Geography

You can travel the seas, poles and deserts and see nothing. To really understand the world, you need to get under the skin of the people and places. In other words, learn about geography. I can’t imagine a subject more relevant in schools. We’d all be lost without it.‍

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It’s fair to assume Michael Palin may not have been talking directly about the KS3 curriculum when he said this. But his words demonstrate just how important it is for our teaching to do this subject justice. It’s well worth subject leaders and coordinators discussing and sharing with colleagues why geography is so relevant too. And from the why to the how of KS3 geography.

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The national curriculum frames it as a subject that:

• inspires a lifelong curiosity and fascination in pupils about the world and its people
• teaches pupils about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments
• deepens understanding of how physical and human processes interact and landscapes and environments are formed and used

Successful curriculum teaching aims to make sure all pupils:

• have contextual knowledge of globally significant places and their defining physical and human characteristics
• understand the processes that form key physical and human geographical features of the world
• are competent in the skills needed to collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through fieldwork, interpret sources of geographical information including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and communicate geographical information through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing

It’s clear that while external tests and exams are important, they’re not the totality of this subject. Teaching geography at KS3 is our golden opportunity to open up a new world of thinking for pupils.

Professional bodies

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The Geographical Association is the subject association for geography. It’s centred around curriculum thinking, development and resources and all staff members associated with geography teaching should be a member. The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) is the UK’s learned society for professional geographers. It bridges academic, professional and practitioner worlds and offers membership for institutions.

• Geographical Association
• Google Maps
• Ordnance Survey Map Skills
• Geographical Information Systems GIS
• World Mapper
• BBC Geography
• Time for Geography
• National Geographic
• BBC Radio 4 Great Lives, contains many geographers and explorers
• Guardian Eye Witness
• Royal Geographical Society with IBG
• GIS

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