Cultural Geography Blog

  I spent two days last week at Rayburn Tours' HQ in Derby. I work as a Field Studies Tutor (FST) for Rayburn, and go out twice a year or so to help students and teachers interpret the amazing landscape and culture of Iceland. After some delay because of COVID etc., the company was keen to gather us all together to meet each other face to face and allow us to meet and take us through some updates that would help us with our work. One of the sessions that we had as a group of Field Study Tutors was from Dr. Rhian Meara. Rhian has been researching the story of Heimaey , and the eruption that took place in 1973. Most papers and stories refer to the eruption and have a series of bullet points 'telling the story' except they miss out the 'actual' stories of those who experienced it, many of whom still live on the island. A series of papers have either been published or are being prepared for publication by Rhian. You can also hear Rhian talking along with Cath Rule and R

The GA and the RGS will both be 'in the room' when the curriculum review discussions related to geography take place. The GA is collecting responses from teachers, who may not be in the room, but will be impacted by the decisions made by the review group.  The RGS is going to be doing something similar as the picture on the consultation becomes a little clearer. The Geographical Association wants to hear your views on the geography National Curriculum and GCSE and A level content and assessment. Steve Brace, GA Chief Executive, says  ‘We want as many teachers as possible to share your views about which aspects of the current geography curriculum, its GCSEs and A levels are working well – and where you’d like to see changes’. Click this link to go the form where you can enter your thoughts. Fill in the form by the 20th of September.

  I was asked to provide some feedback on the GCSE results which came out today on behalf of the Royal Geographical Society. This became a press release from the RGS , which was also responding to a new survey on the way that climate change is taught. The Guardian also picked it up for their GCSE blog which was live for the morning as students received their results. Scroll down to 11.13 to read my comments.

  By the start of September 2025 and the new academic year, a full suite of resources will be available for Primary Geography on the Oak National website.   These will all be free to download. There are 6 units for each of years 1-6. 36 units all fully resourced with slide decks, worksheets, quizzes and videos. All units have been approved by Oak and will be appearing on the website in the next month. They have been developed from an original model produced by Paula Owens and Julia Tanner by a team of writers and reviewers and a production team at the Geographical Association. I am very pleased to have been part of the Oak Primary team. I wrote one unit, and helped shape a number of others through working as a reviewer. Some of my images were also used in units. Curriculum Explainer Our curriculum nurtures pupils’ personal and everyday geographies, sparking their curiosity about the world, and guiding them to explore places and processes beyond their existing knowledge.  Our curriculu

A cross-posting from my relatively new blog: 'At the Home of Geography'.   This is a blog to share work around my work as Vice President:Education of the Royal Geographical Society. The GA's Fieldwork Festival during June has ended, but fieldwork can carry on at any time of course, and we hope that your summer travels may well involve some 'fieldtrips' AKA family holidays, or personal travels. These may be in the local area or further afield. Check out the detailed page on the RGS website which contains a wealth of resources for those planning fieldwork. One issue for teachers when consultations take place is to have ideas for fieldwork which are low cost (ideally free) and can be carried out in the local area. In terms of having ideas for fieldwork. The sharing of ideas in this area are particularly helpful. The RGS has added a useful form to their website. The form can be used to tell us about the fieldwork that you are undertaking, and help share examples of fre

A cross posting from my GCSE Natural History blog. It's almost exactly 14 years since I went to Latitude festival with the Mission:Explore team. This followed an earlier visit to Glastonbury in the same year. We were working in the children's area running our missions, entertaining young people amongst the festival goers with our subversive take on the festival and its surroundings. Once we'd finished our shift, we were free to enjoy the music. On the 2nd evening, I headed over to the tent where Jonsi from Sigur Ros was going to be performing that evening. I caught a set from American band Yeasayer who were excellent. I then noticed someone wandering in a familiar tasselled jacket and realised it was Jonsi, and had a brief conversation with him. It was just after the launch of his 'Go' album, which remains one of my favourites. Later that evening he gave the most amazing performance in this tent, and I was up front as the music unfolded.  For a taster, catch the tra