance to our learners, such as The Middle East and Eastern Europe.
It is also possible to use a discussion about the key concepts to kick start the planning process. We certainly need to think about these concepts and how and why they are important before we start to lay on any content. One effective way to start a dialogue about concepts is to attempt the concept mapping exercise at the end of this article with members of your department. It will help you to understand how concepts shape our understanding of what geographers study. To administer this exercise, cut out all of the text boxes and ask staff to arrange them on a large piece of paper as they see fit. They can then try to identify relationships between the texts they have chosen, and record these with connecting lines and annotations. The discussion that will follow will stimulate a range of questions about curriculum design, and lead you towards a consideration of the content that will follow.
Whatever the chosen starting point for planning, in a curriculum much less constrained by central guidelines, the selection of content does become crucial. However, it is not necessary to begin a design for a new curriculum with a blank piece of paper - it would be wrong to 'throw the baby out with the bathwater'. There might be some repacking necessary for topics and themes that are already there, and these can then sit alongside the 'new' geography that is to be included. When choosing what to include in your teaching, consideration needs to be given to factors such as time available, relevance, topicality, emphasis on particular concepts, and resources available. One way to structure ideas for a new curriculum is to use the 'curriculum wheel' framework. The example below is the key stage three schemes of work for my school. The geography for each year group in the wheel is divided into six units - one for each half term in the school year. I particularly like this model, because it is able to clearly map learning right through the whole key stage, plan for progression, and summarise this on just one side of A4 paper. I have found it valuable to give a copy of this diagram to students as they arrive in Year 7.
Each section has a lead conceptual theme, although two or three 'subsidiary' concepts will also be covered by the content. Big concepts cannot be linked directly to content but should be implicit. It should stimulate questions such as: 'Do I mention real places in my lessons?', 'Do I look at the relationships between places?', 'Do I zoom between scales from local to global?' It has been designed to link with future developments planned at key stage four, and will hopefully encourage students to continue to study the subject post-14 years. It is still very much 'work in progress' though, and I intend to tweak it slightly next year by framing each unit with an enquiry based title.
Geography Curriculum Wheel
There are many other factors that need to be considered and woven into an emerging curriculum plan such as this. Departments will be challenged by senior management teams to show how, during this key stage, they can contribute to the 'curriculum lenses' and 'curriculum dimensions' defined by the new framework. The curriculum lenses include areas of personal development such as 'Every Child Matters' and PLTS (personal learning and thinking skills) while the curriculum dimensions include areas like sustainability, cultural understanding & diversity, and the global dimension. The subject processes also need to be considered, and included here are skills such as fieldwork and the use of GIS. Geography is the only subject in the new curriculum with a statutory commitment to fieldwork, and the use of the school grounds has a role to play alongside traditional trips and visits in the local area and beyond. GIS is now viewed as an entitlement to all pupils, and we need to ask how we will ensure that pupils not only 'learn about' GIS but also 'learn with' GIS in our lessons.
As the new curriculum begins to take shape, it is necessary to keep asking the question 'Why?' when a new piece of the jigsaw is added. 'Why have I chosen to teach this topic?', 'Why have I chosen this location?', and so on. We need to be clear not only what we are teaching, but also why we are teaching it.
Once the overview of the new curriculum has been agreed, it is time for more detailed planning to take place. I have found it worthwhile at this stage to consider the idea of 'compelling learning experiences'. Opening a part of a departmental meeting with the question "What is a compelling learning experience?" is a great way to start a productive debate, and this can then be refined to ask "What makes for a compelling learning experience in geography?" While attempting to answer this, it is useful to consider what makes geography different from other subjects - "What makes geography so special?" After giving these questions an airing in a departmental meeting, it is extremely productive to pose the same questions to your students. I prefer to use the phrase 'gripping lesson' instead of 'compelling learning experience', and ask them to think about what they might hear their friends saying to each other as they leave a class following a lesson they particularly enjoyed. The comments they record can make an informative wall display for your room. Another useful student survey is to ask them to define the subject for you. What does geography mean for them? If you feel brave enough, you could also ask the students to design their own curriculum to fit the framework wheel. Getting them to justify their inclusions and omissions is an interesting exercise. The student voice is too easily undervalued, but can here be used as a powerful tool to assist curriculum design.
No curriculum plan is complete without a consideration of assessment. How else will we know how well our new curriculum is working? Designing and administering an effective assessment system is essential to the success of a new curriculum, and warrants another article all to itself. Watch this space!
To me, the main attraction of the new curriculum has been the opportunity it has provided to empower teachers to adopt ownership of their schemes of work to be genuine creative curriculum planners. Teachers have been given the chance to rejuvenate their key stage three curriculum by choosing geographical approaches and content that is relevant and engaging, and that deepens the understanding of the key concepts and promotes the development of geographical skills. We have been given a tremendous opportunity to shape three years of school geography. If we then hear our students say "I hate geography!", who is to blame?
Students are our today and tomorrow. So spare a thought for my nephew - born in 2004, starting school in 2008, and year 7 in 2015. His geographical future is in your hands. We must not fail him or his classmates. So, no pressure then!
Paul Berry
(Geographical Association Regional Subject Adviser)
Supporting Documentation
Curriculum Audit using The Importance Statement
References
BENNETTS, T. Improving Geographical Understanding at Key Stage Three. Teaching Geography, Summer, 2008.
KINDER, A. Planning a Revised Key Stage Three Curriculum. Teaching Geography, 2007.
RAWLING, E. Planning Your Key Stage Three Curriculum. Teaching Geography, Autumn, 2008.
TAYLOR, L. Key Concepts and Medium Term Planning. Teaching Geography, Summer, 2008.
Recommended Reading
KEY STAGE THREE GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS' TOOLKITS. Geographical Association, 2008.
RAWLING, E. Planning Your Key Stage Three Geography Curriculum. Geographical Association, 2007.
Web Resources
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) - Geography
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) - Curriculum
