Good Influences?

Bob DigbyCommunity Geographer

Geographical Association

Some guiding questions

• Who influenced you in deciding to teach? • Who will shape your thinking in your new

career?• What kind of Geography do you value? • What kind of Geography will be taught in

future? How will decisions be made about what is and what is not worth teaching?

• Who will make these decisions?

My own influences - 1

• My own Geography teacher, Courtney Rice.• A History tutor at Keele, Frank Field – who

introduced me to socialist thought.• Nottingham PGCE course – introduced me to

mixed-ability comprehensive education and the integrated curriculum.

• My first Head Teacher, Ben Howe; a liberal who believed that the foundation of good schools lay in good relationships.

• The Schools Council 14-18 Project – a framework without prescribed content.

My own influences - 2

• 16-19 Geography – Mick Naish (Project Director) and the IoE Project Team

• Margaret Roberts, University of Sheffield – about teaching and learning

• My last school (University College School) –its liberal ethos and sense of community

• Colleagues – both in my own and in other subject areas – for mutual support

What they offered

• A framework of ideas – people who made me think, who inspired me, who helped me ‘make sense’

• A sense of confidence that I could try out my own ideas

• Personal space – the space to let me try things out in my own way (and make mistakes)

• Personal support, humour, enthusiasm• A belief that at the foundation of healthy workplaces

lies good relationships, between students and staff alike.

Where ideas came from

• Higher Education – 14-18 (Bristol Project), Avery Hill, 16-19 – all developed within universities and colleges

• Exam Boards were all university-based (London, JMB of the Northern Universities, Oxford, Cambridge Boards, etc) - so HEI geographers played a role in school Geography

• Authors of texts - usually HEI geographers• Local Authority Advisers

Political landscapes change!• National Curriculum and a political definition of subjects• Centralisation and political influence. QCA guide both the

curriculum and assessment – run by professionals, but guided by politicians

• League tables and the shift in priorities to results • The explosion in the Examinations and Assessment industry• Ownership of the Examination Boards • The public face of Exam Boards – sharing the outcomes of

assessment • Privatisation of the education ‘industry’ – private companies

and consultants dominate course provision• The decline of local authorities and advisers

So what influences teachers in schools now?

Are their influences different from my own?

Questionnaire to schools

• What kinds of courses?• Who provided those courses?• How good were they?• Who’s getting the courses?• How are these linked to experience?• Who have been the greatest influences

in their careers? What kind of influence has it been?

Years spent teaching

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

16.0

Full-time Part-time

Highest qualification reached

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

First degree PGCE Masters PhD

Role in school

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Head of Department Second in Department Teacher with anotherresponsibility

Mainstream Geography

The sample:• All in Cornwall • 20 teachers in 8 schools and colleges• All qualified• Considerable experience• A range of roles in schools

20 people had attended 51 courses in the last 2 years

3 of these people had attended 24 (nearly half) of these courses

10 people had attended 1 or 2 courses in the last 2 years

The 4 most junior people had attended just 3 courses between them

No of courses attended

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

0 courses 1-2 courses 3-4 courses 5-6 courses 7 or more1 institution accounted for 24 of the courses – nearly half of all training!

3 people had attended no courses in 2 years – all were FT, experienced

Quality of courses, graded 1 (poor) - 5 (excellent)

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

Exam Board University Privatecompany (e.g.

Philip Allan)

Consultant SubjectAssociation

LEA

Who provided courses?

02468

1012141618

Exam Board University Privatecompany

Consultant SubjectAssociation

LEA

How important is their influence (from 1 low to 5 very high)

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

Own teacherUni lecturerPGCE mentorLEA consultant

ColleagueExaminer

Book or authorBroadcaster

Family/Spouse/Friend

Technology

I nfluences on career cited by teachers

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Own teacherUni lecturerPGCE mentorLEA consultant

ColleagueExaminer

Book or authorBroadcaster

Family/Spouse/Friend

Technology

Influences by rank order

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Own teacherColleague

Uni tutor/PGCE mentorFamily/Spouse/Friend

Book or authorBroadcaster

LEA consultantTechnology

Examiner

What teachers did

• “Built up my confidence”

• “Inspirational field visits, excellent teaching”

• “Enthusiasm, clarity of teaching”

• “He loved the subject”

• “He made the subject very enjoyable”

What colleagues did

• “Active engagement strategies, group work & mysteries – cutting edge, relevant Geography with a clear focus”

• “Used a mixture of creative teaching styles”• “Ideas, inspiration, humour”• “Good relationships with students”• “Positive approach and passion”

What tutors and mentors did

• “Amazing knowledge and passion”

• “Built my confidence”

• “Showed different approaches to Geography”

• “He loves Geography! He is Geography!”

What do Ofsted have to say?

Ofsted (2008) Geography in schools: changing practice 1• “For secondary teachers, the lack of

support and advice in many local authorities constrains creative and professional debate about geography.”

• “For many geography departments in secondary schools, the only external subject-specific input occurs through examination board meetings.”

Ofsted (2008) Geography in schools: changing practice 2

• “Successful departments usually have good networking systems to support the subject, perhaps through subject associations, the local authority or partnerships with geography departments in other local schools.”

Ofsted (2008) Geography in schools: changing practice 3

Concerning the Pilot GCSE• “The teachers benefited from regular

national project meetings as well as the support provided by the Geographical Association and, where available, local authority advisory staff and local clusters of schools. Teachers who were not supported in these ways found it difficult to develop their own resources.”

Some final questions• Teachers are clearly of fundamental importance in shaping

young people’s thinking So who’s shaping theirs? Where are the thinkers and

framework providers?• The exam boards are now hugely important as course

providers, and politically; but the universities are fast disappearing as influencesWhose Geography are the boards promoting in their specifications? What influences them? Market share? or challenging frameworks for thinking?

• The GCSE ‘Pilot’ is the most progressive specification How can its model approaches (local groups, national

project meetings) be replicated throughout the profession?

A role for subject associations, perhaps?